When I first read a sample from this book on a hot summer day, the writing style reminded me somewhat of Edgar Allen Poe. I was in the middle of several other books, so I added it to my reading queue with a mental note to save it for the fall. I’m sure I read descriptions and reviews of it when I first came across it, but when I picked it up months later, I’d pretty much forgotten everything about it.
I slid easily into the story, adapting myself to the pacing and conversation style of the 1910s. It still reminded me a little of Poe’s writing, so I was prepared for some literary despair and dread, beautifully phrased. The Friendship of Mortals supplied this, along with an interesting glimpse into the world of university library staff and the struggle of young professional women of that era for autonomy and suffrage. And I loved learning about library cataloguers and wondered whether the demand for them has increased or diminished these days.
As I read further, still very engrossed, I felt that there was something about this book that I should keep in mind, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. It added to the increasing dread as I began to suspect what one main character was up to and if the other could stop him from going too far. It was only when I was describing it over lunch one day that things became clear. I was asked by a surprised family member, “Are you reading Lovecraft? You have to be if it’s set in in Arkham. Arkham and Miskatonic University are in Lovecraft Country.”
I wasn’t reading H.P. Lovecraft and the closest I’ve ever gotten to his country was Matt Ruff’s book of that title and the series based upon it. But that reminded me of what I’d forgotten from the reviews I’d read months before: it's a retelling of Lovecraft's Herbert West—Reanimator. I realized that the lives of the library staff and university faculty were about to get freaky. But it was Halloween season so I simply warned the characters and kept reading.
I have to caution those who are looking for shocking amounts of blood and gore to go elsewhere for them. What horror there is in this retelling of the Herbert West series has humans at the source of it. I understand (through the magic of Wikipedia) that Lovecraft wrote the original as a parody of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein and that it was not considered one of his better works (even by him). But my Lovecraft ignorance aside, I thought author Audrey Driscoll's exploration of it was very good. It managed to stay fairly faithful to the main plot points (as far as I can tell, again from Wikipedia) and manages to do so while adding depth, context, and development of characters like the narrator, who Lovecraft never names or provides much understanding for. This version identifies him as Charles Milburn and makes him a conflicted, relatable person and not a narrative device or sycophant for Herbert West. (I did want to shake him a few times, but understood that there were plot points that had to be followed.)
Driscoll also does an excellent job in developing Herbert West into a complex person and showing various perspectives for his actions. He is still single-minded, narcissistic, and duplicitous in her telling of the story, but he is also thoughtful to his housekeeper and takes good care of his (non-dying) patients. You certainly wouldn’t want to have a near death experience around him or let him anywhere close to the body of a deceased loved one. (But anyone who’s read anything about the history of the medical profession through the 18th – 20th centuries might have the same unease about what others have done to advance knowledge or develop techniques for what they perceived was the ultimate good.) I could never completely trust or hate West, and often did both in the space of a few sentences.
I also appreciated the character of Alma Halsey and sincerely hope that she has a bigger role in subsequent books in the series.
All in all, it was a good read for me. I understand that some reviewers found it long or slow in some places, but I thought the pacing neatly matched the spirit of the time setting. While this could still be considered a zombie story since it technically has a few in it, it’s more along the lines of The Monkey's Paw. Like the latter, it’s ultimately about the dread of death, and the sometimes unexpected consequences of trying to control fate to undo the pain of loss.
(reviewed 5 months after purchase)