Matt Ruff: Lovecraft Country [movie Tie-In] (2020, HarperCollins Publishers)
400 pages
English language
Published Nov. 11, 2020 by HarperCollins Publishers.
Fascinating concept, and a narrative that leverages the rot and evil of America, and the racist AF legacy of H.P. Lovecraft to create a more...realistic universe. The writing was a little weak, though the narrative arc was well-sustained through a number of stories. A fun, quick read and ultimately worth it. Beats watching it on TV I suspect.
So overall I really liked this book. It recast the standard Lovecraft mythos in Jim Crow America, with the protagonists various members of the same African-American family who get pulled into the various machinations of groups of cultists. The fact that this was already a group of people that were pretty much at the mercy of whatever white America chose for them makes them ideal fodder for a group that can capitalize on that to use them as pawns in their own games.
Probably my biggest gripe in these was that there was very little of Elder God-like beings in these books. There was one instance where some very non-human creature made an appearance, plus a couple of instances of ghosts/spirits, but by and large this was focused on the people and there wasn't a lot to distinguish the sorcerors as being particularly Lovecraftian. In some ways this was almost …
So overall I really liked this book. It recast the standard Lovecraft mythos in Jim Crow America, with the protagonists various members of the same African-American family who get pulled into the various machinations of groups of cultists. The fact that this was already a group of people that were pretty much at the mercy of whatever white America chose for them makes them ideal fodder for a group that can capitalize on that to use them as pawns in their own games.
Probably my biggest gripe in these was that there was very little of Elder God-like beings in these books. There was one instance where some very non-human creature made an appearance, plus a couple of instances of ghosts/spirits, but by and large this was focused on the people and there wasn't a lot to distinguish the sorcerors as being particularly Lovecraftian. In some ways this was almost more of a spin on a detective noir trope, but with spells and sorcery instead.
