Review--The Ballad of Black Tom

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The Ballad of Black TomThe Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

H.P. Lovecraft was a notorious racist at a time when you had to be truly egregious to stand out in a racist society. He also left the horror genre the seminal Cthulu Mythos, the germ of an otherworldly monstrous realm of Elder Gods that spurred the imagination of horror writers for generations to follow. THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM is a re-imagining of the Cthulu story in a very different fashion than Lovecraft could ever have envisioned, or tolerated.

Tom Tester is a musician, a loving son, a man with an inquiring mind. But in 1920s New York what a black man got was police brutality of a sort still experienced today, hatred, suspicion, and, of course, the disdain and racism of the white community.

Victor LaValle holds up a mirror to Lovecraft, both the racism and the writing, and gives us a new telling of the rise of the Elder Gods, with Black Tom at the center. It's fabulous storytelling with characters who can exist in the world of mysticism and the world of Harlem clubs, and should be read by all who appreciate the legacy of the early 20th century pulp, but need to experience it--or re-experience it--as a 21st century reader.


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