A horrible creature born of the family of a wizard stalks the fields, roads, and hills near Dunwich. Only an intrepid professor from Miskatonic University and two fearless colleagues can stop it. This is an archetypal story of the Cthulhu Mythos, but as the victims and most of the observers are New England yokels, with an appropriate yokelish dialect, it lacks the impact of Lovecraft's masterpiece, The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Lovecraft, with his endless vocabulary and descriptive skills, can pull something like this off better than just about anyone. The Dunwich Horror is a really enjoyable graphic novel to break up the workday with, offering a fast read with two stories - The Dunwich Horror and The Hound. The first story stands out as the stronger of the two, featuring a unique writing style that builds anticipation and keeps the reader in the dark, enhancing the suspense throughout.

Characters:

Characters tend to be eccentric or grotesque, often ordinary individuals who find themselves facing horrifying cosmic entities, and sometimes have strong intellectual backgrounds.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is highly descriptive and atmospheric, often utilizing local dialects and rich vocabulary, which can be both enchanting and challenging for readers.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot features a family linked to ancient cosmic horrors, culminating in the unleashing of a being that terrorizes a village, culminating in a struggle to contain it.

Setting:

The setting is primarily in isolated New England towns, creating an atmospheric backdrop that adds to the sense of dread and isolation.

Pacing:

Pacing is inconsistent, with some stories taking time to build tension through detail, while others provide bursts of action amid slower narrative segments.

“Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimaeras—dire stories of Celaeno and the Harpies—may reproduce themselves in the brain of superstition—but they were there before. They are transcripts, types—the archetypes...

Notes:

The anthology includes seven stories by H.P. Lovecraft.

Three of the stories involve Lovecraft's mythology of the Ancient Ones.

Yog Sothoth is a significant entity in the anthology.

There's a story about an undertaker escaping a tomb by stacking coffins.

An artist in one story is inspired by demonic figures too grotesque for public display.

Rats scurrying in the walls hint at a dreadful family history in one tale.

An elderly violinist plays haunting melodies that connect to another dimension.

The Dunwich Horror features a monstrous creature linked to a bizarre family.

The Necronomicon is a key element in several stories, particularly in defeating threats.

Readers noted the difficulty of understanding dialects in some of the dialogue.

Several comments praised Lovecraft's ability to build suspense and atmosphere.

Some reviewers felt Lovecraft's horror elements are now influenced by over 100 years of cultural evolution.

The book contains a blend of cosmic horror and rural settings.

One reader highlighted the uniqueness of a librarian as a hero in a horror story.

Comments mention Lovecraft's effects on readers, with some finding him tedious and others chillingly effective.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

The stories may contain themes of body horror, supernatural violence, and madness which could be triggering for some readers.

From The Publisher:

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 . . .

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."

Ratings (16)

Incredible (1)
Loved It (9)
Liked It (4)
It Was OK (1)
Did Not Like (1)

Reader Stats (24):

Read It (18)
Want To Read (3)
Not Interested (3)

1 comment(s)

NamelessWay

Liked It

2 weeks

This book had a slightly different narrative style than other Lovecraft books that I've read. Good points: I found the plot and the ending interesting. Bad points: I hate the "hick speak" that he uses. Also, there was very little characterization at all.

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The Dunwich Horror: Seven Stories

H.P. Lovecraft