THE NIGHT OCEAN By Paul La Farge


The Night Ocean is a mystery disguised as a faux-Lovecraft pastiche. Psychotherapist Marina Willett is married to a creative, but obsessive man named Charlie. Charlie’s latest obsession is with a rare book called the Erotonomicon allegedly written in “code” by H. P. Lovecraft to hide his sexual experiences. Charlie tracks down a copy of the Erotonomicon but that only leads him to the strange characters of Robert Barlow, a teenage fan of Lovecraft who may have had an affair with him, and L. C. Spinks who published the Erotonomicon. Spinks had relationships with the Futurians so Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Donald Wollheim, Frank Belknap Long, and A. E. Van Vogt are part of this story. Like an onion, layers of story peel away to reveal more convoluted stories. The book is narrated by Marina Willett who suspects Charlie is alive despite the evidence he committed suicide after escaping from a mental hospital. Like all things Lovecraftean, Reality becomes very plastic. I enjoyed The Night Ocean and hope Paul La Farge writes more books in this growing genre. GRADE: B+

16 thoughts on “THE NIGHT OCEAN By Paul La Farge

  1. Steve Oerkfitz

    Read this last week. I didn’t care for it as much as you did. Well written but it just lost my interested mid way thru.

    Reply
    1. George Kelley

      Steve, I had to push to finish THE NIGHT OCEAN, too. You’re right about the quality of the writing. But La Farge never creates the creepiness Lovecraft readers expect.

      Reply
  2. Deb

    Don’t really think it’s my cup of tea, but can we pause a moment to just say how amazing that cover is?

    Reply
  3. Jeff Meyerson

    I can hear Rick Robinson groaning already. At first it sounded, nah, not for me, but bringing in the other writers made it sound more interesting, so who knows?

    Lovecraft is becoming as big an industry as Jane Austen! I still think someone needs to bring them together in a book, perhaps using time travel,.

    Reply
      1. george Post author

        Deb, I would love a mashup of Pride and Prejudice and Chthulu! Pride and Prejudice and Zombies didn’t quite do it for me.

  4. George Kelley

    Jeff, THE NIGHT OCEAN received rave reviews in LOCUS. I liked the book, but it lacks the Lovecraftean dread and doom that a lot of readers–like me–are looking for.

    Reply
  5. maggie mason

    I saw on facebook some pictures/photos of chthulu like creatures, but copy/paste didn’t work, so can’t share with you.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Rick, trust me, I have plenty more faux-Lovecraft novels and short story anthologies. But, I’ll try to parcel them out over time.

      Reply
  6. J F Norris

    Unlike most of you think this is a fantastic book. I absolutely loved it! Rich with detail and ambiguous all at once. I enjoy books about identity , especially the art of crafting new identities in the guise of performance, or with the intention of reinventing oneself. There was a lot more to this book that I expected. It’s not meant to evoke Lovecraft’s fiction at all. I think everyone who plans to read this for the Lovecraft angle will be greatly disappointed. And of course all the gay stuff will be a huge turn off for most of his diehard fans. It’s more about Barlow (a fascinating man who I later read up on) than Lovecraft anyway. But more than anything the book is about writing and identity. It got me to dig out my volumes of Lovecraft’s letters and –what do you know!– LaFarge does a superb job of replicating Lovecraft’s letter writing style. It’s absolutely perfect. I later learned that Lafarge is very interested in metafiction and this is kind of an overkill metafiction book. Still I was captivated by this book. The idea of a hoax within a hoax was ingenious. Lafarge explores why writers need to write and makes several insightful observations along the way.

    Did you know either the author or his marketing team created a website to make it appear that the Erotonomicon is a genuine book? I stumbled across it when trying to verify whether there really was a publishing house called Black Hour Books back in the 1950s. (It’s no more real than the fake Lovecraft diary.) Here’s the link if interested: http://www.blackhourbooks.com/erotonomicon.html

    Did you read Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff? I have a two part post coming soon where I discuss Lovecraft inspired books including Lafarge’s book and the one by Ruff. I think Ruff’s is one of the better novels to employ HPL style horror and I liked the satiric look at 1950-1960s bigotry as seen through horror genre set pieces. However, I didn’t think much of Carter & Lovecraft by Jonathan Howard. Very pale imitation, badly written and plotted, with too much of the writer’s video gaming background bleeding into the book.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      J F, I am a huge fan of Lovecraft and faux-Lovecraft novels and short story collections. I have read Matt Ruff’s wonderful LOVECRAFT COUNTRY. I have a review of AGENTS OF DREAMLAND upcoming and I’m currently reading WINTER TIDES. There’s plenty of Lovecraft-inspired books being published. It’s hard to keep up with them! I’ll be eager to read your two-part post on Lovecraft inspired books!

      Reply

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