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The Night Ocean
Marina Willett, MD, has a problem. Her husband, Charlie, has become obsessed with the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, and in particular with the events of the summer of 1934, when the reclusive Lovecraft lived for two months with a young fan named Robert Barlow and his family in central Florida. Lovecraft was forty-three that summer, and Barlow was sixteen. What were the two of them up to, and what did they feel for each other? Just when Charlie thinks he's solved the puzzle, a scandal erupts, and he disappears. The police call it a suicide, but Marina doesn't believe them.
As Marina follows her husband’s trail in an attempt to learn the truth, The Night Ocean moves across the decades and along the length of the continent, from a remote Ontario town, through New York and Lovecraft’s native Providence, to Mexico City. Along the way, we meet Lovecraft and Barlow, who went on to become a well-known authority on the civilization of the Aztecs; the Futurians, a group of brilliant young science fiction writers; William S. Burroughs; Roy Cohn; and L. C. Spinks, a kindly Canadian appliance salesman, and the only person who knows the origins of The Erotonomicon, which may be the intimate diary of Lovecraft himself.
A historical tour de force, The Night Ocean is about love and deception; it’s about the way that stories earn our trust, and betray it.
As Marina follows her husband’s trail in an attempt to learn the truth, The Night Ocean moves across the decades and along the length of the continent, from a remote Ontario town, through New York and Lovecraft’s native Providence, to Mexico City. Along the way, we meet Lovecraft and Barlow, who went on to become a well-known authority on the civilization of the Aztecs; the Futurians, a group of brilliant young science fiction writers; William S. Burroughs; Roy Cohn; and L. C. Spinks, a kindly Canadian appliance salesman, and the only person who knows the origins of The Erotonomicon, which may be the intimate diary of Lovecraft himself.
A historical tour de force, The Night Ocean is about love and deception; it’s about the way that stories earn our trust, and betray it.
389 pages, Hardcover
First published March 7, 2017
387 people are currently reading
8876 people want to read
About the author
Paul La Farge
15 books98 followersPaul La Farge was the author of four novels: The Night Ocean (The Penguin Press, 2017); The Artist of the Missing (FSG, 1999), Haussmann, or the Distinction (FSG, 2001), and Luminous Airplanes (FSG, 2011); and a book of imaginary dreams, The Facts of Winter (McSweeney's Books, 2005).
He was the grateful recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Bard Fiction Prize, and fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. He was a fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library in 2013-14. He lived in a subterranean ‘annex’ in upstate New York, where he was almost certainly up to no good.
He was the grateful recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Bard Fiction Prize, and fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. He was a fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library in 2013-14. He lived in a subterranean ‘annex’ in upstate New York, where he was almost certainly up to no good.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 628 reviews
February 15, 2017
When Charlie Willet disappears, apparently commits suicide, his wife Marina explores the last couple years of his life, looking for reasons to believe he's still alive. Did Charlie's obsession with the Erotonomicon, the purported story of HP Lovecraft's affair with Robert Barlow, and the web of lies and hoaxes surrounding it lead to his doom?
Even though I rarely take on ARCs anymore, I jumped at the chance to read this one when Penguin offered it to me.
The Night Ocean is a tough book to classify. It's a Russian nesting doll, a Matryoshka, of hoaxes and lies surrounding one man's quest to learn the truth about the Erotonomicon, a book chronicling HP Lovecraft's love life. In some ways, it reminds me of Night Film. In others, of I Am Providence. I was hooked by the brain stem when Lovecraft referred to masturbation as Yog Sothoth.
The tale is part historical novel, part mystery. Marina tries to piece together what Charlie pieced together when he was trying to figure out if the Erotonomicon was a hoax or not. Needless to say, there are a lot of shifting viewpoints.
The Erotonomicon chapters were touching, and sometimes heartbreaking, with young Robert Barlow being in love with H.P. Lovecraft from afar and Lovecraft being unwilling to reciprocate. Well, for the most part...
Marina was playing catch-up for most of the book, much like I was, through a maze of hoaxes and lies, populated by legendary authors like William S. Burroughs, Frederick Pohl, C.M. Kornbluth, and many others. She follows Charlie's quest from Mexico to Canada, from Barlow to L.C. Spinks, the Erotonomicon's publisher.
I guess the Night Ocean is about multiple peoples' search for the truth. In this age of "alternative facts", the truth can be hard to come by. By the end of the book, I was almost as in the dark as I was in the beginning. I liked that the ending was ambiguous, however.
While I can't find a nice box to shoe-horn The Night Ocean into, it was a great read, even beautiful at times, surprising considering H.P. Lovecraft's usual subject matter. Four out of five stars.
Even though I rarely take on ARCs anymore, I jumped at the chance to read this one when Penguin offered it to me.
The Night Ocean is a tough book to classify. It's a Russian nesting doll, a Matryoshka, of hoaxes and lies surrounding one man's quest to learn the truth about the Erotonomicon, a book chronicling HP Lovecraft's love life. In some ways, it reminds me of Night Film. In others, of I Am Providence. I was hooked by the brain stem when Lovecraft referred to masturbation as Yog Sothoth.
The tale is part historical novel, part mystery. Marina tries to piece together what Charlie pieced together when he was trying to figure out if the Erotonomicon was a hoax or not. Needless to say, there are a lot of shifting viewpoints.
The Erotonomicon chapters were touching, and sometimes heartbreaking, with young Robert Barlow being in love with H.P. Lovecraft from afar and Lovecraft being unwilling to reciprocate. Well, for the most part...
Marina was playing catch-up for most of the book, much like I was, through a maze of hoaxes and lies, populated by legendary authors like William S. Burroughs, Frederick Pohl, C.M. Kornbluth, and many others. She follows Charlie's quest from Mexico to Canada, from Barlow to L.C. Spinks, the Erotonomicon's publisher.
I guess the Night Ocean is about multiple peoples' search for the truth. In this age of "alternative facts", the truth can be hard to come by. By the end of the book, I was almost as in the dark as I was in the beginning. I liked that the ending was ambiguous, however.
While I can't find a nice box to shoe-horn The Night Ocean into, it was a great read, even beautiful at times, surprising considering H.P. Lovecraft's usual subject matter. Four out of five stars.
March 24, 2017
The first 100 pages or so held my interest, but it was mostly prurient interest. In retrospect, I should have dropped it when I felt the urge shortly after that. The entire middle section with Barlow and Burroughs in Mexico bored me to tears and it didn't get much better after that. Also, I currently have little patience for novels that mix historical characters with false documents and fake facts. (I get more than enough truth-yanking from the Bannon/Trump presidency these days.) I'd rate this with one star if it weren't for those first 100 pages and for La Farge's having brought Robert Barlow into my awareness. Barlow was a beautiful writer with a sad but interesting life. I'd recommend skipping this and reading his The Night Ocean instead.
January 28, 2023
Reinvention, reincarnation, delusions or just flat out lies (sometimes known as alternative facts) - you can never be sure exactly what you are dealing with in this book, but it was certainly different and fascinating. The story is told by Marina, a psychotherapist married to Charlie a nonfiction writer, but there are stories within stories here. At the start of the book, Charlie has just killed himself by drowning, but Marina is not convinced that he is dead. Charlie had become obsessed with horror author H. P. Lovecraft and his relationship with his much younger fan Robert Barlow, and thought it would be a good subject for a book. It turns out that maybe not everything should be published. There are rumors that Lovecraft kept an erotic diary of this relationship called the Erotonomicon. Once tracked down, the diary turns out to have been written partly in Old English and partly in Lovecraft's invented vocabulary. Fortunately, there are footnotes in this book, which help not only with the diary but with all of the names dropped by the author. I was unfamiliar with most of them, but the book manages to work in Hart Crane, William Burroughs and Roy Cohen. It also includes Aztecs, a liberated concentration camp and the HUAC.
