Horns: A Novel (edition 2011)

Iggy Perrish wakes up on the one year anniversary of girlfriends rape and murder to find he has grown horns. Right there you know either this book is going to be phenomenal or just another pop lit, fast paced, fun read. Well, it was the former. I would not, however call it phenomenal. A great read and enjoying and I will probably read it again, but not out of this world great. The way Hill writes is addicting, he has a way with words that would make a lexicographer jealous.

The plot kept changing and for me personally who can usually predict what will happen next in a book, I was surprised. I knew the eventual ending, but the twist and turns kept me guessing throughout. At times it caused me to consider if I was actually reading it right, but after another read of a paragraph yes, that is what was happening.

I think the one thing which led me to like this book so much is the fact that it was not something which was whipped out in a couple of months and lauded by everyone as a great book, by an amazing author who has written scores of bestsellers. (I never read those. Too boring and predictable and most times not quite well written.)

Overall, it was a good book and without giving away any details, definitely one to read again. ( )

I will admit that I started this novel for the premise, but I stayed for the characters. All right, they aren't really likeable, sure. But it's impossible to not want Ig Perrish to slay the evil that has stolen the joy of his life while simultaneously coming to love the darkness he is slipping into. And Mr. Hill can write. There were points where I literally just felt myself so totally engrossed by the story that I forgot I was on a train heading to work. Honestly, I liked [b:Heart-Shaped Box|153025|Heart-Shaped Box|Joe Hill|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328043955s/153025.jpg|1412280], but I wasn't completely wowed by it. But in [b:Horns|6587879|Horns|Joe Hill|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348768657s/6587879.jpg|6781405], Hill has completely matured as a storyteller. I wish I could point to specific instances, but it's nearly impossible to do without spoiling. Suffice to say, Hill's creation of a realistic and engaging backstory for his three main characters carries well as the book becomes a traditional battle between good and evil with something of a twist. And a letter to one of the characters is some of the sharpest, most emotionally compelling stuff I've read in some time.

If the book loses me anywhere, it's with the theme that the Devil isn't actually a bad guy. No where in the novel do I really understand the argument that Hill tries to make relative to this, even though I of course can acknowledge an argument to be made (just look at John Milton). The true evil in this novel isn't anything sanctioned by Heaven, and the Devil, while perhaps granting our hero some of his powers, is not a character who truly plays much of role to make this theme work.

I will definitely read this again, and I look forward to Hill's next piece.

( )

Ignatius Perrish wakes up after a drunken night with honest-to-goodness horns growing out of his head. At first, he thinks he's just going crazy. But as he ventures out into the day, he finds that other people can see them too; they're just too busy telling him their deepest, darkest secrets to really comment on them. Oh, and if they know him, they're telling him exactly what they think of him. That would be bad enough for anyone, but when you've been (falsely) accused of raping and murdering your girlfriend and the whole town thinks your famous father got you off, what people have to say to you gets real vicious real fast.

I hate the name Ignatius. Even shortened to Ig or, heaven forbid, Iggy, it's just awful. And then to pair it with Perrish. I couldn't help but think of Iggy Pop.

That aside...

This was scary but not in a horror-y way. Well, not for the most part. There's the thing with the horns, but the real scare here is how this kind of thing happens every day. Again, not the horns, but the rape/murder of an innocent girl. And we always think it's the significant other who did it. Sure, most of the time it is, but what living hell the innocent ones must go through. Not only have they lost a loved one but they've been accused of doing it as well. *Shudder* Ig shows us exactly how little it feels that life is worth living after that.

What makes this so hard to read is that Ig was about to have it all. He and Merrin have a fantastic relationship. They're high school sweethearts who look like they're really going to live the happily ever after. They're both pursuing their career dreams and then they're not. And that is what makes this book so very difficult to read.

The horror-y bit that really, really got to me was the snakes. Oh my goodness, the snakes. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to finish. I would say I have snake-a-phobia (Ophidiophobia. Don't say you've never learned anything from my reviews). Maybe I should have expected that this guy, who is becoming more devil-like by the day, would develop an affinity for snakes. I didn't. I'm sitting here shuddering just thinking about it. I would think, "Okay, I've got to be through it," and there would be more. When it really did seem safe, here the snakes came again and they were so, so, so bad. *trying not to think about it*

I'm also wondering if all boys really get up to the crazy crap that Hill and dad King write about. I mean, these guys get up to some insanely dangerous, destructive things. Did I have my head in the sand around the boy cousins I grew up with? They did some stupid things, but nothing like this.

I really liked that I was never entirely sure what to think of Ig. He says right up front that he didn't kill Merrin, and I believed him, but there's got to be a reason for the horns. I was rooting for him, but I was still questioning him a little. He can influence people and make them act on their darkest desires, and he does that a few times. What a heady, easily-addicting power to have. Was he going to come down for good or evil? I mean, c'mon, he has devil horns. He can't really be the good guy. Can he?

