Sign in with Facebook
Dan Schwent's Reviews > The Ballad of Black Tom
The Ballad of Black Tom
by
by
Tommy Tester is a hustler, doing what he has to to make ends meet and support his ailing father. When he meets Robert Suydam, things will never be the same...
I've always been a bigger fan of things inspired by H.P. Lovecraft than the man's actual work. It's certainly been a good few months for H.P. Lovecraft-inspired fiction for me. First, there was Carter & Lovecraft, then Lovecraft Country, and now this novella, the Ballad of Black Tom.
Victor LaValle has taken The Horror at Red Hook, called Lovecraft's most racist book by some, and turned it inside out.
Tommy Tester delivers a magical tome to an old woman, runs afoul of two detectives, and meets up with an old man bent on waking The Sleeping King from his dead and dreaming slumber. Needless to say, a lot happens in this slim book.
There was a viewpoint shift about halfway through. While I didn't think Malone was as interesting as Black Tom, the story couldn't have been told without him. LaValle does a fantastic job of capturing the Lovecraftian flavor of The Horror at Red Hook and makes it his own. I loved the ending of this book. Hell, I devoured the whole thing in one sitting.
4.5 out of 5 stars. I'll be watching Victor LaValle with great interest.
I've always been a bigger fan of things inspired by H.P. Lovecraft than the man's actual work. It's certainly been a good few months for H.P. Lovecraft-inspired fiction for me. First, there was Carter & Lovecraft, then Lovecraft Country, and now this novella, the Ballad of Black Tom.
Victor LaValle has taken The Horror at Red Hook, called Lovecraft's most racist book by some, and turned it inside out.
Tommy Tester delivers a magical tome to an old woman, runs afoul of two detectives, and meets up with an old man bent on waking The Sleeping King from his dead and dreaming slumber. Needless to say, a lot happens in this slim book.
There was a viewpoint shift about halfway through. While I didn't think Malone was as interesting as Black Tom, the story couldn't have been told without him. LaValle does a fantastic job of capturing the Lovecraftian flavor of The Horror at Red Hook and makes it his own. I loved the ending of this book. Hell, I devoured the whole thing in one sitting.
4.5 out of 5 stars. I'll be watching Victor LaValle with great interest.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Ballad of Black Tom.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
February 17, 2016
– Shelved as:
buy-this-for-me
February 17, 2016
– Shelved
February 23, 2016
– Shelved as:
to-read
March 8, 2016
–
Started Reading
March 9, 2016
–
47.0%
March 9, 2016
–
67.0%
March 9, 2016
– Shelved as:
2016
March 9, 2016
–
Finished Reading
July 15, 2016
– Shelved as:
2016-books
August 1, 2016
– Shelved as:
lovecraftian
Comments Showing 1-11 of 11 (11 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Tim
(new)
-
added it
Mar 09, 2016 07:43PM
Nice review. I too find I prefer works inspired by Lovecraft to most of the ones by him.
reply
|
flag
Tim wrote: "Nice review. I too find I prefer works inspired by Lovecraft to most of the ones by him."Thanks, Tim. I like Lovecraft's concepts way more than his writing.
The end game without spoiling it is what sold me, one line in the whole book tells the WHOLE story
Also I really like how authors other than Lovecraft will have actually dialogue. Lovecraft never really went for that as far as I know.
Just tore through this and enjoyed it quite a bit. Nice review.
See now you carry on Lovecraft's true spirit and desire as a writer. HPL didn't want to grab onto his ideas as if they were all his, and that no one else was to touch it. Lovecraft wanted to stimulate minds, inspire and be inspired by authors and readers, and see what would blossom from his ideas. Thus, regardless of his own antiquated and perhaps overly cumbersome writing style, the real beauty is in how Lovecraft succeeded in his dreams blossoming and spreading through the refinements and furthering by others.
Just passing through to say I'm with everyone who finds Lovecraft's writing leas engaging. This is my first non-HP Mythos story and ir looks like he was a great ideas person that other people could craft great stories from ☺
Luke wrote: "Just passing through to say I'm with everyone who finds Lovecraft's writing leas engaging. This is my first non-HP Mythos story and ir looks like he was a great ideas person that other people could..."Right on!
Everyone seems to like this one but me. I wanted to like it because I pretty much feel the same re: HP, but sadly I had to dnf it.
Kurt wrote: "Everyone seems to like this one but me. I wanted to like it because I pretty much feel the same re: HP, but sadly I had to dnf it."I liked it quite a bit at the time but I don't remember much about it anymore.