I thought the story dragged a little in its second quarter when it dealt with Barlow's time as an anthropologist in Mexico, but the rest of the book moved along very quickly. I loved it's ambiguous ending. I like being surprised by a book so I enjoyed the author's writing style, his mix of real and fictional characters and his inventiveness.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
I thought the story dragged a little in its second quarter when it dealt with Barlow's time as an anthropologist in Mexico, but the rest of the book moved along very quickly. I loved it's ambiguous ending. I like being surprised by a book so I enjoyed the author's writing style, his mix of real and fictional characters and his inventiveness.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
February 6, 2017
Wow. Just wow. The sheer insanity of reading his behemoth in one day actually kind of goes along with the sheer awesomeness of this book. And to think I was merely expecting a bibliomystery. Night Ocean is so much more, it's the stacking doll of storytelling, where the inventions are weaved into real life facts so seemingly, it'll make you question the fabric of reality itself, much as it did to its characters. There are quite a few storylines here, all connected, enough for several books, all essentially preoccupied with a quest for truth. The main plot is about a wife whose dearly beloved overly enthusiastic nerd of a husband gets obsessed with writing a story exposing a certain very famous person's private predilections. The story takes over his life, their lives, until a tragedy leaves the wife unable to move on and determined to find out the truth on her own or to dare to solve the puzzle of Spinks. Seriously, there is such a thing here, it's the crux of the novel and it's a smart sad surprise. That's the basic shell, the innards, though, the innards of this thing are epic. It's a literary hoax of a literary hoax, strikingly clever, stunningly original. It's a love letter, of sorts, to a bygone era of the golden age of weird fiction and early scifi, it has a cast to make any fan of speculative stories swoon. It's a historical drama, it spans decades and countries and continents. It's a story of obsession, a love story, several love stories, actually. It's a deceit wrapped in a perfidy wrapped in a tall tale. And underneath it's a meditation on the nature of the alienating state of being, devastating loneliness and desperate search for meaning that makes us more than just a random collection of atoms. Or, of course, to honor the source here, meaningless carbon based bipeds waiting to be annihilated by the indifferent universe. It isn't a perfect book, it would be nice to see homosexuality not so closely associated with pederasty for example or the main female protagonist to be stronger. She's very likeable and compelling, but her slavish devotion to her cheating lying lackluster spouse whom she supports unconditionally emotionally and financially for years was sort of off putting. Yes, she is obviously the dreamy sort, she constantly reads Jane Austen to prove it, but she's also a psychologist, it seems that she should be somewhat more self aware. Unless of course it's the proverbial case of the cobbler without shoes. But those are really minor details comparing to the grand total, which is genuinely terrific. The experience of reading this book is comparable to asking for a shoulder rub and getting a full body massage. It just gives the reader so much more than was expected. It's dense, but so interesting and so well written, the pages go by quickly despite the heavy subject matter. It's literary, it's smart, it's a beauty of book. If my review seems somewhat generic it's strictly to preserve the mystery of the story with its myriad of twists and turns. The goal is for the zeal to come through clearly, while leaving the plot opaque. Most enthusiastically recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
April 10, 2017
Paul La Farge's THE NIGHT OCEAN is a flat out brilliant imagining of the Lovecraft real life literary world of the 20th and 21st centuries. Funny, infuriating, melancholy, just a joy to read.
March 27, 2017
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/03/27/...
The Night Ocean is not my usual genre, I confess, but its subject matter was simply too enticing to resist. While it’s true that I’ve always been drawn to books inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, perhaps just as interesting—if not more so—are the stories about the man himself. A pioneer of weird fiction, his lasting influence on the horror genre can be seen all around us, and yet, there is also a darker side to his legacy. In life, Lovecraft held some repugnant views, and in many fandom circles his racism and bigotry are still discussed almost as much as his work today. Still, love him or hate him, there appears to be a fascination with HPL’s work and personal life which cannot be denied.
Perhaps I should back up a bit, though. While indeed The Night Ocean explores the life of Lovecraft, it does it in a most unconventional and bizarre manner (which I’ll talk more about later), weaving fiction and history into a far-reaching chronicle that also ties in the lives of many other characters. Some of these names will even be familiar to Lovecraft and Horror/SFF aficionados, but first we begin this story with the tragedy of Dr. Marina Willett and her husband Charlie.
It all started with The Erotonomicon. Said to be the erotic diary of H.P. Lovecraft but later claimed to be a hoax, almost all copies are said to be destroyed back in the 50s, but somehow Charlie manages to track one down. As a life-long speculative fiction fan and a writer by trade, Charlie wants to make his next book an investigative piece about the diary, a decision that ends up plunging him into an all-consuming obsession with Lovecraft, much to Marina’s dismay. At the heart of Charlie’s project is a particular entry written in The Erotonomicon about a summer in 1934 involving Lovecraft and his friend Robert Barlow, a gay sixteen-year-old fan with whom the author stayed for a number of weeks while on a visit to Florida. Later known as the author and anthropologist R.H. Barlow, Robert also ended up collaborating with Lovecraft on several stories including “The Night Ocean”, which this book is named for.
Determined to find out the truth about Lovecraft and Barlow’s relationship, Charlie sets out on a continent-spanning journey to find out everything he can about what really happened between the two men that summer in Florida. However, Charlie’s obsession ultimately leads him to his downfall, and after suffering depression and anxiety, he checks himself into a hospital at the urging of his wife. Not long after that, he escapes into the wilderness and disappears without a trace. The note he left made it pretty clear to everyone that Charlie had planned and carried out his suicide, but Marina finds this difficult to accept. Holding on to the belief that her husband is still alive, she retraces his steps for the last two years, going to the places he visited and talking to the people he interviewed for his book, all in the hopes that it will shed some light on where she might find Charlie.
Quite frankly, describing the story any more than this would be a downright nightmare because I would be at an absolute loss as to how to keep going. The Night Ocean is one strange book, difficult to summarize and classify since it is made up of so many perspectives and interconnecting parts. The overall concept behind the novel is certainly ambitious and ingenious, but the way the story is presented will probably make it seem unfocused. Even though the entire book is told through Marina’s eyes, I would say the first half of the book is about Charlie—but also not—while the second half is about Marina—and yet also not. Yes, I’m aware of how confusing this sounds, but really at the heart of both threads is a man named L.C. Spinks, the publisher of The Erotonomicon. Is the diary really a hoax? Or if there’s some truth to it, then which parts of it are real and which parts are completely fabricated? The Night Ocean is an intricately woven web of fact and fiction, combining Paul La Farge’s rich imagination with the results of what must have been hours upon hours of painstaking research on his part.
And how does H.P. Lovecraft play into all this, you ask? Well, last summer I read and really enjoyed a novel called I Am Providence by Nick Mamatas, and even though it and The Night Ocean could not be any more different in tone and style, I still found it impossible not to draw parallels between these two books. Perhaps it is because they are both “Lovecraftian fiction” in the atypical sense; rather than playing directly off of HPL’s large body of works and the mythos he had created, they instead took an almost meta-fiction approach, both narratives coming up with a unique way to explore the author’s life and work through the lens of fandom. After all, one can hardly provide a full picture of Lovecraft’s legacy without recognizing the activities and creations of his highly dedicated fans, a cult following which has been growing since the 40s and 50s—fanzines, conventions, internet clubs and groups, etc. The Night Ocean is a book of many layers and components, and yes, there are parts of the story which deal with the nature of the fan community, presenting both its wonderful and ugly sides.
All told, I had a shockingly good time with this book. Because of its tangled nature, I doubt it going to be for everyone, but still, I highly recommend it if the description interests you. While I found the author’s writing style somewhat quirky and disjointed, I nevertheless managed to get into the rhythm of the story quickly, becoming mesmerized by extraordinary lives of these characters. There’s a lot of pain and heartbreak within these pages, but also a surprising amount of tenderness and beauty that I had not expected to find in a book featuring Lovecraft as a key figure. And even though there’s a lot of ambiguity in the story—a fact that often vexes me—in this case, I believe it might actually add to the book’s mystique.
At once frustrating and rewarding, The Night Ocean is alternate history on a completely new and innovative level. Easily one of the more clever, intense, and haunting books I’ve read so far this year, and its ending will likely stay with me for a long, long time.
The Night Ocean is not my usual genre, I confess, but its subject matter was simply too enticing to resist. While it’s true that I’ve always been drawn to books inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, perhaps just as interesting—if not more so—are the stories about the man himself. A pioneer of weird fiction, his lasting influence on the horror genre can be seen all around us, and yet, there is also a darker side to his legacy. In life, Lovecraft held some repugnant views, and in many fandom circles his racism and bigotry are still discussed almost as much as his work today. Still, love him or hate him, there appears to be a fascination with HPL’s work and personal life which cannot be denied.
Perhaps I should back up a bit, though. While indeed The Night Ocean explores the life of Lovecraft, it does it in a most unconventional and bizarre manner (which I’ll talk more about later), weaving fiction and history into a far-reaching chronicle that also ties in the lives of many other characters. Some of these names will even be familiar to Lovecraft and Horror/SFF aficionados, but first we begin this story with the tragedy of Dr. Marina Willett and her husband Charlie.
It all started with The Erotonomicon. Said to be the erotic diary of H.P. Lovecraft but later claimed to be a hoax, almost all copies are said to be destroyed back in the 50s, but somehow Charlie manages to track one down. As a life-long speculative fiction fan and a writer by trade, Charlie wants to make his next book an investigative piece about the diary, a decision that ends up plunging him into an all-consuming obsession with Lovecraft, much to Marina’s dismay. At the heart of Charlie’s project is a particular entry written in The Erotonomicon about a summer in 1934 involving Lovecraft and his friend Robert Barlow, a gay sixteen-year-old fan with whom the author stayed for a number of weeks while on a visit to Florida. Later known as the author and anthropologist R.H. Barlow, Robert also ended up collaborating with Lovecraft on several stories including “The Night Ocean”, which this book is named for.
