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457th out of 934 books
—
3,312 voters
The Horned Man
by
James Lasdun
The Horned Man opens with a man losing his place in a book, then deepens into a dark and terrifying tale of a man losing his place in the world. As Lawrence Miller—an English expatriate and professor of gender studies—tells the story of what appears to be an elaborate conspiracy to frame him for a series of brutal killings, we descend into a world of subtly deceptive appea...more
Paperback, 204 pages
Published
May 17th 2003
by W. W. Norton & Company
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“…vials all over the sidewalk like mutant hailstones…” (23).
“ ‘Just time for a quick smoke before the girls find my balls’” (30). *I’d like to say that one day.
“He remembers how, without explanation, the official then handed him a small sachet marked BENZALKONIUM CHLORIDE, how he opened it, mystified, to find a towelette inside, and realized it was for cleaning his finger, and had to choke back tears of joy at this marvelous grace note in the official procedure, noting merely as an added glory t...more
“ ‘Just time for a quick smoke before the girls find my balls’” (30). *I’d like to say that one day.
“He remembers how, without explanation, the official then handed him a small sachet marked BENZALKONIUM CHLORIDE, how he opened it, mystified, to find a towelette inside, and realized it was for cleaning his finger, and had to choke back tears of joy at this marvelous grace note in the official procedure, noting merely as an added glory t...more
The only reason I didn’t stop reading this book after 100 pages is because I needed to finish it for an English assignment. The Horned Man follows the story of Lawrence Miller, a gender studies professor, as he tries to puzzle out a conspiracy to frame him for a murder. It starts with little things that grab Miller’s attention: his bookmark moving from where he placed it and a mysterious phone call made from his office in the early morning hours. But then things begin to escalate quickly as Mill...more
A professor in Manhatten experiences weird events as he notices that his office is possibly being used by someone else. Throughout the story, Lawrence, the professor, goes searching for who is responsible. Being continually consumed with paranoia over what is happening in his office, Lawrence also is coping with other situations in his life such as with his separation from his wife. Throughout the book, Lawrence is caught up in and believes some hard to believe theories. The way in which the sto...more
James Lasdun's formidable writing skills are largely wasted in this surrealistic novel whose point is elusive at best. The only real "plot" is a conspiracy -- real or imagined -- against the protagonist, Lawrence Miller. A series of apparently unrelated coincidences foster Miller's paranoiac worries, which culminate in an ending that is hard to swallow even by surrealistic standards. Open the book to a random page and you'll find some excellent writing and perhaps some suspenseful moments; howev...more
I learned that to repress a desire is to be ruled by it.
I learned that unicorns aren't all virgins and rainbows.
One of my most treasured random finds, a piercing and illuminating exploration of gender, memory, and desire. Modern fiction rarely dazzles me--not because I feel it to be inferior but because I often wonder if I really get it. This one engages, delights, and devastates all at once, written in clearheaded yet entrancing poetic prose, navigating the treacherous bridge between reality an...more
I learned that unicorns aren't all virgins and rainbows.
One of my most treasured random finds, a piercing and illuminating exploration of gender, memory, and desire. Modern fiction rarely dazzles me--not because I feel it to be inferior but because I often wonder if I really get it. This one engages, delights, and devastates all at once, written in clearheaded yet entrancing poetic prose, navigating the treacherous bridge between reality an...more
This book is incredibly rich in language (the author is a professor) but very low in storytelling. A good author has life experiences to draw from This one certainly seems to be far removed from life lived and just knows the language. For those confused by the ending, know that it's the job of the writing to be clear. It's pretentious dabblings in magical realism and does not even come down to any concrete meaning...it's absurd, but not absurd as a genre. Pretentious dabblings of an upper-crust...more
I finished reading The Horned Man this morning after breakfast. It is an extremely odd book. I have absolutely no recollection of buying it; it’s possible, but somewhat unlikely, that it was a gift.
I’m not sure how to characterize it. I guess I’d describe it as the story of one’s man’s descent into apparent madness. The story is a first person narrative by Lawrence Miller. Significant parts of Lawrence’s backstory are left unsaid, so the reader is frequently left wondering what is going on. Lawr...more
I’m not sure how to characterize it. I guess I’d describe it as the story of one’s man’s descent into apparent madness. The story is a first person narrative by Lawrence Miller. Significant parts of Lawrence’s backstory are left unsaid, so the reader is frequently left wondering what is going on. Lawr...more
'The Horned Man' is laced with references to Kafka, and indeed heavily inspired by the works of that esteemed literary legend. That's not a bad thing. But if you're familiar with Kafka, you probably see what's coming from a mile away. No matter - the story will likely hook you all the same. Lasdun crafts the story with such tension, it would be hard to put this book down and fail to pick it back up again - unless you're the type of reader who prefers plots to be neatly wrapped up at the end. As...more
Laurence Miller, an Englishman teaching gender studies at a college in New York, becomes obsessed by Bogomil Trumilcik, a Bulgarian immigrant and former lecturer at the college. Miller is convinced that Trumilcik is spying on him, sleeping in his office in the gap between two desks that have been pushed together and trying to frame him for murder.
