The Alchemist

I get it, it's a short story - but I just had to do a review of this because I enjoyed it so much. It was a brilliant read and I seriously recommend it to anyone looking beyond Poe. 


I first discovered HP Lovecraft in the midst of studying for my GCSEs; I initially read The Call of Cthulhu and it was awesome. I can definitely say that I made a mistake by putting him away for so long - so I restarted with The Alchemist and trusted in Lovecraft to give me a spine-chilling psychodrama. 

I was not disappointed. 

Characters:

My favourite character was the narrator as I enjoyed seeing his reaction to the stranger. The introduction to the use of language tells us quite a bit about his character and that he may just be a psychotic (as suggested by the rustic natural imagery at the beginning). There is a certain tragedy in the character that I think is quintessential to creating that atmosphere. 

Themes:

My favourite theme was most probably nature and decay. I thought the use of nature and decay for the psychological state of the main character was a very clever symbolic statement by Lovecraft. It is also used to great extents successfully in other stories by him. 

Storyline:

So there wasn't much in the story because it was so short. But, I can say that Lovecraft never fails to impress with his chilling storylines. This one was perfect and I'm not going to say very much more because I'm afraid I'll give away too much. Read this eerie psychodrama for yourself and see exactly why HP Lovecraft is one of the great horror writers. 

Verdict:

I give this short story 9

100% for characters: An epic 1st person narrator who hints at secrecy and madness

100% for themes: I always love a bit of nature and decay

100% for storyline: How Lovecraft packs so much horror into such a small story always eludes me.