Determined to find out the truth about Lovecraft and Barlow’s relationship, Charlie sets out on a continent-spanning journey to find out everything he can about what really happened between the two men that summer in Florida. However, Charlie’s obsession ultimately leads him to his downfall, and after suffering depression and anxiety, he checks himself into a hospital at the urging of his wife. Not long after that, he escapes into the wilderness and disappears without a trace. The note he left made it pretty clear to everyone that Charlie had planned and carried out his suicide, but Marina finds this difficult to accept. Holding on to the belief that her husband is still alive, she retraces his steps for the last two years, going to the places he visited and talking to the people he interviewed for his book, all in the hopes that it will shed some light on where she might find Charlie.
Quite frankly, describing the story any more than this would be a downright nightmare because I would be at an absolute loss as to how to keep going. The Night Ocean is one strange book, difficult to summarize and classify since it is made up of so many perspectives and interconnecting parts. The overall concept behind the novel is certainly ambitious and ingenious, but the way the story is presented will probably make it seem unfocused. Even though the entire book is told through Marina’s eyes, I would say the first half of the book is about Charlie—but also not—while the second half is about Marina—and yet also not. Yes, I’m aware of how confusing this sounds, but really at the heart of both threads is a man named L.C. Spinks, the publisher of The Erotonomicon. Is the diary really a hoax? Or if there’s some truth to it, then which parts of it are real and which parts are completely fabricated? The Night Ocean is an intricately woven web of fact and fiction, combining Paul La Farge’s rich imagination with the results of what must have been hours upon hours of painstaking research on his part.
And how does H.P. Lovecraft play into all this, you ask? Well, last summer I read and really enjoyed a novel called I Am Providence by Nick Mamatas, and even though it and The Night Ocean could not be any more different in tone and style, I still found it impossible not to draw parallels between these two books. Perhaps it is because they are both “Lovecraftian fiction” in the atypical sense; rather than playing directly off of HPL’s large body of works and the mythos he had created, they instead took an almost meta-fiction approach, both narratives coming up with a unique way to explore the author’s life and work through the lens of fandom. After all, one can hardly provide a full picture of Lovecraft’s legacy without recognizing the activities and creations of his highly dedicated fans, a cult following which has been growing since the 40s and 50s—fanzines, conventions, internet clubs and groups, etc. The Night Ocean is a book of many layers and components, and yes, there are parts of the story which deal with the nature of the fan community, presenting both its wonderful and ugly sides.
All told, I had a shockingly good time with this book. Because of its tangled nature, I doubt it going to be for everyone, but still, I highly recommend it if the description interests you. While I found the author’s writing style somewhat quirky and disjointed, I nevertheless managed to get into the rhythm of the story quickly, becoming mesmerized by extraordinary lives of these characters. There’s a lot of pain and heartbreak within these pages, but also a surprising amount of tenderness and beauty that I had not expected to find in a book featuring Lovecraft as a key figure. And even though there’s a lot of ambiguity in the story—a fact that often vexes me—in this case, I believe it might actually add to the book’s mystique.
At once frustrating and rewarding, The Night Ocean is alternate history on a completely new and innovative level. Easily one of the more clever, intense, and haunting books I’ve read so far this year, and its ending will likely stay with me for a long, long time.
October 9, 2018
I'm on a roll. This is the 17th book I've given one star to so either:
1. I'm being stricter, meaner or just plain vicious with my ratings.
2. I'm having crappy luck picking good books.
3. More crappy books are being published.
Or a little bit of each...
Either way, I only have myself to blame because I didn't heed the warning reviews from my fellow Goodreaders.
The Night Ocean is centered around an author, Charlie, and his obsession with renowned horror author H.P. Lovecraft and his possible teen paramour.
After disappearing from a psychiatric facility, his estranged wife, Marina, is left to pick up the pieces of the literary puzzle and find out what led to her husband's breakdown.
Sounds interesting, right, but the blurb is the only part that is intriguing.
Unfortunately, the story is not mysterious or thrilling but really about the weakness of men, meandering, rambling discourses on politics, liars, stolen identifies, obsession with homosexuality, and did I mention boring?
Wow, SOOOO boring. There are:
Boring recaps from the POV of Marina. I didn't care about her or Charlie or anyone else mentioned; past, present or future.
Boring, long winded narratives of Lovecraft's relationship with Robert Barlow, his biggest fan and possible paramour and do we care?
Boring accounts of Barlow's life written in the form of notes and/or interview form.
Boring, rambling conversations and constant name dropping with the famous or soon to be famous.
And let's not forget, Charlie's adultering because its the favorite literary device of almost all authors.
All I can say is, Lovecraft may have been a total douche and to all future readers:
RUN, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN FROM THIS BOOK unless you can't sleep, then by all means, pick up The Night Ocean.
1. I'm being stricter, meaner or just plain vicious with my ratings.
2. I'm having crappy luck picking good books.
3. More crappy books are being published.
Or a little bit of each...
Either way, I only have myself to blame because I didn't heed the warning reviews from my fellow Goodreaders.
The Night Ocean is centered around an author, Charlie, and his obsession with renowned horror author H.P. Lovecraft and his possible teen paramour.
After disappearing from a psychiatric facility, his estranged wife, Marina, is left to pick up the pieces of the literary puzzle and find out what led to her husband's breakdown.
Sounds interesting, right, but the blurb is the only part that is intriguing.
Unfortunately, the story is not mysterious or thrilling but really about the weakness of men, meandering, rambling discourses on politics, liars, stolen identifies, obsession with homosexuality, and did I mention boring?
Wow, SOOOO boring. There are:
Boring recaps from the POV of Marina. I didn't care about her or Charlie or anyone else mentioned; past, present or future.
Boring, long winded narratives of Lovecraft's relationship with Robert Barlow, his biggest fan and possible paramour and do we care?
Boring accounts of Barlow's life written in the form of notes and/or interview form.
Boring, rambling conversations and constant name dropping with the famous or soon to be famous.
And let's not forget, Charlie's adultering because its the favorite literary device of almost all authors.
All I can say is, Lovecraft may have been a total douche and to all future readers:
RUN, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN FROM THIS BOOK unless you can't sleep, then by all means, pick up The Night Ocean.
March 9, 2017
Sometimes – okay, fairly often – I will get an encouraging message from Goodreads dba Amazon, something like this: Based on your I-hated-this-book-so-much-I-wanted-to-slash-my-throat shelf, we’d like to recommend . . . . As if they could get rid of me with just one more bodice-ripper. Ha!
But, lo, just last week, my inbox yielded one of their ‘New books by authors you have read’ ticklers. And there was the name: PAUL LA FARGE. Well. I, along with at least four other people, had read and loved Haussmann, or the Distinction. And, I note parenthetically, I do not believe a single one of my many GR friends, nor the handful of my real-life friends, was moved to read it based on my glowing review. But it took me all of 90 seconds to hit the BUY NOW button so that I could have it in hand the day of release. And I cleared my calendar.
I posted this in an update progress, but it’s a good starting point:
The worst mistake you can make is to see another person through the lens of your prejudices. And the second-worst mistake is to think you aren’t looking through the lens of your prejudices.
The characters here will test you: Anti-Semites, communist-dabblers, pederasts (maybe), liars, cheaters. Yes, I have my prejudices.
The novel is based upon the ‘relationship’ between the author H.P. Lovecraft and his 16 year-old fan, Robert Barlow. You will draw your own conclusions. And, no, you don’t have to have read Lovecraft. I haven’t; and this book gave me no urge to.
Most of what I read was gibberish and some of it was cynical trash; but here and there, I found sentences and paragraphs that rhymed with what I myself experienced. It became clear to me that these books were describing the same thing under many names: transmigration, reincarnation, metempsychosis, and even possession, all meant but one thing, which was, that under certain circumstances, the soul could move from one body to another.
Too David Mitchell for you? La Farge never brings out the zap guns. What he does, instead, is to tell the same story in varied forms: by impersonators, forgers, maybe the insane. And you will be on the edge of your seat.
Have you stood on a beach at night, looking out into the dark, infinite ocean. A bit scary, isn’t it? This book will make you set your drink in the sand, kick off your shoes or more, and step in to see what’s there.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
This novel didn’t have the great language that I found in Haussmann. But it had its moments, and I would be remiss not to offer a sample:
Luiza laughed. “I am sick of being a teacher! You have no idea how hard it is. You come in, Hello class, and there, you have all these dull little faces looking at you, like puddings. You work and work, and still, they are pudding!” “You’re not a pudding,” I pointed out. “I was never a pudding,” Luiza said. “The world is divided that way. Pudding and not. It isn’t fair, but I don’t see why I should have to fix it.”
