Customer Reviews

Every Sigh, The End: A Novel. About Zombies.

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This mind-bending novel by newcomer Jason S. Hornsby is fresher than the flesh of a newly turned zombie.

Hornsby's ideas are the most creative and original to hit the living-dead genre since director Danny Boyle gave us fast and furious zombies in the movie "28 Days Later."

For one thing, Hornsby meshes the apocalypse with reality television, a perfect marriage for the new millenium. For another, he plays with the space/time continuum in a truly chilling way. Protagonist Ross Orringer must fight zombies on soundstages with shifting rooms and bit players who disappear into thin air.

Poor Ross. He knows he can't trust the zombies who surround the house where he's partying on New Year's Eve. But it turns out he can't necessarily trust his closest friends or even his family.

Hornsby's book is confusing at times, frustrating in places, and brilliant throughout, with some truly scary moments. It's one of the most exciting novels I've read in recent months -- and that's all novels, not just zombie novels.

I strongly recommend "Every Sigh, The End" to readers who are willing to get onto this up and coming author's intense and bizarre roller coaster. But I warn you, stand next to the wooden cutout before you do and make sure your "creepy tolerance" is high enough to ride.

I am an avid zombie novel reader, so I was excited to get started on reading this one when it came in the mail. I forced myself to finish it, because I apparently hate myself. The author tries to be clever and unique by bolding the words, sigh and end on each page, linking it to the title of the novel. He also uses one phrase repeatedly (approximately every 1-2 pages), which isn't even a good phrase and becomes quite annoying.

There are numerous grammar and spelling errors, which are clearly mistakes and not some original use of the English language. The plot could have used some work. If you want a good novel about changing time continuums, then read The Time Machine. Don't waste your time reading this one. Save your money. Buy something else.

Every Sigh, the End: A Novel About Zombies

If you read the Author's note at the beginning of the book, you will quickly realize that the author and his own attitude very similiarly reflect the angsty, pathetic, and condescending main character of the book---Ross. The reader will not be capable of identifying with Ross unless he or she manages to share the I-hate-everything-all-of-you-are-beneath-me attitude that guides his pathetic and confusing story. You hope that perhaps through the trials of the zombie apocalypse, that better character might emerge within his pointless waste of a being. Nothing of the sort happens...at all...in any point of the book. I was really hoping he would get killed off in some gruesome way early on so that I could at least like SOMETHING in this miserable excuse for a book.

In addition to the issue of having to read about an annoyingly unredeemable character, the plot of the book makes no sense whatsoever. I'm fine with chapters not representing a linear story, but the actual story did not make any sense...even in a skewed, grasping-at-straws symbolically manner.

As a result of the many good reviews---angsty teenagers perhaps--- that were written about the book, I continued trudging through its twisted and confusing plot that was ripe with unsympathetic characters; I assumed that it would make sense in the end. It doesn't. You never actually learn what is happening throughout the plot (I'm not going to give away any 'spoilers' because trying to explain anything about the plot just makes it much more confusing), and you aren't told or even given hints as to the motivations of the characters of the book. You just follow Ross throughout the book and read as unexplainable things 'happen' to him...no logic or reasoning is ever inserted into the plot.

Upon finishing the book, I can only say that I was pissed off that any money had been spent on it. I am further annoyed that hours of my life were wasted trying to give this book a chance to be even slightly good. Please, before it's too late---salvage the time and money you would have spent on this crap and do something---ANYTHING--- more worthwhile...like getting a colonoscopy for fun, going to a Spice Girls concert, or getting waterboarded!

I would certainly go on record as saying this is the most unusual zombie novel I have ever read. I would also add to its description with terms like creative, imaginative, and intriguing. However, I am also willing to admit certain parts of the story had me completely baffled, and I am no closer to understanding them than when I read them, several months ago.

