When his father, Montrose, goes missing, 22-year-old army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his uncle George - publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide - and his childhood friend, Letitia. It isn’t until the stories of both Hippolyta and Ruby (in ‘Jekyll’) that Ruff integrates a little more of educational racism as well as aspects of race in desire and access.Critically acclaimed cult novelist Matt Ruff makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy.Ĭhicago, 1954. However, for the most part, the pattern of discrimination is overtly racist law enforcement or housing-adjacent neighbors, and not the more insidious kinds of racism that go unchallenged around us every day.

But it does a really fascinating job integrating racial consciousness into the story. Does it set the Lovecraftian mythos on it’s side? Not really. Does is gestalt as well as Ruff would like? Maybe not. The Mark of Cain–bringing it all together The Narrow House–Bainwaithe’s ex-partner’s child. This one was deeply disturbing and thought-provoking and one of the better examinations of systemic racism, as well as Cain’s role in all their lives. Hippolyta Disturbs the Universe–Hippolyta, amateur astronomer. His uncle and his wife are the creators and publishers of The Safe Negro Travel Guide, a great concept that’s generally integrated well into the story.ĭreams of the Which House –a haunted house and disturbing neighbors.Ībdullah’s Book –Adventures in solving a puzzle in a hidden room. A note left from his father, Montrose, and rumors of a mysterious white man and a black sedan sends Atticus and his uncle haring off after his dad. It begins with ex-soldier Atticus heading to Chicago and experiencing disturbing–but not unexpected–racist incidents on the way.

Lovecraft Country –titular story is the longest, and yet it felt like it wandered too much to be a self-sufficient story. Part of it is because the ‘action’ is usually equally distributed between the race conflicts and the Lovecraftian/otherworldly ones. Still, despite expecting shorts, something about most of them felt more fragmented and less complete than I wanted. Which is, after all, no doubt what Ruff intended: just like in the zombie apocalypse, it’s always the other people that are the most dangerous. I think I 100% felt more anxious and concerned about the race-based conflicts than any supernatural ones. There’s an interesting blend of Lovecraft and race awareness that sort of works, but sort of doesn’t.

I had heard this was a collection of short stories, so I went into it with fair expectations, I think. Read December, 2021 Recommended for the Lovecraft-curious ★ ★ ★ 1/2

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