Or two:
"Did we just pay fifteen dollars for a bowl of bean sprouts?” He poked at them with his chopsticks. “On closer observation,” he said, “I see they aren’t ordinary bean sprouts, though. They were grown by Trappist monks, and educated under the Montessori system.” “How can you tell?” I asked, foolishly. “Because they don’t speak,” Charlie said, “and they took their time showing up.”
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
Like Haussmann, this has a great, great cover.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
We ask authors to take chances. La Farge takes chances.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
I kind of liked La Farge being my relatively own literary secret, but it appears the secret is out now. So, okay, go ahead and read this.
But, lo, just last week, my inbox yielded one of their ‘New books by authors you have read’ ticklers. And there was the name: PAUL LA FARGE. Well. I, along with at least four other people, had read and loved Haussmann, or the Distinction. And, I note parenthetically, I do not believe a single one of my many GR friends, nor the handful of my real-life friends, was moved to read it based on my glowing review. But it took me all of 90 seconds to hit the BUY NOW button so that I could have it in hand the day of release. And I cleared my calendar.
I posted this in an update progress, but it’s a good starting point:
The worst mistake you can make is to see another person through the lens of your prejudices. And the second-worst mistake is to think you aren’t looking through the lens of your prejudices.
The characters here will test you: Anti-Semites, communist-dabblers, pederasts (maybe), liars, cheaters. Yes, I have my prejudices.
The novel is based upon the ‘relationship’ between the author H.P. Lovecraft and his 16 year-old fan, Robert Barlow. You will draw your own conclusions. And, no, you don’t have to have read Lovecraft. I haven’t; and this book gave me no urge to.
Most of what I read was gibberish and some of it was cynical trash; but here and there, I found sentences and paragraphs that rhymed with what I myself experienced. It became clear to me that these books were describing the same thing under many names: transmigration, reincarnation, metempsychosis, and even possession, all meant but one thing, which was, that under certain circumstances, the soul could move from one body to another.
Too David Mitchell for you? La Farge never brings out the zap guns. What he does, instead, is to tell the same story in varied forms: by impersonators, forgers, maybe the insane. And you will be on the edge of your seat.
Have you stood on a beach at night, looking out into the dark, infinite ocean. A bit scary, isn’t it? This book will make you set your drink in the sand, kick off your shoes or more, and step in to see what’s there.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
This novel didn’t have the great language that I found in Haussmann. But it had its moments, and I would be remiss not to offer a sample:
Luiza laughed. “I am sick of being a teacher! You have no idea how hard it is. You come in, Hello class, and there, you have all these dull little faces looking at you, like puddings. You work and work, and still, they are pudding!” “You’re not a pudding,” I pointed out. “I was never a pudding,” Luiza said. “The world is divided that way. Pudding and not. It isn’t fair, but I don’t see why I should have to fix it.”
Or two:
"Did we just pay fifteen dollars for a bowl of bean sprouts?” He poked at them with his chopsticks. “On closer observation,” he said, “I see they aren’t ordinary bean sprouts, though. They were grown by Trappist monks, and educated under the Montessori system.” “How can you tell?” I asked, foolishly. “Because they don’t speak,” Charlie said, “and they took their time showing up.”
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
Like Haussmann, this has a great, great cover.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
We ask authors to take chances. La Farge takes chances.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____
I kind of liked La Farge being my relatively own literary secret, but it appears the secret is out now. So, okay, go ahead and read this.
February 7, 2017
Review: THE NIGHT OCEAN by Paul LaFarge
A stunning and complex novel. THE NIGHT OCEAN is an extraordinary literary contribution to fiction focusing on the life of Weird Fiction icon H. P. Lovecraft. It has impacted me as powerfully as did Jacqueline Baker' s THE BROKEN HOUR, published in April 2016. Both novels vivify, but not idolize, HPL, who as an individual was troubled, often fearful, and certainly not politically correct.
THE NIGHT OCEAN, in its exploration of "truths" in Lovecraft' s life, on a deeper level explores Truth in abstract. Stories founded on hoaxes founded on lies-triggered by revenge? Jealousy? Egotism? Hatred? Love? Along the way we are treated to Pre-World War II Hungary and Canada and New York City, the rise of science fiction fandom, the early maneuvers of famous names in science fiction, the aftermath of a concentration camp, and academia in Mexico City post-World War II. We see the rampage of McCarthyism, anti-Communism, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. An intense theme throughout is reputations--how they are constructed and how they are trashed, both subtly and blatantly. Always underlying all is the 20th century's received views on homosexuality, and the costs for those for whom this is the preferred orientation.
A stunning and complex novel. THE NIGHT OCEAN is an extraordinary literary contribution to fiction focusing on the life of Weird Fiction icon H. P. Lovecraft. It has impacted me as powerfully as did Jacqueline Baker' s THE BROKEN HOUR, published in April 2016. Both novels vivify, but not idolize, HPL, who as an individual was troubled, often fearful, and certainly not politically correct.
THE NIGHT OCEAN, in its exploration of "truths" in Lovecraft' s life, on a deeper level explores Truth in abstract. Stories founded on hoaxes founded on lies-triggered by revenge? Jealousy? Egotism? Hatred? Love? Along the way we are treated to Pre-World War II Hungary and Canada and New York City, the rise of science fiction fandom, the early maneuvers of famous names in science fiction, the aftermath of a concentration camp, and academia in Mexico City post-World War II. We see the rampage of McCarthyism, anti-Communism, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. An intense theme throughout is reputations--how they are constructed and how they are trashed, both subtly and blatantly. Always underlying all is the 20th century's received views on homosexuality, and the costs for those for whom this is the preferred orientation.
March 31, 2017
At any point during the reading of this book, I could have set it down, not finished it, and it wouldn't have bothered me at all. It is fairly decently written, but I am at a quandary just FOR whom it is written. There can't be all that many readers interested in not only the minutiae of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft's life, but also that of tangential figures Robert Barlow and Leo Spinks. La Farge structures his historical novel as a series of nesting dolls - we get first Lovecraft's story, then Barlow's, then Spink's, all wrapped up in the fictional framework of Dr. Marina Willett's attempt to ferret out the disappearance of her husband Charlie, a Lovecraft devotee. All of these eventually prove to be somewhat shaggy dog stories, as each story turns out to be more fiction than fact - but this really isn't enough to wade through reams and reams of superfluous information about these figures - it reads like the longest, most boring Wikipedia entry ever.
February 6, 2017
All I can say is Wow! LaFarge crams a lot into his story. You have Lovecraft and his circle, World War II, Mexican History, William S. Burroughs and so much more.
I don't want to spoil the massive page turner that this was. As soon as it becomes available try and find a copy.
I don't want to spoil the massive page turner that this was. As soon as it becomes available try and find a copy.
March 13, 2017
As other readers have noted: "Pretty soon, I got lost in the details of the story - and not in a good way...I'm sure I missed something somewhere but for the life of me, I couldn't fathom the point of this story."
Advertising it as a mystery about a wife's disbelief that her husband committed suicide and her attempt to get to the truth was quite the lie. Instead, it's boring fact after boring fact about Lovecraft and whether or not he was gay, and chapter after chapter of the author presenting info that may or may not be true. If La Farge really wanted to write a bio about H.P. , he should have just done that. As it is, Lovecraft was at best a mediocre writer; trying to portray him as an incredibly intriguing figure who was so interesting that someone may have killed themselves because they got lost the story of this misunderstood genius (he sounds, instead, like an egotistical misanthrope) is silly.
In short, hardly as advertised and was a waste of my time...although I found it a great soporific!
Advertising it as a mystery about a wife's disbelief that her husband committed suicide and her attempt to get to the truth was quite the lie. Instead, it's boring fact after boring fact about Lovecraft and whether or not he was gay, and chapter after chapter of the author presenting info that may or may not be true. If La Farge really wanted to write a bio about H.P. , he should have just done that. As it is, Lovecraft was at best a mediocre writer; trying to portray him as an incredibly intriguing figure who was so interesting that someone may have killed themselves because they got lost the story of this misunderstood genius (he sounds, instead, like an egotistical misanthrope) is silly.
In short, hardly as advertised and was a waste of my time...although I found it a great soporific!
July 29, 2023
The Night Ocean is not horror, even though the shadow of H.P. Lovecraft hovers over its nested stories. And in fact, that connection was something I was apprehensive about, as I’ve never got on very well with Lovecraftian or cosmic horror. So I had a strange, back-to-front experience with this book: I wanted to read it because I thought it was a horror story, yet in the end, it was all the better for not being a horror story at all – except in the most mundane of ways.
This is a labyrinthine series of narratives within narratives. A psychiatrist tries to find out whether her missing husband, a writer, is really dead, or has faked his own suicide. We then follow the story of the writer, Charlie, chiefly the publication of his only successful book, an exposé of Lovecraft’s supposed affair with a young male fan. The book was based on a diary that may have been an elaborate hoax – and we learn a few versions of that story too. And the final question: have we been inside someone else’s story this whole time?
