Maura (maura853) - , reviewed on 8/27/2019 + 542 more book reviews

Set aside (not abandoned) after about 150 pages.

I REALLY wanted to like this -- and there is much to like in it. I loved the characters, especially plucky Letitia, and Atticus. I LOVED the whole notion of the work of disgusting racist and unattractive weirdo H.P. Lovecraft being "re-purposed" as a metaphor for racism -- the sound I hope you hear is Lovecraft spinning in his grave, and it is sweet. Thank you, Mr Ruff!!

BUT ... That's where I hit my stumbling block. I just can't stand Lovecraft. Oh, I have a Cthulu t-shirt, of course I do-- but exposure to the tropes of the man himself just leave me cold. Not scary, not deep, not mythic in any way. My brain switches off, I start humming "Dana Andrews says prunes /give him the runes/and passing them takes lots of skill ...." (from The Rocky Horror Show, in case you don't immediately recognize it ...), and I switch off.

After two or three chapters, the delightful characters' run-ins with various Lovecraftian tropes begin to seem like a waste of their charms, and a waste of a wonderful premise -- a group of ordinary Black Americans, in the midst of a racist world that is out to get them, fighting racism one demon at a time -- and winning!

Letitia to the malevolent ghost who is haunting the house she has just bought: "What you going to do? You break my neck, and then what? You think I won't come back and haunt YOU? ..."

Lovecraft has definitely met his match ...

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