This here, folks, is the most impressive image of Cthulhu that I’ve come across: He just looks so damn regal, this eldritch, malevolent entity that appears part octopus kraken, part dragon, part human caricature…the so called "mountain who walks." Yes, I admit that I’m a Lovecraft/Cthulhu mythos junkie. I can’t help it. I think his stories are just amazing. Depending on which HPL story I’ve most recently consumed, I vacillate regarding what is my absolute favorite HPL tale, The Call of Cthulhu, the Dunwich Horror or At the Mountains of Madness. Well this one has again rocketed itself to top billing on the HPL chart…for now at least. The story covers so much ground and touches on so many aspects of what would become central “mythos” lore that it’s easy to see why people hold this up as HPL’s best work. I certainly wouldn’t disagree having just read it for the fourth time. Regardless of where you come out on the issue of Lovecraft’s best work, let me postulate that HPL never wrote a better passage describing the fundamental philosophical underpinnings of his work than the opening paragraph of The Call of Cthulhu: The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age Those few sentences say so much. They touch on the insignificance of man…the substantial ignorance of humanity regarding the universe…the concept of things so vast, unknowable and unable to be comprehended…and the soul-chilling coldness of what lay beyond our tiny sphere of knowledge. Okay, so it’s not the rosiest, most upbeat of pictures, but hey…this is horror after all and when it comes to creating atmosphere and imagery to tantalize and terrify, these stories are gold. PLOT SUMMARY:Told in epistolary format as a transcript of the papers of our narrator, the Late Francis Wayland Thurston, the story recounts Thurston’s piecing together of a series of strange incidents all connected to a mysterious Cthulhu Cult and the dread being that the members of the cult worship. The tale is only 35 pages long and so I don’t want to give away plot details as that slow build of terror is central to the joy of this slice of scary. Let me just say that narrative stretches around the globe, from Boston to New Orleans to Greenland to China to the uncharted waters between Antarctica and New Zealand and involves shared nightmares, bizarre rituals, the dread Necronomicon, a failed expedition to hell on Earth and the sick, twisted devotees of a religion as old as man itself."Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"**Translation: - "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. "Squeeeeeee. THOUGHTS:Well, I just emasculated myself and squeeeeed so that should tell you that I love this stuff. I have always been a huge fan of Lovecraft’s prose with its abundant melodrama, the dread-filled angst and the over the top references to “nameless horrors” and “eldritch, cyclopean buildings” and “dark, ancient vistas” that can stop the heart and send uncontrollable fear into all that see them. The man can make walking down a dark staircase feel like the scariest moment in history. If you find that kind of atmosphere-manipulating prose to be off-putting, than HPL is likely not your cuppa. It is certainly mine and I have been drinking the kool-aid for a while now. In my opinion, this is about as good as classic horror gets and I can feel gush welling up even as I type this. Still, even as a complete fanboy of Lovecraft I try not to read too much of his work at one time because I find the stories have a tendency to blur together and lose a bit of their emotional power. I’ll usually restrict myself to handfuls of 2 to 4 at a time and this allows me to savor the details of each tale and keep the entertainment level set on high. 5.0 stars. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!
Unfortunately, my first (and probably last) foray into Lovecraft was a disappointment to say the least. Perhaps it has simply failed to withstand the test of time. All I know is that I never once felt the sense of dread, suspense, or tension the author intended to create at any point throughout the story. I think it's because Lovecraft attempted to create this creepy atmosphere through telling the reader, rather than showing. Simply describing something as evil, sinister, malign, or some other synonym of the word does not make me feel that it is so. Telling me how something is grotesque, unnatural, and in one case "terrible," and then restating it over and over again doesn't make me feel the fear or apprehension that a character in the story may have felt upon encountering it. However, in case his describing how evil and scary something is did not inspire these feelings in the reader, Lovecraft had a backup plan: reinforcing these descriptions by linking every instance of cult worship, mysterious death or attack to people of various non-white ethnic groups. It was at these points where I laughed out loud. Lovecraft apparently thought mention of the involvement of "Negroes," "half-castes," "mestizos,"or "mixed blood" people with mysterious events made them inherently scarier. Oooooo unknown foreign people! Through the use of the dictionary function on my Kindle I also found he made references to groups of people that were of Hawaiian descent, as well as to people that were half-European, half-Indian, in order to achieve the same effect. It was like clockwork: every time some strange or scary incident occurred, then boom! Introduce some strange non-Anglo ethnic group. This technique was so blatantly obvious I just couldn't take the story seriously. My recommendation: skip this one, I'm sure there are better short stories out there in the genre.
What do You think about The Call Of Cthulhu (2011)?
Lovecraft's writing style is just not my cuppa and that's why I thought this was only OK. Even though this was a short story it felt like it took me forever to get through. I'm all for purple prose but Lovecraft describes things in 2 pages when he really only needed 2 sentences. Verbose is putting it mildly.I always wanted to read this so that I would better understand what people were talking about when they mention Cthulhu. Now I do. Cthulhu is an interesting concept and I wanted to know more about it. I can understand the fascination around the creature.
—Cathryn
My expectations were high since a lot of media has spawned from HP Lovecraft's writing and particularly The Call of Cthulhu. It was interesting how the story was pieced through notes from a deceased professor, events in the past and a newspaper article uncovers the existence of the horrible creature known as the Cthulhu and a cult surrounding it. There was an atmosphere of doom but despite the short length of the book, I felt the story-telling was a little slow. Overall though, not amazingly scary but still a worthwhile read.
—Noella
Casi me había olvidado de lo perturbador que podía llegar a ser Lovecraft y estoy segura de que todavía me falta llegar a ese límite. La llamada de Cthulhu tal vez no me haya sorprendido del todo, pero me encantó y creo que tiene su fama de clásico del horror bien ganada. Es curioso (¿o alarmante?) lo vívido que parece algo irreal cuando está narrado de una forma tan minuciosa y directa al mismo tiempo.El protagonista del cuento es interesantísimo porque oscila entre ser un investigador que se limita a leer documentos y una posible víctima de su propia curiosidad. No tiene nombre, pero los demás involucrados sí. Su tío abuelo George Angell muere en circunstancias misteriosas y él, único heredero de sus pertenencias, comienza a revisar unos archivos y un bajorrelieve con una figura monstruosa. Todo eso lo conduce a conocer el culto a un dios tan grotesco como fascinante.El horror latente en los datos, los sueños, los testimonios y las descripciones es palpable. A esto se suma la inclusión de nombres de libros reales y precisiones geográficas que, mezcladas con la ficción, generan un efecto de incomodidad, ya que no se sabe cuánto hay de invención y cuánto de realidad (hasta que se comprueba, claro). En el caso de este cuento, eso se vuelve un poquito inquietante durante la lectura. Y así es como uno debería sentirse al leer libros de este género, al menos desde mi punto de vista y mi gusto personal.Me hubiera encantado que el cuento fuera más extenso. El final es perfecto, sí, y da la sensación de querer esconderse debajo de la cama durante un par de días. O no salir de casa, directamente, salvo que uno quiera encontrarse con una especie de Davy Jones de Pirates of the Caribbean (se me hacía parecido…) gigante. Pero tal vez estaba esperando un poco más de actividad del protagonista.En conclusión, La llamada de Cthulhu es un cuento imperdible para cualquiera que ame el género de terror y, si ya son fanáticos de Lovecraft, es obligatorio, aunque imagino que es el primero en leerse. Además, tiene una temática muy original y atrapante. Recomendable.
—Yani
