Rating: ✫✫
I knew of the film adaptation of Horns before I ever realised it was a book, although I've never seen it. I'm very particular about always needing to read the book before seeing an on-screen adaptation, and so I downloaded the book to my kindle to read first.
Honestly, I disliked this book immediately. I mean, seriously disliked it. I found it crude, messy and just generally repulsive. The plot had some holes that weren't really explained, and I didn't think the characters were at all endearing. Case closed.
Now I've had some time away from the book, I've gained a little more perspective on it. I still dislike it, and I'll never read it again, but I can see the point of these darker elements a little better. They represent chaos and the evils of regular people, of regular society. Ig is the devil on all of our shoulders, and although I still think the book is very unenjoyable for the most part, it does make a definite statement.
✼
"It's like in the Bible. You can't always get what you want, but if you really need something, you usually find it."
✼
Ignatius Perrish is the town reject, the prime suspect in the brutal sexual assault and murder case of his girlfriend, Merrin. Unable to convince people of his innocence, Ig has resigned himself to drinking and doing bad things to pass the time. One morning, he wakes with a hangover, one that causes enormous pain. Pain which isn't helped by the two horns now protruding from his head.
But surely he must be imagining things; surely the horns can't possibly be real! Except that strange things now happen to Ig when he ventures out in public. People spill their darkest secrets without meaning to, and Ig finds he is able to manipulate them with ease.
Trying to navigate his way through the strange situation he is now in, Ig soon realises that the relationships he holds with family and friends are to be tested, and the truth about what happened to Merrin may come from the most unlikely of sources. The devil is on his shoulder, and he wants revenge.
*spoiler alert*
