Review: Lovecraft Country, by Matt Ruff

Matt Ruff has taken a long, hard look at what life was like for African Americans in the early 1950s and reimagined it as horror fiction written by the master, H.P. Lovecraft. All the main elements of traditional horror are here — haunted houses, spells, magic wands, ancient incantations, secret societies — but in the end, they all pale before the genuine horror of Jim Crow. Many of the elements of the book feel ‘borrowed’ — for example, quite a bit revolves around a story much like the one told in the film ‘Green Book’. One of the stories reminded me of Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’. And of course Lovecraft himself inspires it all.