The Best of H. P. Lovecraft : The Shadow Over Innsmouth
June 19, 2017
FICTION
A family member of mine recommended I read something by H. P. Lovecraft and so I finally sat down to read some of his short stories. The one I focus on here is The Shadow Over Innsmouth. It is a creepy horror tale that has an in depth setting of a small town and a somewhat mysterious narrator as the main character. This character tells the reader of the government making a strange and secret investigation into the town of Innsmouth. And so begins a eerie tale of a town nobody goes near, a town where the inhabitants look different. The author writes in thick, thoughtful sentences that hint and tease and let the imagination run and rule rather than beat the reader over the head with gore. It reminds me of classic works by Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, and Edgar Allen Poe. Not an easy read by any means, H.P. Lovecraft's tales are for readers who are willing to work their brain a bit, but reading this tale gave me a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. I read The Shadow Over Innsmouth from a Random House printing with an introduction by Robert Bloch, apparently there are other cheap printings of his work around with typos that are disappointing to read. I had no problems with mine.