Hill slowly makes us question our perceptions, i.e. what looks evil vs what truly is evil. They are not always the same and yet we insist on conflating the two. Horror with a philosophical bent. Who knew such a thing existed?

Oh, last little tidbit--I loved that Judas Coyne was mentioned in this book! Will we someday need a concordance for Hill's work as well?

I prefer Heart-Shaped Box, but this was still another very strong horror novel from Joe Hill. I will definitely continue to follow his work. ( )

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/books/25book.html
Recommended by Jamie Citron, Linda Dyndiuk

Remember, way back at the beginning of the year, when I said that I wanted to hump Hugh Laurie's leg for writing [b:The Gun Seller|45234|The Gun Seller|Hugh Laurie|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170275796s/45234.jpg|1128909]? After reading Horns, and just the ARC - not even the finished, shiny and perfect masterpiece - I want to hump Joe Hill's leg for writing it.

Not too long ago, I read Hill's short story collection, [b:20th Century Ghosts|4443319|20th Century Ghosts|Joe Hill|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267559677s/4443319.jpg|1049073], and in the intro, Christopher Golden says that Hill is subtle writer, that his stories are "promises fulfilled". I think that Golden's words about Joe Hill are even more apt when it comes to Horns. This is Joe Hill fulfilling his promise to readers. Horns is his promise to the world that he can keep pulling new and amazing tricks out of his bag, and each one will be better than the last.

I'm sad that I'm finished, that it's over. I feel like I should just flip back to the beginning and read it again, because I know, without a doubt, that it will be even more brilliant the 2nd time around.

Joe Hill's subtlety and brilliance is much more in evidence and has more effect in this book than any of his other books I've read. I don't even know how to gush enough to do justice to what I want to say! I feel like with every line that I read, there was another line behind it that added to the depth of the one I'd just read. The way that he wrote Lee was amazing. Seeing things through his eyes was truly scary and disturbing. (I don't want to give too much away about his character, but I will say this, I think that Joe Hill wrote Lee Tourneau better than his father, Stephen King wrote Junior Rennie.) When Ig sermonizes to the snakes, I was proud of him in that moment. Not simply for finally realizing that the snakes were his, but for his understanding of truth, and life, and love in that moment, and for accepting Merrin's decision that last night as being her right, even though it destroyed him. I feel like Joe Hill wrote these things, but then I also feel like he didn't write them, that he doesn't have to write them because they just seep out of the pages and into me. Merrin's letter is another one of those 'between the lines' bits. My heart hurt reading her letter to Ig, I felt like I was losing something myself, and I hurt for them. I definitely had some sympathy for the devil at that moment.

Which brings me to my next couple of points. I love how music works its way into Hill's writing and stories, and the depth that it gives them. It's not just there for set dressing or for a pop culture stamp to place the story into a familiar territory for the reader, one gets the feeling that not only is music important to Hill, but that it is vital to him. I feel like he was speaking through Ig when he was appalled at Lee's lack of music appreciation, his plain statement that music is simply the background noise to events or action. Music is something that some people live and breathe, and I feel like Joe is one of those people, and because he is, so was Ig.

I also loved the devillish humor inserted throughout the story. I love when a book can take me from one extreme to another, and this was no exception. I went from confusion, to shock, to laughter, to tears, to laughter, to more tears, etc. Every page brought some new revelation, and to me, Hill's timing with the humor and the heartache were spot on.

I further loved the full picture of Merrin we got, even though we never got to really meet her. We got a composite of her from various other sources, like a police sketch artist making a picture from one person describing the nose, another describing the shape of the eyes, another giving us the hair, or the mouth, or the jawline, etc. Merrin's loss hit me like a ton of bricks, even though I knew about it from the beginning. But it still hurt, because I came to love her the way that Ig did - even though there was a brief time that I disliked her when I saw her through Lee's eyes. Even though I knew it was hopeless, I still wanted to hope that something would happen to magically reverse what actually DID happen. That was wishful thinking, but what I'm saying is that Joe Hill made me feel that way, despite knowing what I knew about the impossibility of that.

I both loved and hated the way that people would spill their deepest and darkest thoughts to Ig, and I really felt for him having to endure the awful things that people thought about him. I couldn't imagine hearing those kinds of things from the people I love, and the people who are supposed to love me. Everyone claims to want the truth about how people feel about us, but I think that the plain, unvarnished truth is awful and unbearable. In my head, I can hear Jack Nicholson yelling, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" and it's true. I would have probably just crawled in a hole somewhere if people had said to me what they said to Ig. So, kudos to him for being stronger than I am.

I think that's enough gushing... There's a lot more that I wrote down to mention, but I think you all get the point now, don't you?

If you haven't already, read this book. Discover the greatness that is Joe Hill. I'm waiting! :) ( )