Horns by Joe Hill

Goodreads Summary:
Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a thunderous hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples.

At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.

Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more—he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.

But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside. . . .

Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge. . . . It's time the devil had his due. . .

My Thoughts:

I started this book after hearing about the movie with Daniel Radcliffe that is coming out, or is out. I admit I am not sure about that last bit. After reading the book I don't think that I will be seeing the movie.

I found the book interesting-ish at first, if not a little bit over the top with how depressing it was right from the beginning. The more I read the book the more I wished I hadn't started reading it to begin with. I found out about half way through the book that it was written by Stephen King's son. I suspect had I known that up front I would have looked into the story a bit more and likely would not have read the book. I am not at all a fan of Stephen King or similar writers. I just don't enjoy such heavy dark reads when there isn't something else to balance it out. This book is exactly that, too dark and nothing to balance it.

I disliked this book at best and totally hated it at worst. I was left with a grimy feeling in my head and I wish I could scrub it with a toothbrush. I had no reason to like Ig. Sure, the writer told me that Ig was a good guy, but I never really believed it. This book was just full of dark and twisty. Also, if I read the name Keith Richards one more time I was going to have to start a drinking game. The writing felt redundant and tired. It felt long and hard to finish. I never felt engrossed in the reading. It was never pleasurable. Mostly this book made me a bit sick.

So, to whom would I recommend this book? I guess to fans of Stephen King, though his fans on goodreads don't have nice things to say. If you like dark and twisty with no balance this is your book. I can't say I learned anything about myself or the world from this book and normally when I have finished a book I can at least say I got a new and interesting perspective on something. Sadly, I just felt tired and a little abused.

Really, I need to stop writing about this book. It has brought out the grumpy mean side of my reviewing and I don't really want to be a lame-o that way. So here is something nice about Horns. I think the idea was interesting and had a lot of potential. I think the writing, with more editing also shows potential for storytelling that can be engrossing. Also, good on you Joe Hill for being a writer, it is hard to finish a book, let alone more than one. Also this book is very successful at exploring a dark nature that all of us have.

While writing this review I was listening to the Once soundtrack.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Goodreads Summary:

In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by acclaimed artist Ellen Forney, that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.


My Thoughts:
First I would like to say that the drawings for this story are awesome and really add to the story. It has been a long time since reading a book with any kind of illustration and this book has made me think I should read more. I know that the same artist drew all the illustrations but there is such a difference in the styles that it helps with moments in the story where you feel raw emotion and growing up moments. The art really added to the storytelling.


Recently, I took a class in college about inequality in a democracy specifically in terms of economic inequality. A fellow student wrote her 20 page research paper on reservation life here in Utah. I heard about her experiences of first feeling Native and secondarily feeling like an American. I found it interesting that Junior also had those feelings. He had to come to terms with life on the rez and what he experienced when he dared to go to a public school not on the rez. The extreme poverty was something I expected to hear about. But from the point of view of a child is vastly different than the scholarly views I am used to.


***SPOILER***
The second or maybe third story in the book is about Junior watching his Father kill his dog because they didn't have the money to take the dog to the veterinarian. I got choked up thinking about what an experience like that will do to an adult let alone a child.
It was sweet though the way that Junior found friends who accepted him for who he was and didn't hold his poverty against him. So often in high school I saw how the poor kids were treated, or anyone who was even slightly different was treated. That isn't to say that Junior was accepted right away, he wasn't, but eventually he won some people over. I never saw that for the kids I went to school with who were picked on.


Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fast read, even with the heavy parts of the story you don't really need a break from the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a clear picture of Indian reservation life, but expect your heart to break a little. Additionally, I think anyone could benefit from reading this book.


While writing this review I was watching a rerun of Castle, the one where Alexis is kidnapped and taken to Paris.