The Shadow Over Innsmouth [novella]

Well you can't do any better than Lovecraft read by the inimitable Mike Bennett. He's almost a better voice actor than he is an original writer. Every eldritch purple syllable just oozes from the page as we take our ichthyous narrator down memory lane in Ol' Innsmouth. You'll want to turn the lights out, turn the volume up and make sure the lid to the aquarium is screwed down tight as you wander with Mike down the dilapidated streets of one of Massachusetts oldest sea towns.

Another creepy entry in the Lovecraft series. This one seemed a bit of a departure for H.P., in that it had a pretty solid action sequence, and actually showed people speaking.

One of my biggest complaints with Lovecraft is the dearth of dialogue in any of his stories. In this one, he raises the bar by having two actual characters speak. I don't mean he just tells us what they say, he actually has them speak.

Don't get me wrong, none of it is dialogue...both characters speak in information-dump monologues, and the second of the two's speech is so filled with patois that it's actually at times a quite difficult read. It took me two occurrences of the word "jine" to clue in he was saying "join".

For all that, with the exception of the show more somewhat unbelievable change-in-mindset ending, this was one of the better ones, for me. But yeah, two stars off for the stupid ending, and the info-dump monologues.

Gotta say, though, the blatant racism of the two included stories, Harbor-Master by Robert W. Chambers (of The King In Yellow fame) where the monster is briefly considered a "darkie", and Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb, that peppers the entire story with some brutal racial stereotypes and a heapin' helpin' of "nigger" took me by surprise.

I can see how both stories appealed to Lovecraft, both from the man-fish angle, and from the slagging of a non-white race, but man...could have happily gone my entire life without reading either story. show less

That was the first I ever heard of shadowed Innsmouth. Any reference to a town not shewn on common maps or listed in recent guide-books would have interested me, and the agent’s odd manner of allusion roused something like real curiosity. A town able to inspire such dislike in its neighbours, I thought, must be at least rather unusual, and worthy of a tourist’s attention.

I am really conflicted on this one. The first half is a solid two star read, but that may be because it is so disappointing in comparison to [b:At the Mountains of Madness|32767|At the Mountains of Madness|H.P. Lovecraft|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388341769s/32767.jpg|17342821], which I read immediately prior. I am also not a fan of Lovecraft's obsessions show more with interspecies coupling and genetic degeneration, so I was probably never going to really enjoy this whole story. And, of course, the bigoted world view that wraps Lovecraft's whole deal is back in force and feels oh so much more choking and confined after Mountains. That said, the second half was an absolutely gripping way to spend an afternoon, and I love, love, love that ending. Totally did not see it coming. So, three stars? Three stars. show less

Lovecrafts racism is very clearly on display here, and any review needs to highlight how obvious and off-putting this part of his writing is. Beyond that, there are some positives and negatives. The extended dialogue with Zadok is slightly frustrating to read, partly because of the accented writing, partly because it’s a bit of a clunky exposition dump. The description of the Innsmouth residents is brilliant for the most part - the ‘bulgy eyes’ and ‘arms that dragged against the floor’ are really visually provoking. The escape from the Inn is probably the most atmospheric part of the book, and the most gripping. The escape from the town is also, but doesn’t quite reach this height again. The central idea of the book is show more brilliant, and it is obvious how it has influenced horror writing since. However, some of the flaws of Lovecraft's writing let down the premise. show less

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I'd give this one 3.5 stars if I could. This was the first H.P. Lovecraft story I've read. It's a quick little read. I've heard a lot about Lovecraft and his style, so I was paying a lot of attention to that. It's definitely unique. What i like best about his style is how he tries to be vague at first on the description of things - like the things coming out of the sea at night. He eventually gives us more detailed descriptions, but for that moment we get to fee a little anxiety as our mind tries to imagine our own versions of his gruesome, maddening, terrifying creations. I also like the little twist he threw in at the end. It's a common enough trope these days, but he probably invented it - or helped bring it to prominence.

I was warn show more you if this is your first Lovecraft story. Part of his unique style is to use lots of big words and sometimes overly complicated sentence structures. Even for his time, he was quite wordy show less

The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a short novel about a weird hybrid race of humans and creatures resembling a cross between a fish and a frog, which lives in the seaside village of Innsmouth, so says the synopsis. In reality, it reads like a journal or a travelogue, and honestly, the writing style kept me with it as much as anything, as it was very matter-of-fact about what the writer went through. I’ve had this on my to-read list for a very long time, having been a goth teenager with a penchant for reading excessive amounts of books, and the books I skipped over in my goth-dom would probably have gotten me kicked out for cardinal sins - I never got around to Lovecraft or Gaiman’s Sandman comics, for instance -- so I’m glad I’ve show more finally gotten to both this year. I think I missed the comics train, unfortunately, but this was very readable and very creepy. show less