Every part of this is captivating. I fell into it as soon as I started reading and I found the force of the narrative irresistible. It’s really an investigative story: an excavation not so much of facts as of people (many of whom, contrary to what I thought at the beginning, were real figures in the story of Lovecraft’s life). There are hints of a haunting but this, too, is rooted in reality. It’s the sort of combination I could read forever.
Books I thought about while reading The Night Ocean: Laura van den Berg’s The Third Hotel; Hugo Wilcken’s The Reflection; N.J. Campbell’s Found Audio; Catriona Ward’s Looking Glass Sound. All quite different, but all, like this, deceptively complex; stories that aren’t what they appear.
This is a labyrinthine series of narratives within narratives. A psychiatrist tries to find out whether her missing husband, a writer, is really dead, or has faked his own suicide. We then follow the story of the writer, Charlie, chiefly the publication of his only successful book, an exposé of Lovecraft’s supposed affair with a young male fan. The book was based on a diary that may have been an elaborate hoax – and we learn a few versions of that story too. And the final question: have we been inside someone else’s story this whole time?
Every part of this is captivating. I fell into it as soon as I started reading and I found the force of the narrative irresistible. It’s really an investigative story: an excavation not so much of facts as of people (many of whom, contrary to what I thought at the beginning, were real figures in the story of Lovecraft’s life). There are hints of a haunting but this, too, is rooted in reality. It’s the sort of combination I could read forever.
Books I thought about while reading The Night Ocean: Laura van den Berg’s The Third Hotel; Hugo Wilcken’s The Reflection; N.J. Campbell’s Found Audio; Catriona Ward’s Looking Glass Sound. All quite different, but all, like this, deceptively complex; stories that aren’t what they appear.
March 18, 2017
This book reads as if La Farge wanted to write a realistic novel about a troubled marriage between a psychoanalyst and a hipster, but he got bored with his characters (can't blame him, to be honest) and decided to expand it into a roman a clef about semi-obscure 20th Century literary figures. Maybe La Farge thinks that his two epic digressions, which provide contradictory accounts of the same McCarthy-era scandal, comprise some sort of meta-comment on the nature of storytelling. Actually, it's a lot of highbrow gossip. William S. Burroughs shows up in both flashbacks for no discernible purpose other than to demonstrate how well La Farge can imitate Burroughs' speaking style. La Farge also does a fairly impressive HP Lovecraft impression, for whatever that's worth. I have no idea of La Farge is capable of writing with an original viewpoint, but really, "The Night Ocean" doesn't make me all that curious.
December 14, 2016
After some inner turmoil, I decided to go down the middle with a three star rating for this book. I hated the beginning of it and that persisted until nearly the halfway point in the story, where I began to see the rest of the tale, and the point in the story emerge.
Whilst I tend to love literary tales and especially ones that involve mysterious history, the language in this book made it a struggle to slog through until I could adjust to it. The author did a good job telling the story, but there were times when I thought the book was rather dry and devoid of interesting events to keep it moving along. In between those stretches though, was some fantastic writing.
I have no doubt there will be many that find this book to be one of the best ones in recent memory, for me though, it was difficult to decide on. The things I loved about it, I really loved and the rest, well...meh.
I encourage others to read and review this book, as it is certainly not your average reading experience.
This review is based on a complementary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Whilst I tend to love literary tales and especially ones that involve mysterious history, the language in this book made it a struggle to slog through until I could adjust to it. The author did a good job telling the story, but there were times when I thought the book was rather dry and devoid of interesting events to keep it moving along. In between those stretches though, was some fantastic writing.
I have no doubt there will be many that find this book to be one of the best ones in recent memory, for me though, it was difficult to decide on. The things I loved about it, I really loved and the rest, well...meh.
I encourage others to read and review this book, as it is certainly not your average reading experience.
This review is based on a complementary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
January 2, 2021
Well that was odd.
I loved Carter & Lovecraft so when this story came up on NetGalley I couldn't resist. A psychiatrist’s husband becomes obsessed with Lovecraft then mysteriously disappears?!?! I cried Cthulhu and sat down to read some spooky supernatural stuff.
Yeah, that wasn't this book.
This book is about the lives and loves of homosexual writers of the 30s through 50s with a little Keyser Söze thrown in. It was interesting in a life-is-sometime-stranger-than-fiction way but I did not enjoy reading about the sex lives of real and unattractive odd people.
If you read this as an LGBT book you might get more out of it. Me, I was just glad it was short.
I loved Carter & Lovecraft so when this story came up on NetGalley I couldn't resist. A psychiatrist’s husband becomes obsessed with Lovecraft then mysteriously disappears?!?! I cried Cthulhu and sat down to read some spooky supernatural stuff.
Yeah, that wasn't this book.
This book is about the lives and loves of homosexual writers of the 30s through 50s with a little Keyser Söze thrown in. It was interesting in a life-is-sometime-stranger-than-fiction way but I did not enjoy reading about the sex lives of real and unattractive odd people.
If you read this as an LGBT book you might get more out of it. Me, I was just glad it was short.
February 24, 2017
Within 20 pages of the opening of The Night Ocean, I was angry at the book and angry with Paul La Farge, for taking liberties with historical figures in the manner of Mark Binelli's Screamin' Jay Hawkins' All-Time Greatest Hits. As the tidal rhythm of the book grabbed me, the mesmerizing grip of the story couldn't be denied. By the closing chapter, however, I was angry once more with the seemingly endless deceptive layers of the antihero L.C. Spinks. But then I read the author's acknowledgements and got a better sense of what might have been true. I then realized what an important book La Farge has written.
The Night Ocean may be the iconic book for 2017 because it defines Fake News. It shows us how even verified historical realities might be twisted beyond recognition by people who have a deep-seated distrust and hatred of other humans. It erects cautionary signs to journalists and historians to always leave room for being deceived. (In fact, our vanished protagonist Charlie Willett displays the precise habit to avoid practicing in a deception. During a television interview, Charlie employs the tactic used by most in the hyper-polarized 21st century: When you are confronted with irrefutable errors you have made, simply call your challenger crazy. Why not? Most of us harbor the belief that at least half our fellow humans are crazy anyway, let's just say so out loud and go back to tribal warfare.)
On its simplest level, the book follows the waning years of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and the nature of his relationship with a teenage obsessed fan, Robert Barlow. It follows the history of a Lovecraft diary of 1937 that may have been the product of the writer himself, the obsessive Barlow, or a Canadian sci-fi fan named L.C. Spinks. La Farge grounds the novel in several obscure but verifiable facts, but shows us that it may be impossible for even the intrepid historian to discover what happened in what we like to call the real world.
The lives of Barlow and Spinks intersect with so many mid-century celebrities, including William S. Burroughs, Isaac Asimov, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Whittaker Chambers, Roy Cohn, etc., that some readers may conclude that La Farge provided endless cameo walk-ons to spice up the plot. I'm guessing something different is going on. The lives of well-documented people do indeed interact randomly with those of lesser lights, and the trajectories followed by Barlow and Spinks are perfectly plausible - if true. Then again, as Charlie's wife Marina discovers when she goes on her own vision quest, maybe it's all bullshit. Not just the cameo appearances, not just the obsession with H.P. Lovecraft's private life, but everything we humans thought took place over the last century. What if it is indeed all bullshit? Or as a friend likes to say, what if we all really died in 1997 and what we thought was the 21st century was merely humanity's purgatory? What Marina discovers is that there are few reliable barometers to tell one what is real.
The laser focus on the attempt by the (quasi-fascist? quasi-Trotskyist?) Futurians to take over the New York Science Fiction Convention of 1939 shows us how fans and collectors can get hung up for decades on minor points of history that seem negligible to those around them. But a careful reader will notice something else about that convention. Most historians looking at 1938-39 will think Munich or Hitler-Stalin Pact. Culturalists might think of the New York World's Fair. But there are millions upon millions of humans with their own unique stories built upon their relationships and their involvement in social groups, and some may have critical reference points in their lives that are invisible to most of the population. Who knows, the future of ComiCon may be decided by whether Angela Cartwright shows up at the 2017 San Diego convention. Or the tween-age attendees of BeautyCon may determine which YouTube "celebrities" of fashion become the next Beyonce. In any city, residents may blithely pass by a key convention of anthropologists or architects at a mega-hotel without realizing that they were present (or at least across the street, getting a coffee) at the moment everything changed.
In some ways, the book deserved a full five stars for what it attempts, though the occasional jarring twists between narrators and between types of narration led to temporary unpleasantries in reading. That should not dissuade those who want to dive deep into a study of modern varieties of fraud, however.
