Necronomicon is a selection of H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories. For those who don’t know, ‘Necronomicon’ is a fictional ‘Book of the Dead’ by a ‘mad Arab’ that appears in Lovecraft’s work, which contains stories of the ‘Old Ones’ (old gods) and how to summon them.

I know Lovecraft is a problematic author in many ways but I still really love his work. Lovecraft’s legacy is a complex one, as he was both racist and classist, but he did moderate as he got older. His social attitudes were common for his time, especially in New England where he grew up, and he still wrote some great horror stories.

I’m familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos (not an expert, but familiar) but was not much familiar with Lovecraft’s work and I thought this would be a good place to start.

This collection had almost 40 short stories in it, and I had some definite favorites:

‘The Rats in the Walls’ – a story about a man who returns to ancestral roots and discovers some family secrets are better left undiscovered. This story also features a black cat that reminds me very much of my own black cat. In later editions the cat was named ‘Black Tom’ but in earlier editions and as originally published, the cat was named ‘N*ggerMan.’ Yes, quite problematic. In the edition I listened to, they used the original name, which was so completely distracting that it often took me out of the story. I know the context, but it was still distracting. I won’t say I am prejudice free, but to my credit, and to the credit of my entire family on both sides, we don’t use the ‘n’ word and never have. I find it quite repulsive. I know some people use it, but as a 30 something white female of European decent, I don’t out of respect and it’s not mine to use. I read the story again later, with the cat’s new name, and it was much better. It’s a good story, all in all, and I really liked it. It was probably my favorite in the entire book. If you do read it, try to read a later edition with the cat named ‘Black Tom.’ Full disclosure, my black cat’s name is Tybalt, Prince of Cats.

‘Herbert West, Reanimator’ – this story is about a man who reanimates the dead, hence the title. Needless to say, the reanimation of the dead doesn’t go well. Supposedly this was to be a parody of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (a book I hated, by the way – 300ish pages dedicated to the whining of a deadbeat dad). This is considered to be one of Lovecraft’s weaker works and I can see why that is, but I still really liked it. The narrator made it rather enjoyable, and the ending felt good. Very creepy.

‘The Thing on The Doorstep’ – in which the protagonist explains he’s just killed his best friend but isn’t a murderer. It’s as weird as it sounds, but very good.

‘The Call of Cthulhu’ – this is the first story in the the Cthulhu Mythos, published in 1928. The narrator slowly but surely discovers the cult of Cthulhu, and meets Cthulhu up close. The atmosphere is great in this story. You know what’s coming, and it builds slowly. I enjoyed it tremendously.

‘The Dunwich Horror’ – another tale that is considered to be a part of the core of the Cthulhu Mythos. A very unattractive woman has a very unattractive son with an unknown father. That father is revealed/or heavily implied to be the Lovecraftian deity Yog-Sothoth. It goes pretty poorly for the village of Dunwich after that. I enjoyed this one, but not quite as much as ‘The Call of Cthulhu.’

There were a couple of other Cthulhu Mythos stories in there but ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ and ‘The Dunwich Horror’ were my two definite favorites.

I really enjoyed these stories. I went out and bought a hardcover of Lovecraft’s complete works afterwards. It’s still in my TBR pile but that’s where I went back and reread ‘The Rats in the Walls.’

Lovecraft is a huge influence on horror writing, and I don’t regret reading his stuff, even though some of it has issues. His stories are imaginative, creepy, and sometimes even quite funny. Personally, I’d skip Necronomicon and just buy a complete collection, so you can read the whole thing. I don’t usually enjoy highlights being chosen for me, although I’d say this was the exception. Now I’m going to read all the stories anyway, so I probably should have just done this from the start. To each his own. But I did enjoy this immensely. No regrets.

Tagged: authors: h.p. lovecraft, books: necronomicon, genre: horror