The Ballad of Black Tom

154 pages

Published Feb. 16, 2016 by Tor.com.

ISBN:: 978-0-7653-8661-8
OCLC Number:: 962317494

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(2 reviews)

2 editions

Thomas Gaffney reviewed The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Glorious

5 stars

A retelling of HP Lovecraft's The Horror at Red Hook, but from the POV of Black Tom. Takes the racist story from the notoriously racist Lovecraft and puts the power of The Great Old Ones in the hands of a Black man who suffered from society. Black Tom is set entirely in Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos where the original story predated Cthulhu and was spottily tied to the mythos at best.

Overall, The Ballad of Black Tom was brilliant and amazing. HIGHLY recommended for anyone, but especially for those who like/prefer cosmic horror. I don't know what took me so long to read this book, but I'm glad it was required reading for my The Haunted Library lit class at Emerson.

I'll take Cthulhu over you devils any day.

Sami Sundell reviewed Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Review of 'Ballad of Black Tom' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Tommy Tester is a small time hustler, trying to make ends meet for himself and his father. When his businesses lead him first to Ma Att and then Robert Suydam, it slowly becomes clear that he's dealing with forces beyond human comprehension.

Victor LaValle sets to retell a story of H.P. Lovecraft's [b:Horror at Red Hook|2582189|The Horror at Red Hook|H.P. Lovecraft|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1266939978s/2582189.jpg|2598040]. It's definitely his own take on the issue - starting from the fact that Tommy Tester doesn't appear in Lovecraft's original. Even if Malone is the second main character in The Ballad of Black Tom and the main character of Lovecraft's story, LaValle makes him more of an active participant in the events than Lovecraft ever did.

I have to admit, even though I thought The Ballad of Black Tom was competently written, I wasn't too keen on it. I'm not a fan of Lovecraft, and I don't quite …

Tommy Tester is a small time hustler, trying to make ends meet for himself and his father. When his businesses lead him first to Ma Att and then Robert Suydam, it slowly becomes clear that he's dealing with forces beyond human comprehension.

Victor LaValle sets to retell a story of H.P. Lovecraft's [b:Horror at Red Hook|2582189|The Horror at Red Hook|H.P. Lovecraft|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1266939978s/2582189.jpg|2598040]. It's definitely his own take on the issue - starting from the fact that Tommy Tester doesn't appear in Lovecraft's original. Even if Malone is the second main character in The Ballad of Black Tom and the main character of Lovecraft's story, LaValle makes him more of an active participant in the events than Lovecraft ever did.

I have to admit, even though I thought The Ballad of Black Tom was competently written, I wasn't too keen on it. I'm not a fan of Lovecraft, and I don't quite get the enthusiasm of authors willing to rewrite his stories - or in some way, reclaiming his mythos from the racist abyss where people have slowly realized it probably belongs.

However, after reading The Ballad of Black Tom, I decided I need to read the original as well, and that made me see it anew. I still would probably enjoy more reading something different from LaValle, but I have to hand it to him. Taking Lovecraft's blatantly racist story, rewriting it from black perspective and adding social commentary, all the while managing to maintain the creeping atmosphere Lovecraft stories undeniably have is a commendable feat.