Spinks provides first Charlie, then Marina, with the critical turning points of his own life, but in both cases, taints the history with deception. Charlie falls for it. Marina is initially outraged as she realizes what is going on, then references her background as a psychologist to try and understand what could make a person such a sociopath. The fake(?) diary of H.P. Lovecraft stands in for fake news. What would compel a person to make a lifelong career of deception? What is the point in building false histories - self-aggrandizement or a deep-seated hatred of others? Marina knows she will discover no easy answer to this, so she goes swimming in the night ocean, replete with jellyfish that look like Lovecraft's Chthulhu, until someone calls her home. But who is standing at the shore, or is there anyone waving at all?
The Night Ocean may be the iconic book for 2017 because it defines Fake News. It shows us how even verified historical realities might be twisted beyond recognition by people who have a deep-seated distrust and hatred of other humans. It erects cautionary signs to journalists and historians to always leave room for being deceived. (In fact, our vanished protagonist Charlie Willett displays the precise habit to avoid practicing in a deception. During a television interview, Charlie employs the tactic used by most in the hyper-polarized 21st century: When you are confronted with irrefutable errors you have made, simply call your challenger crazy. Why not? Most of us harbor the belief that at least half our fellow humans are crazy anyway, let's just say so out loud and go back to tribal warfare.)
On its simplest level, the book follows the waning years of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and the nature of his relationship with a teenage obsessed fan, Robert Barlow. It follows the history of a Lovecraft diary of 1937 that may have been the product of the writer himself, the obsessive Barlow, or a Canadian sci-fi fan named L.C. Spinks. La Farge grounds the novel in several obscure but verifiable facts, but shows us that it may be impossible for even the intrepid historian to discover what happened in what we like to call the real world.
The lives of Barlow and Spinks intersect with so many mid-century celebrities, including William S. Burroughs, Isaac Asimov, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Whittaker Chambers, Roy Cohn, etc., that some readers may conclude that La Farge provided endless cameo walk-ons to spice up the plot. I'm guessing something different is going on. The lives of well-documented people do indeed interact randomly with those of lesser lights, and the trajectories followed by Barlow and Spinks are perfectly plausible - if true. Then again, as Charlie's wife Marina discovers when she goes on her own vision quest, maybe it's all bullshit. Not just the cameo appearances, not just the obsession with H.P. Lovecraft's private life, but everything we humans thought took place over the last century. What if it is indeed all bullshit? Or as a friend likes to say, what if we all really died in 1997 and what we thought was the 21st century was merely humanity's purgatory? What Marina discovers is that there are few reliable barometers to tell one what is real.
The laser focus on the attempt by the (quasi-fascist? quasi-Trotskyist?) Futurians to take over the New York Science Fiction Convention of 1939 shows us how fans and collectors can get hung up for decades on minor points of history that seem negligible to those around them. But a careful reader will notice something else about that convention. Most historians looking at 1938-39 will think Munich or Hitler-Stalin Pact. Culturalists might think of the New York World's Fair. But there are millions upon millions of humans with their own unique stories built upon their relationships and their involvement in social groups, and some may have critical reference points in their lives that are invisible to most of the population. Who knows, the future of ComiCon may be decided by whether Angela Cartwright shows up at the 2017 San Diego convention. Or the tween-age attendees of BeautyCon may determine which YouTube "celebrities" of fashion become the next Beyonce. In any city, residents may blithely pass by a key convention of anthropologists or architects at a mega-hotel without realizing that they were present (or at least across the street, getting a coffee) at the moment everything changed.
In some ways, the book deserved a full five stars for what it attempts, though the occasional jarring twists between narrators and between types of narration led to temporary unpleasantries in reading. That should not dissuade those who want to dive deep into a study of modern varieties of fraud, however.
Spinks provides first Charlie, then Marina, with the critical turning points of his own life, but in both cases, taints the history with deception. Charlie falls for it. Marina is initially outraged as she realizes what is going on, then references her background as a psychologist to try and understand what could make a person such a sociopath. The fake(?) diary of H.P. Lovecraft stands in for fake news. What would compel a person to make a lifelong career of deception? What is the point in building false histories - self-aggrandizement or a deep-seated hatred of others? Marina knows she will discover no easy answer to this, so she goes swimming in the night ocean, replete with jellyfish that look like Lovecraft's Chthulhu, until someone calls her home. But who is standing at the shore, or is there anyone waving at all?
January 14, 2021
I suppose this would have been doubly interesting, had I been a fan of H. P. Lovecraft or, at the very least, read any of his work. I am not and have not. But be that as it may, this still made for good reading. Charlie likes to write investigative essays, journalistic. A seeker. He starts on a Lovecraft journey, segueing the orbit about him. Deeper and father, as his wife, Marina narrates. She works in the psychiatric field. She knows obsession. Charlie becomes quite so. Finding those lost (intentionally & not) from Lovecraft’s realm is impressive in his sleuthing. But in finding them, he loses himself until he is gone. But is he? Marina does not believe being told it may have been suicide. Does not believe he is gone.
This is her telling us what led up to and the after. It’s interesting to read so much about Lovecraft, even when embellished. A man who still holds court in the Sci-Fi world with a diehard following. I’m not a fan of the genre, but do like to read about authors. This sure fits the Bill.
This is her telling us what led up to and the after. It’s interesting to read so much about Lovecraft, even when embellished. A man who still holds court in the Sci-Fi world with a diehard following. I’m not a fan of the genre, but do like to read about authors. This sure fits the Bill.
October 21, 2020
*****SPOILERS*****
Release Date: March 7th, 2017
Genre: Historical fiction/Suspense
Rating: 🎃 0.25
About the book: Marina Willett, M.D., has a problem. Her husband, Charlie, has become obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, in particular with one episode in the legendary horror writer's life: In the summer of 1934, the "old gent" lived for two months with a gay teenage fan named Robert Barlow, at Barlow's family home in central Florida. What were the two of them up to? Were they friends--or something more? Just when Charlie thinks he's solved the puzzle, a new scandal erupts, and he disappears. The police say it's suicide. Marina is a psychiatrist, and she doesn't believe them.
What I Liked:
1. The plot sounded awesome.
What I Didn't Like:
1. It's boring
2. Promises a story and then switches it into something completely different.
3. Did I say boring?
Overall Thoughts: What I thought I was getting was a story about a man who became obsessed with HP Lovecraft so much so he died (killed/suicide?) but what I got was a boring drawn out story about a fictitious background story of HP Lovecraft and Barlow. How disappointing. It started out so interesting and I wanted to know the mystery of what happened to Charlie not a fake autobiography of HP Lovecraft. Also what's with reminding us that Charlie was black at moments where it did not matter?...
Final Thoughts: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz😴. Great book to fall asleep to.
Release Date: March 7th, 2017
Genre: Historical fiction/Suspense
Rating: 🎃 0.25
About the book: Marina Willett, M.D., has a problem. Her husband, Charlie, has become obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, in particular with one episode in the legendary horror writer's life: In the summer of 1934, the "old gent" lived for two months with a gay teenage fan named Robert Barlow, at Barlow's family home in central Florida. What were the two of them up to? Were they friends--or something more? Just when Charlie thinks he's solved the puzzle, a new scandal erupts, and he disappears. The police say it's suicide. Marina is a psychiatrist, and she doesn't believe them.
What I Liked:
1. The plot sounded awesome.
What I Didn't Like:
1. It's boring
2. Promises a story and then switches it into something completely different.
3. Did I say boring?
Overall Thoughts: What I thought I was getting was a story about a man who became obsessed with HP Lovecraft so much so he died (killed/suicide?) but what I got was a boring drawn out story about a fictitious background story of HP Lovecraft and Barlow. How disappointing. It started out so interesting and I wanted to know the mystery of what happened to Charlie not a fake autobiography of HP Lovecraft. Also what's with reminding us that Charlie was black at moments where it did not matter?...
Final Thoughts: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz😴. Great book to fall asleep to.
January 3, 2018
“Wherever he looked, he found a false floor of facts over a yawning basement of legend, the floor of which was also false.”
The original “The Night Ocean” (1936) by Robert Barlow was about a weary artist who struggles with loneliness. He visits a remote resort town while he awaits the results of an art competition. During this time the town is plagued by multiple drownings. As the town empties out at the end of the season he sees figures on the beach but as he calls out to them they vanish seemingly into thin air. As fall besets the town with its colder days and darker nights, he sees what appears to be a man carrying another man disappear into the ocean. The mystery as to who these figures are and what they want is never answered.
“He looks at the ocean, day after day, and he knows that he’ll never understand it, let alone master it, but there it is. The horrible ocean.”
“We, all of us, are insignificant from a cosmic point of view . . . We will vanish from the Earth, the artist says, but the ocean will be around forever.”
