Dawn
ENGL 3850-02N
Supernatural Lit
Dr. Coats
H.P.: You have to Love his Craft
This semester’s book list keeps getting better and better. I had never read Lovecraft before this class and I am so glad that I have discovered him. His stories are bizarre and scary at the same time. They are so very enjoyable to read.
It’s true that he tends to be a bit wordy at times, as in the story "The Rats in the Walls". He makes up for this later on in the story. It starts out about a man who decides to rebuild a house that had been torn down because of the freaky, horrifying legends associated with the house and its former inhabitants. These people were this man’s kin and rebuilding the house was all the he had left of his family in the world. Then the cats go nuts and there is supposed rats in the walls that make lots of scuttling noises. This leads the man and several others to go into the basement (that is where the rats seemed to have headed) and spend the night there. It is discovered that the central altar (the basement used to be a worship center for druids and others) has stairs and bones underneath, and they all go exploring, and find the remains of buildings, each from a different era, and the man finally goes mad and eats (yes, EATS) half of his friend!
What made this story so good? For one thing, it started out as normal and ended up twisted and horrifying. Stories, when told in this manner seem to have a lasting impact (I know it did on me). Second, the cover of the book (it is awesome) pretty much told me that I would like what was in the pages I read. H.P. Lovecraft truly is a great horror writer and I hope to read all of his stories some day.