The Dunwich Horror And Other Stories

Writing this review 'halfway' through the book. In reality, this book places the Dunwich Horror story at the front with 'other stories' bundled in. I only read the Dunwich Horror and The Dreams in the Witch House and I have some thoughts.

I likely won't continue reading this bundle because I feel content with the two stories I chose to read while knowing that I want to read The Colors Out of Space next. I hear good things about that one.

I personally didn't like the Dunwich horror all that much and I'm a little disappointed that it was my introduction to Lovecraft's novels. It felt very drawn out and the dialogue is genuinely annoying to read. Lovecraft writes the way these poor smalltown Massachusetts villagers would speak, and it's downright obnoxious. From all the "leetles" to the "ruds" and the "daown" and "abaout", I found it extremely difficult to get into it all.

I'm glad I read the Dreams in the Witch House (DintWH), because that redeemed some of the negative feelings that were forming about Lovecraft's obnoxious dialogue writing. DintWH was a much better story with better writing and atmosphere. The characters were creepier, the cosmic horror was well described and the idea of 4th dimension traversal from weirdly strong angles in a crummy apartment gives the sense of mathematical plausibility and realness.

I'll be sure to review the Colo/urs Out of Space when I read it. So far, though, the HP Lovecraft experience has been relatively lukewarm for me. So, I'm hoping this next story will brighten things up for me and creep me out.