angelofthe0dd's review against another edition
4.0
My first H.P. Lovecraft book, and I really enjoyed it. A group of explorers go on an Antarctic expedition and discover a long-lost civilization of strange, intelligent creatures. Lovecraft devotes many, many paragraphs describing the extensive, ornate detail of the underground lair of the beings that lived there millions of years ago. It's worth noting that the expedition is split into two parties - one that works from the base camp and another that went seeking adventure. After not hearing back from the latter party, the former goes in search of them. Lovecraft does an amazing job of building suspense and creepy tension. I think I'm going to invest in a volume of complete (or best of) works so I can enjoy more of his writings.
edlin314's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
Chilling at parts. Got a weird, eerie feeling when reading this. Felt like a good introduction to Lovecraft.
theliterateporcupine's review against another edition
2.0
This was an extremely painful audiobook to listen to. I needed it for reading challenge prompt and thank goodness it was short. I loved "The Shadow over Innsmouth" but this one was no good.
Wordy, Sluggish, and Descriptive, this was not Lovecraft's greatest work...
Wordy, Sluggish, and Descriptive, this was not Lovecraft's greatest work...
scrow1022's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting, I like the cover and a couple of panels inside so much more than overall. Mostly good to get a little more background of Lovecraft mythos without actually having to read any.
scrow1022's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting re. influences from, and influences on, other literature. Liked the format and how it worked to draw us in and be convincing. Excellent intro by China Miéville. And interesting essay afterwards, Lovecraft's "Supernatural Horror in Literature".
Do I feel the need to read any other Lovecraft after this? I don't think so. But I'm glad I read this one.
Do I feel the need to read any other Lovecraft after this? I don't think so. But I'm glad I read this one.
daniell's review against another edition
4.0
I first heard about this book in the context of a few jumps that I made from a blog post by Ross Douthat about the weak field of best picture noms and the prevalence of presold movies at the box office: sequels, easy formulas, comic book movies, comic book movies, more comic book movies.
That article is here:
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/the-artist-and-the-oscars/
Also, I saw this yesterday and enjoyed it:
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/the-unjustly-neglected-margin-call/
From there I linked to a discussion where someone suggested, as an example of the phenomenon Douthat describes, Guillermo Del Toro's (Pan's Labyrinth) willingness to direct and Tom Cruise's willingness to star in a movie version of ATMOM, willingness that has so far met with studio resistance due to the non-presold nature of a Lovecraft story. It's really a shame. And this brings me to the work itself.
ATMOM is a captain's first-person account of an expedition that took place a few years ago, being given now to discourage another expedition that is planning to venture out soon. The drama in the retelling is consistent, and it builds consistently as well without any unnecessarily long sections. Some of the scientific detail challenged my vocabulary, but that made the voyage into this frozen northern land all the more interesting and mysterious.
The expedition sets off to boldly go where no expedition has gone before, with the idea being to check on an old party that got lost in this region and to bring back any interesting findings for analysis. This neat plan starts to change course when they start to find strange things, strange things, and more strange things.
The fun of this book is in the discovery of the things and the drama buildup that this causes, so if that sounds at all appealing then read this book. It's fairly short, the descriptive writing is compelling, and the world is fascinating. The world of the story is the real character here, and that's my only criticism, that the characters are basically vehicles for the story and pretty much ciphers after that.
Another thing, know that this is not a Cthulhu story. He makes reference to him/her/it, but nothing more than that. "The Call of Cthulhu" is his single story regarding that/it.
That article is here:
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/the-artist-and-the-oscars/
Also, I saw this yesterday and enjoyed it:
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/the-unjustly-neglected-margin-call/
From there I linked to a discussion where someone suggested, as an example of the phenomenon Douthat describes, Guillermo Del Toro's (Pan's Labyrinth) willingness to direct and Tom Cruise's willingness to star in a movie version of ATMOM, willingness that has so far met with studio resistance due to the non-presold nature of a Lovecraft story. It's really a shame. And this brings me to the work itself.
ATMOM is a captain's first-person account of an expedition that took place a few years ago, being given now to discourage another expedition that is planning to venture out soon. The drama in the retelling is consistent, and it builds consistently as well without any unnecessarily long sections. Some of the scientific detail challenged my vocabulary, but that made the voyage into this frozen northern land all the more interesting and mysterious.
The expedition sets off to boldly go where no expedition has gone before, with the idea being to check on an old party that got lost in this region and to bring back any interesting findings for analysis. This neat plan starts to change course when they start to find strange things, strange things, and more strange things.
The fun of this book is in the discovery of the things and the drama buildup that this causes, so if that sounds at all appealing then read this book. It's fairly short, the descriptive writing is compelling, and the world is fascinating. The world of the story is the real character here, and that's my only criticism, that the characters are basically vehicles for the story and pretty much ciphers after that.
Another thing, know that this is not a Cthulhu story. He makes reference to him/her/it, but nothing more than that. "The Call of Cthulhu" is his single story regarding that/it.
calalo's review against another edition
4.0
Muy Lovecraft, inicio muy lento, lectura repetitiva, adjetivos y mínimos detalles, locaciones sombrías (la Antártida) pero que funciona y es absolutamente necesario, pues aunque a veces perderte y marearte es fácil en muchas otras consigue que sientas, veas, escuches y hasta huelas lo que atormenta constantemente a los protagonistas. La paciencia es obligatoria, leerlo con prisa, cansancio o con otras cosas en mente no es buena idea, tampoco escoger esta novela para iniciarse con el autor.
A pesar del excesivo detalle deja aun mucho para la imaginación y exige sacar conclusiones para atar cabos, te puedes sumergir tanto en la atmósfera y estar tan alerta que Lovecraft logra que hasta un pingüino te ponga muy tenso (de manera literal).
A pesar de ser una obra antigua no es anticuada, por el horror latente de que sea una situación real. El final no es lo mejor ni lo importante si no la travesía y la experiencia que llegas a recordar como tuya. 4.2
A pesar del excesivo detalle deja aun mucho para la imaginación y exige sacar conclusiones para atar cabos, te puedes sumergir tanto en la atmósfera y estar tan alerta que Lovecraft logra que hasta un pingüino te ponga muy tenso (de manera literal).
A pesar de ser una obra antigua no es anticuada, por el horror latente de que sea una situación real. El final no es lo mejor ni lo importante si no la travesía y la experiencia que llegas a recordar como tuya. 4.2
aylamasaki's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
jane_moriarty's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
"Es war, als seien diese Nachtmahrgipfel die Pfeiler eines schauerlichen Tores zu verbotenen Traumsphären und labyrinthischen Abgründen von Zeit und Raum und unbekannten Dimensionen."
Lovecraft knows how to set a scene, but he doesn’t really know how to fill it with life. The whole lore is fascinating, but this really reads like a scientific paper. Many many descriptions, nothing about the characters, some action in the last like 50 pages. I guess there’s a reason he usually stuck to short stories.
Lovecraft knows how to set a scene, but he doesn’t really know how to fill it with life. The whole lore is fascinating, but this really reads like a scientific paper. Many many descriptions, nothing about the characters, some action in the last like 50 pages. I guess there’s a reason he usually stuck to short stories.