“The Night Ocean pretends to be a story about how little we matter to a world that will go on without us but in fact I think it is about how without love we must despair. The creature in the ocean is Barlow, and the artist on the shore is HPL, looking bleakly at a world of delight which he fears to enter.” – La Farge
Like a Russian matryoshka, The Night Ocean is a gift that unwraps itself one storyline line nestled inside another. With parallels to Lovecraft’s short story “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”, The Night Ocean is a cautionary tale of obsession. The 1927 tale begins with Ward’s disappearance from a psychiatric ward but is primarily focused on the good doctor, Marinus Bicknell Willet’s, investigation on Charles’ behavior before the incident. Although La Farge obviously draws from this work – even the character’s names are similar – this is merely the tip of the iceberg. Underlying this surface is an historical fiction about H. P. Lovecraft, the people of his time, his works and his fandom. Beneath this is a metafiction with the Erotonomicon, an imagined narrative of Lovecraft’s homosexual predilections, at center stage. Deeper still is a psychological analysis about the significance of love in humanness and for humanity.
“To see something, you had to be outside of it, but when you were outside of it, you couldn’t see it for what it was.”
Charlie Willett is a fact checker for Village Voice who is “good at immersing himself in obscure and beautiful facts.” It is this part of his persona that leads him down the path towards psychosis. He gets so wrapped up in the details of Lovecraft’s literary and personal lives that he loses grasp of his own.
“Then with an interior thunderclap, Reason saw – there was no reason.”
After he disappears from a mental institution, it is his psychiatrist wife Marina that investigates his research on H. P. Lovecraft and his apprentice Robert Barlow. Her hope is that she hasn’t overlooked signs of her husband’s desperation. Her inner plea is that - like other figures in the sci-fi literary world - Charlie has committed pseuicide; faking his death until the world is a more hospitable place, more forgiving.
“Learning the truth . . . drove me further into despair; but, strangely, despair drove me closer to revelation.”
A significant figure in this work is Leo Spinks whom both Charlie and Marina interview. Where does truth lie? That is the real mystery of this novel. Within each intricate layer of this book are hoaxes, outright lies and half-truths. How does the mind discern the truth when what the heart is taken by the myth?
“Drawn in against my will. Realize: This is how transmigration works. Words take you over. And you may inhabit others in the form of words.”– L.C. Spinks
“What did Spinks mean? . . . Did he believe that books are souls, that writers live on in the bodies of their readers? . . . I wonder if that’s what stories do. I wonder if stories are our way of taking these imperfect humans we’re stuck with on Earth, and making them into people who love us, and whom we can love in return.”
September 8, 2017
Given this option, which would you pick: 1) a month in 1920s Paris with Hemingway and Stein and Channel and the earliest set of Nazis invaders (there pretty much for looting and drugs and sex) or option 2) a month in 1950s Mexico City with Lovecraft, Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg. Cassidy, and probably the largest, and cheapest, variety of sex and drugs in any one place at any one time on planet Earth. I'm going for option 2, mainly because...well, for obvious reasons. But I think the TRUE sexual revolution was a direct results of 1950s Mexica-to-America drugs. Not that I would have participated, of course, but I might have looked up every now and then from whatever book I was reading, just so I'd have really good, solid, stupendously judgmental stories (not included, unfortunately, in this book) to take back to the states at the end of my vacation. Okay, about the book: the opening 100 pages are so are great and made sense then it's pretty much nonsense for 200 pages until someone receives a bite from a jellyfish. At which point I was hoping things would pick up, but alas that was the final page.
July 1, 2017
Very very clever, I suppose, and the first couple of hundred pages held my interest. The invented (within an invention) love story of Lovecraft and Barlow was rather engaging, as were Barlow's misdoings with Burroughs in Mexico City. But then La Farge nested in a few more Russian dolls of misdirection and a few too many footnotes on obscure horror/sci fi writers of the first 1/2 of the 20th century, and I began to feel that reading was a penance, not a pleasure.
Perhaps in my 2nd half-century I will finally realize that life is too short to finish books I really don't like. I toted this one around for an entire vacation, wishing I could will it away.
Perhaps in my 2nd half-century I will finally realize that life is too short to finish books I really don't like. I toted this one around for an entire vacation, wishing I could will it away.
December 20, 2016
The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge is a fantastic Russian nesting doll of a tale. Narratives are within narratives are found within narratives as we read about the lives of real-life authors H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Barlow and fictional character L. C. Spinks. Focusing on early to mid century science fiction fandom, the book doesn't require knowledge of the field, all you need to bring to the table is maybe the idea that there is no such thing as identity and that who one is and who one was might just be a construct. William Burroughs steals the story as one of the supporting characters. Already one of my favorite novels of 2017.
March 16, 2017
La publicidad de esta novela se centra en su personaje más famoso: el escritor H. P. Lovecraft, y al principio la narración parece en efecto la de una investigación del pasado de Lovecraft, y de su supuesta relación homosexual con un fan: Robert Barlow, quien fue luego antropólogo y profesor y murió en la ciudad de México, no sin antes haber dado clases a William Burroughs. (A todo lo largo del texto abundan los cameos de famosos.)
Sin embargo, esta es sólo la primera capa de una historia mucho más compleja: tras la desaparición del periodista que investigaba a Barlow y Lovecraft, una segunda investigación revela una serie de historias cada vez más alejada de esos dos personajes iniciales, y una impostura monstruosa, que altera o destruye con sus mentiras más de una vida real.
La novela, pues, tiene que ver más con una obsesión del presente: la pérdida de la verdad, la disolución de todo sentido de lo real en la época de los "hechos alternativos" y las "burbujas de información". Así, llaman mucho la atención episodios como el de un ataque de trolls de internet, o el de una "caza de brujas" anticomunista en la era del macartismo –otro periodo de ansiedad, persecución y mentiras–, y también la aparición incidental de Roy Cohn, el abogado de reputación infame que, según muchos testimonios, fue mentor de Donald Trump.
La conclusión es ambigua: ocurre en el océano que sirve de metáfora central de la novela, y que puede ser terrible, amenazante, indiferente o simplemente parte del mundo, como los seres humanos.
Un detalle curioso es la semejanza de ciertos pasajes de The Night Ocean con una parte crucial del argumento de la serie de Netflix The OA, creada por Brit Marling y Zal Batmanglij: una y otra historia, interesantes ficciones contemporáneas, comparten angustias.
Sin embargo, esta es sólo la primera capa de una historia mucho más compleja: tras la desaparición del periodista que investigaba a Barlow y Lovecraft, una segunda investigación revela una serie de historias cada vez más alejada de esos dos personajes iniciales, y una impostura monstruosa, que altera o destruye con sus mentiras más de una vida real.
La novela, pues, tiene que ver más con una obsesión del presente: la pérdida de la verdad, la disolución de todo sentido de lo real en la época de los "hechos alternativos" y las "burbujas de información". Así, llaman mucho la atención episodios como el de un ataque de trolls de internet, o el de una "caza de brujas" anticomunista en la era del macartismo –otro periodo de ansiedad, persecución y mentiras–, y también la aparición incidental de Roy Cohn, el abogado de reputación infame que, según muchos testimonios, fue mentor de Donald Trump.
La conclusión es ambigua: ocurre en el océano que sirve de metáfora central de la novela, y que puede ser terrible, amenazante, indiferente o simplemente parte del mundo, como los seres humanos.
Un detalle curioso es la semejanza de ciertos pasajes de The Night Ocean con una parte crucial del argumento de la serie de Netflix The OA, creada por Brit Marling y Zal Batmanglij: una y otra historia, interesantes ficciones contemporáneas, comparten angustias.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2021
Well... that reminded me a LOT of the The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a book which i came to hate due to its waste of potential.
Both are a narrative mess consisting of a series of almost short-stories or tableau's awkwardly stitched together (less so in this however).
Both have various real people wandering in and out of the story.
Both have a jewish character trying and failing to make an impact on the second world war.
Both deal with gay life in the early twentieth century.
Both describe the emergence of a sub-genre of literature, super-hero comics in K&C and Weird fiction/science-fiction in this.
And both interact with the McCarthy era trials.
On the upside at least here i wasn’t wondering at any point if i was reading a YA novel. Also this one does have a thread of plot, its a twisted and knotty thread but it is there. Unlike K&C which is just a series of random things happening.
While there may be a couple of better written sections in K&C than anything here, at least here the writing is consistent and hovers at quite good although never great.
However the changes of plot and what sometimes feels like genre too are really frustrating at times.
Its worst sin for me though is that this is a book which teases the Weird but ultimately has absolutely nothing Weird to show. There's not even like a decent dream sequence or descent into madness or anything.
In the moment this is a perfectly fine, and often compelling work. But the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
Both are a narrative mess consisting of a series of almost short-stories or tableau's awkwardly stitched together (less so in this however).
Both have various real people wandering in and out of the story.
Both have a jewish character trying and failing to make an impact on the second world war.
Both deal with gay life in the early twentieth century.
