Well, this turned out to be an unexpectedly provocative read. Oddly, when I was picking this book up, a customer in the bookshop was shoulder surfing, peeking over to see what I was buying and he made some comment about the author being a contentious figure, not referring to Lovecraft but the French writer Michel Houellebecq. I deferred to his being so widely read and smiled wryly. Not having a clue what he was talking about. The thing I suppose that intrigued me was by just how much Michewl Houellebrecq seemed intune with some of HP Lovecrafts most contentious ideas. In tune is probably the wrong way to describe how he writes about issues HP Lovecraft struggled with, he explains fearlessly in a way a lot of writings, with the best intentions, stay well away from, unable to reconcile some uncomfortable belief systems by a writer whose work they reverre and respect. The book feels like a collection of essays, which in truth they actually are. Well written and very Gallic in their hard hitting and truthful precision, they afford an insight into Lovecraft's ouvre a reader most likely would not come across.
