Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

7 reviews

jigwam82's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

The thing about reading Lovecraft is that he was really in need of a good editor. Some of his prose is stunning and the ideas are astonishing, but sometimes his prose is too dense or repetitive. So a mixture of glorious and terrible. He was a hideous racist even for the time period, it's disgusting. But it's important to not erase writing like this lest we deify writers who had unconscionable opinions without knowing that was the case.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lmy612's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious fast-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

2.0

I’ve never read anything by H. P. Lovecraft before and now I don’t know if I will. 

The Call of Cthulhu is one of H. P. Lovecraft’s best known stories but it was a big flop for me. I guess people in the 1920s were scared by different things than people in the 2020s. 

And let it be known, I scare easily! I rarely read horror because I generally can’t handle them and scare myself senseless. Especially at night. This wasn’t that. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

0.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

anastasia_raf's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-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

1.5

Just another white man displaying ignorance and romanticizing it by dreaming up stories. He's criminally overrated.

If you're interested in reading his whatever we should be aware of:
"He was an explicit white supremacist and his racist views were apparent in his writing."
Please take the time to read this https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5883881
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

savviecake's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

itsreyz's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I knew Lovecraft was racist but BOI did I not expect this level of xenophobia TT   It was especially disturbing to listen to, stereotypes and slurs flew left and right. 
The plot itself was fine, the writing generally holds up well but this is definitely not Lovecraft's best work. Bit boring imo, I found myself zoning out several times (and I tend to like slow storytelling). 
I guess the fact that the xenophobia was more horrifying than the story itself kinda says it all, lol.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

commander_zander's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Call of Cthulhu is the least appealing of these stories. The others i'd recommend for those who want to learn more about the history of science fiction, or to discover largely-forgotten horror tropes. Not recommended to general readers (because of predictable plotlines & racism).
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...