I really wanted to enjoy this book. Imitation pulp + Lovecraft + the Jim Crow setting seemed like a shoe-in for a great time. The eponymous first story (“Lovecraft Country”) was quite good. All the elements of it feed off each other quite nicely. “Abdullah’s Book” was also quite delightful. “Dreams of the Which House” and “Hippolyta Disturbs the Universe” had their moments, but also had flailing appendages that bored me. The rest of the book was quite a slog to get through, a lot of it seemed to grate on my nerves for some reason. Regardless, I thought the depiction of the racism in this book was excellent a lot of the time. Rating: 4.9/10 or 2.46/5 My book rating system is pretty straightforward. Each of the sub-scores below is scored out of 10 and then I take the average. Sub-scores: 1. How much does it justify its length? 5/10. Way too big for what its attempting to do. 2. Enjoyment, or the straightforward pleasure of reading the book. 5/10. Some parts were mad pleasurable. Others seemed to lack any substance. 3. Writing Style 3.5/10. This really annoyed me. I did not enjoy the way this book was written. 4. Character Work 10/10. Probably the biggest strength of this book. Every character felt fully-fledged. Montrose was probably my favourite of them all, but everyone was well-made. 5.Plot 3/10. It felt really contrived at times. Even for pulp. 6. How absorbed/obsessed I was with the book while reading it. 3/10. I had to push myself through the last third of this book. 7. Pacing 3/10. Really not consistent (in a bad way).