Ratings15
Average rating3.5
A classic tale of terror and grotesquerie by the original master of horror H. P. Lovecraft proclaimed his Dunwich Horror "so fiendish" that his editor at Weird Tales "may not dare to print it." The editor, fortunately, knew a good thing when he saw it. One of the core Cthulhu stories, The Dunwich Horror introduces us to the grim village of Dunwich, where each member of the Whateley family is more grotesque than the other. There's the grandfather, a mad old sorcerer; Lavinia, the deformed, albino woman; and Wilbur, a disgusting specimen who reaches full manhood in less than a decade. And above all, there's the mysterious presence in the farmhouse, unseen but horrifying, which seems to be growing . . . Wilbur tracks down an original edition of the Necronomicon and breaks into a library to steal it. But his reward eludes him: he gets caught, and the result is death by guard dog. Meanwhile, left unattended, the monster at the Whateley house keeps expanding, until the farmhouse explodes and the beast is unleashed to terrorize the poor, aggrieved village of Dunwich. As chilling today as it was upon its publication in 1929, The Dunwich Horror is a horrifying masterwork by the man Stephen King called "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."
Reviews with the most likes.
Now I really get why people describe Lovecraft as florid prose. I had to check the dictionary multiple times. Love it though.
The story was told as a historical recounting of what happened at a backwater place called Dunwich. What's impressive is the horrific atmosphere and suspense, and the feeling of an otherworldly dread, that the words managed to evoke. It really helps to establish the world of Cthulhu.
Going to keep reading the rest of Lovecraft's stories.
It is so fascinating how H.P.Lovecraft with so little manages to tell these rather complicated stories and weave the horror... I'm sitting here listening to audiobook with a twist in my stomach, and I'm slightly at unease about what might be under my bed - there can't be any ancient horrors there, I live in a high rise, 3rd floor and the bed is closed, there are storage boxes under the bed. Not even cats get there without opening the boxes. But, nevertheless, I would be surprised if the floor was slimy :-D
I feel bad for Wilbur Whateley, though I don't think I should. X-D Oh, us humans with our empathy, sympathy, compassion...