Not really to my taste, but I carried on with it as it was less than 200 pages long and I was kind of intrigued to find out what happened. I'm just not...more
Not really to my taste, but I carried on with it as it was less than 200 pages long and I was kind of intrigued to find out what happened. I'm just not...more
I'm only giving this two stars because the author had such a way with words. his writing was beautifully done. Unfortunatly that was about all this book had going for it. I felt like this book was nothing more than a platform for the author to show off his vocabulary. The plot was thin at best and I didn't care about the characters at all. the final nail in the coffin was the ending. I didn't feel like anything got resolved. All in all, i wouldn't reccomend this book.
Awesome. A very strange, well written and never dull tale of self-realization, gender, and memory. I read it in one 3-hour sitting and started reading it faster and faster by the end, delirious to know what happens next. Made me think of the chilling, fantastical stories of Kafka (mentioned in the book), Poe and O'Connor. Skip the movie one night and read this instead.
"The Horned man" intrigued me enough to keep reading but it's ending was as [un]satisfying as "The Life of Pi"! It somehow gets you in, but then seems to meander aimlessly with suppositions and inferments (is that a word?) that leaves an empty resolution. The rave review snippets on the cover certainly allude to writing stle, perhaps; but not for plot!
I like my mysteries less literary, more obvious. This started out interesting, but didn't go anywhere. The stream of conciousness of a nearly paralysis by analysis sufferer who may or may not be framed or insane, just didn't have the payoff that I wanted. If that's confusing--I just saved you 200 pages.
I read this right after After Dark, My Sweet and it was interesting to read two first-person point of view novels back to back. They couldn't be more different in tone or style. While After Dark uses the first-person to create a transparency, a direct connection into the mind of the protagonist, the opposite happens in The Horned Man. It is disconcerting and ultimately distracting to have a narrator who I can't tell if he's crazy or just an out and out liar. This is also the reason that the book...more
A phenomenal and disturbing novel that makes extraordinary use of an unreliable narrator. There's an element of surreality that reminds me of Murakami, and the final page floored me. Highly recommended.
This book was interesting. I'm still not even sure what happened in the book but I did enjoy the way it was written. It is a complex, ambiguous book and you are left to use your imagination as to what's really going on. In general I like my books more cut and dry.
Unreliable narrator Lawrence Miller leads us through the derelict lesser known parts of manhattan. Kafkaesque? For me had echoes of Luke Rheinhart's, The Diceman.
Great writing, frequently hilarious as the main character finds himself more and more embroiled in a Kafkaesque nightmare. The ending is a bit weird though.
This book was a NY Times best book of 2002 and the reviews on the back were excellent. It was engrossing to a point by admittedly I just didn't get it
Great example of unreliable narrator. Also results of sexual repression. Double and identity too, and urban alienation and isolation.
Very well-written and a great idea, but I wasn't a big fan of the end.
Gave up after 120 pages. The author can turn a phrase, but I was never convinced that he could tell a story. I finally realized that I just didn't care about learning anything more about the character or his predicament. So I punted.
Felt underdeveloped. Not as intense as I expected it to be.
A very puzzling book. Poetic at times but not enough to be gripping.
Not a bad read, but I'm not inclined to read more by this author.
enjoyably different
Three and a half stars.
unicorns.
Aug 19, 2008
Sarah Emily
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
friends of the author
Shelves:
disappointing
I could not get through this book. it's not bad, but it's just not compelling. a professor finds his brain playing tricks on him - but then again, maybe strange things really are happening. I didn't get far enough to find out which of the two choices it was. I kind of hope it was his brain. it would make the protagonist more interesting.
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James Lasdun was born in London and now lives in upstate New York. He has published two novels as well as several collections of short stories and poetry. He has been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and short-listed for the Los Angeles Times, T. S. Eliot, and Forward prizes in poetry; and he was the winner of the inaugural U.K./BBC Short Story Prize. His nonfiction has been published in Harpe...more
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Jan 19, 2009 11:28am