Both describe the emergence of a sub-genre of literature, super-hero comics in K&C and Weird fiction/science-fiction in this.
And both interact with the McCarthy era trials.
On the upside at least here i wasn’t wondering at any point if i was reading a YA novel. Also this one does have a thread of plot, its a twisted and knotty thread but it is there. Unlike K&C which is just a series of random things happening.
While there may be a couple of better written sections in K&C than anything here, at least here the writing is consistent and hovers at quite good although never great.
However the changes of plot and what sometimes feels like genre too are really frustrating at times.
Its worst sin for me though is that this is a book which teases the Weird but ultimately has absolutely nothing Weird to show. There's not even like a decent dream sequence or descent into madness or anything.
In the moment this is a perfectly fine, and often compelling work. But the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
February 12, 2018
H.P. Lovecraft has been the subject of much scholarship, criticism, and dissection over the past few years, with his pivotal place in modern genre fiction being cast against his infamous views, which are now obligatory to mention in the same breath as his name, because otherwise I suppose someone might read The Call of Cthulhu and not know that the author was a racist. (Personally, I find it rather amazing that in tales of Lovecraft, there are always supposedly fans who never knew what a bigot he was, considering I discovered it in about one hour of research when I wrote an author's biography of him in junior high school.)
The Night Ocean (taking its title after an actual short story written by Lovecraft) is something that if not printed by a reputable publisher would bear a label that is considered a bit unsavory even in the world of fan fiction: "Real Person Fiction." Because that's basically what this novel is - a fictional biography of H.P. Lovecraft in which the "old gent" was queer as a three dollar bill and wrote an erotic gay diary called "The Erotonomicon" in which he describes performing "Yog-Sothoth" and doing "Lesser Summonings" with young black boys on the beach. The metaphors are as subtle, cyclopean, and squamous as anything Lovecraft actually wrote.
If this were just something thrown up on fanfiction.net, you'd go "Ewww" and laugh at what perverted imaginations fan fiction authors have. But Paul La Farge actually turns this into a metatextual mystery with literary layers upon layers. You see, The Erotonomicon may or may not be a fake. The novel begins with Marina Willett, a doctor whose African-American journalist husband disappeared while researching H.P. Lovecraft's life. This leads her on a journey through miles and decades, trying to uncover the mystery of Robert Barlow, a teenage fan whom Lovecraft apparently visited in Florida, and then L.C. Spinks, a Lovecraft scholar who claims to have known Lovecraft and owns a copy of the Erotonomicon. In the process we read accounts by Lovecraft, by Barlow, by Spinks, inserting famous figures from the pulp era, ranging from William S. Burroughs to Isaac Asimov, early sci-fi fandom, and of course, closeted gay romps aplenty. All of which sets us up for the final questions at the end - was the Erotonomicon real? Did Robert Barlow fake his own death? Did Marina's husband find L.C. Spinks? And what happened to him?
It's a complex, layered story. But alas, it did not really appeal to me, despite being a fan of (most) things Lovecraft and particularly meta stories about Lovecraft fandom. Unlike, say Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff or I Am Providence by Nick Mamatas, The Night Ocean isn't so much a mystery as a piece of literary performance art, well-rendered and well-researched but still reading like an over-written piece of Lovecraft RPF. A Lovecraft critique for the 21st century or a pretentious gay soap opera? It's a little of both.
The Night Ocean (taking its title after an actual short story written by Lovecraft) is something that if not printed by a reputable publisher would bear a label that is considered a bit unsavory even in the world of fan fiction: "Real Person Fiction." Because that's basically what this novel is - a fictional biography of H.P. Lovecraft in which the "old gent" was queer as a three dollar bill and wrote an erotic gay diary called "The Erotonomicon" in which he describes performing "Yog-Sothoth" and doing "Lesser Summonings" with young black boys on the beach. The metaphors are as subtle, cyclopean, and squamous as anything Lovecraft actually wrote.
If this were just something thrown up on fanfiction.net, you'd go "Ewww" and laugh at what perverted imaginations fan fiction authors have. But Paul La Farge actually turns this into a metatextual mystery with literary layers upon layers. You see, The Erotonomicon may or may not be a fake. The novel begins with Marina Willett, a doctor whose African-American journalist husband disappeared while researching H.P. Lovecraft's life. This leads her on a journey through miles and decades, trying to uncover the mystery of Robert Barlow, a teenage fan whom Lovecraft apparently visited in Florida, and then L.C. Spinks, a Lovecraft scholar who claims to have known Lovecraft and owns a copy of the Erotonomicon. In the process we read accounts by Lovecraft, by Barlow, by Spinks, inserting famous figures from the pulp era, ranging from William S. Burroughs to Isaac Asimov, early sci-fi fandom, and of course, closeted gay romps aplenty. All of which sets us up for the final questions at the end - was the Erotonomicon real? Did Robert Barlow fake his own death? Did Marina's husband find L.C. Spinks? And what happened to him?
It's a complex, layered story. But alas, it did not really appeal to me, despite being a fan of (most) things Lovecraft and particularly meta stories about Lovecraft fandom. Unlike, say Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff or I Am Providence by Nick Mamatas, The Night Ocean isn't so much a mystery as a piece of literary performance art, well-rendered and well-researched but still reading like an over-written piece of Lovecraft RPF. A Lovecraft critique for the 21st century or a pretentious gay soap opera? It's a little of both.
June 20, 2017
The overall plot was original, the interweaving of fictional and historical characters was interesting and the writing was good enough to keep me from quitting, although about halfway through I started speed reading, just to find out how it all ends. The interminable quarrels of the Futurists and other Lovecraft fans were deadly dull, and the characters ranged from detached (Marina & Charlie), to unpleasant (Barlow, Spinks) to downright yucky (all the minor character Lovecraft fans). I’m not a reader that has to like the characters in a book, but there was something musty and repellent about all of them that rubbed me the wrong way. I’ve never read any Lovecraft and I’m not a fan of horror so I’m probably not the right reader for this book. But I do think this author is talented, and I really liked the scenes set in WWII Europe. I’m not turned off by this author, just this particular book.
Note to self, don’t trust back cover author blurbs if their praise is over the top. I think the blurbs are either satires written by authors who resent being forced by their publishers to blurb books they don’t want to read, or they’re simply easy marketing for the blurber - ‘If you like my blurb you’ll love my books”. It seems like Gary Shteyngart has blurbed every hardcover I ever pick up, and I suspect he's gotten to the point where he doesn’t even pretend to have read the book and just writes hyperbole to entertain himself.
Note to self, don’t trust back cover author blurbs if their praise is over the top. I think the blurbs are either satires written by authors who resent being forced by their publishers to blurb books they don’t want to read, or they’re simply easy marketing for the blurber - ‘If you like my blurb you’ll love my books”. It seems like Gary Shteyngart has blurbed every hardcover I ever pick up, and I suspect he's gotten to the point where he doesn’t even pretend to have read the book and just writes hyperbole to entertain himself.
March 6, 2017
Having never read anything by H.P. Lovecraft (but everything by Paul LaFarge) I was a little skeptical if I would be able to keep up and understand the little nuances that an author, writing about another author, may include. I was blown away. The Night Ocean is so amazingly told, brilliantly written and unputdownable that one should start it on a Friday night and cancel all the plans you have for the weekend until you finish (this is assuming you have a "9 to 5er" job which doesn't allow you to do nothing but read for 48 hrs). Yes, it's that thrilling. LaFarge continues to be one of our greatest story tellers writing today.
If you've read even a little of Lovecraft you'll love the familiar characters and even the fictional ones that LaFarge includes to push the story from one place to another (figuratively and literally). Enjoy.
If you've read even a little of Lovecraft you'll love the familiar characters and even the fictional ones that LaFarge includes to push the story from one place to another (figuratively and literally). Enjoy.
June 25, 2017
I wanted to love this book - peeling back the cult of Lovecraft, questions of narrative truth, multiple perspectives - but instead I just found it messy and unfulfilling. I wanted the narratives that Barlow/Spinks/whoever spun to be compelling but after a while, I asked myself why I was reading them and why it mattered. Turns out, I didn't particularly care to discover the 'truth' Marina was looking for. As a result, I found that I could gloss over the stories of a young man's intersections (or not) with Lovecraft and the early members of the Weird Fiction scene and not feel as though I'd missed anything.
Perhaps, as such, I did in fact miss quite a bit. But I wasn't so sad about that, all things considered.
Perhaps, as such, I did in fact miss quite a bit. But I wasn't so sad about that, all things considered.
July 22, 2019
A story within a story within a story and lies upon lies. It straddles the line between genres. It's mystery, historical, drama, but also doesn't neatly fit into those categories. Really unique, which means a lot of people will hate it (Lovecraftians because it has Lovecraft in it and others because it's too literary, plus it has many an unlikeable character). Definitely worth a read.
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