Title: The Ballad of Black Tom
Author: Victor LaValle
Date Read: May 5 2017
Published: February 16 2016 @ Tor.com
Genre: Adult Horror
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
“Walking through Harlem first thing in the morning was like being a single drop of blood inside an enormous body that was waking up. Brick and mortar, elevated train tracks, and miles of underground pipe, this city lived; day and night it thrived.”
I think I probably would have rated this higher if I'd been more familiar with the source material, or anything from Lovecraft to be perfectly honest, but this was still an enjoyable read. Before this story, the only interaction I'd had with Lovecraft was a vague knowledge of the sea monster Cthulhu (which I cannot spell to save my life), and a pretentious guy I knew in college who was part of a Lovecraft club, which apparently involved drinking brandy and reading from the "great master." Learning upon reading reviews of this novella that Lovecraft was actually a terrible person did not surprise me in the least. This novella, which is a retelling of H.P. Lovecraft's (apparently incredibly racist) "The Horror at Red Hook," follows hustler and would-be musician Tommy Tester. Tommy plays his guitar badly and does odd jobs, sometimes including occult objects, to pay his rent and to support his ailing father. Tommy is hired to play for a rich white man's soirée, even though he can't carry a tune, and needless to say, the job turns out to be more than the young Tester had bargained for. I will say that I thought this story had just the right amount of mystery and tension to propel the plot forward and keep the reader engaged. I also have read that some people didn't like the shift in narration from Tommy to Detective Malone, but I actually thought it worked really well to maintain the mystery, even if I don't think the second perspective was fleshed out as well as the first. |
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