The basic part of the story I understood was the zombie "invasion" was all part of a vast, pre-planned and scripted reality TV show, taking place just at the change of the new year (from 1999 to 2000). How would spoiled, self-centered, lazy American young adults react to such an event. Would they scatter individually, each one trying to save him or herself? Or would they act together as a group, for the good of all? That, and the descriptions of the undead panic as it spread, made a very readable story.

However, it was much of the background material and concepts that confused me. It was implied (at least as I understood it) that all reality was somehow just part of a larger "show" that someone was running behind the scenes. The main character comes to realize this in bits and pieces, some of them being his examination of old home movies his family made when he was a child. For example, in one film taken on the beach, there were scenes with his whole family in the picture; they were supposed to be the only ones on the beach, but who was holding the camera? At other points in story, people, and "scenery" disappear or change with barely any explanation; characters from earlier parts of the story simply vanish, as do any memory of their presence by relatives or friends, as do entire buildings or parts of neighborhoods.

There also seems to be some references to time travel, and one instance of being in two places at once, that I did not understand. At one point in the story, the main character hides in a building at night. There, he meets a group of people, including himself, who are from about 5 years in the future. Meaning? I did not know.

Thus, for me, the various unusual background events and characteristics of the novel did not always fit with the rest of the story, nor did they make sense to me. Still, overall, the book was an okay read, I just wish I understood it better.

Should you wish to try another "different" kind of zombie novel, may I suggest my (Steven Woeste) own, To Wake The Dead? It's available on Amazon.com, and even published by the same company (iUniverse) as Every Sigh, The End.

I write this review with some trepidation. I almost feel as if the story should be reviewed and analyzed in an English or Literature classroom, or perhaps in some exotic American Philosophy class, rather on a website that sells this book. This is a book that reminds me to look at things a bit differently, to try something new and completely different. It reminds me of stories read in college and high school that I was turned on to not by friends or family that know my tastes but by someone who felt I should try something that would lead me down a different path entirely.

What I write here is for the people who are curious about this book, people who want to see if this book is up their alley. Some of the previous reviews seem of a personal nature perhaps written by folks who know Jason Hornsby. I can say that I definitely do not know the author. I came into the book with no preconcieved notions or presumptions as to what I should expect. I would also say that, after reading this review, if you feel that this book is perhaps not right for you, you might want to reconsider that, as it is certainly a very challenging and intriguing work that might make you think more than you expected.

This book is angry, it is dark, and it is about zombies. But it does not follow any known pathway to completion that I have ever seen in a tale about the undead. The author has completely transcended the genre with a work that is more philosophy and questions our society, our reality, and what we are as individuals than even the works of Romero and other "deep thinkers" of this realm.

Like so many high quality works the zombies here are a tool that is wielded by the author or film maker to force us to look more closely at ourselves. Here, that idea is taken literally, with everything related to the dead scripted out completely by shadowy men that run everything and work in conjunction with the entertainment industry to run grandiose experiments with unsuspecting citizens...in particular, our main character.

I could envision Oliver Stone directing a movie version of this book, as it is rife with conspiracy theories and conjecture as to who is really in control of everything. Beyond even that, it conjures up questions about our reality, our existence. Who are we and do we even realize that the world has already come to an end?

I hated the main character at first, but while I never grew affectionate of him, I could see him changing and seeing things in different ways, his helplessness, as time went on. His arogance and presumptive attitude is undercut by realization after realization that he should trust no one, that the world is a lonely place, and that we are all dead and buried already. We are the zombies that continue to live in this world, we just don't either care or realize it.

Pretty grim stuff and even though I am very avid fan of zombie books and movies, this is something totally different. The zombies are a big part of the story here, don't get me wrong, but they are a metaphor for us as human beings as we walk woodenly through this world. This style of writing is something that I can take in smaller doses now and again and because of that, I ended up liking this book a great deal more than I thought I would after a few pages in. In the end, I sped through the rest of it and believe that I will more than likely end up reading it again down the road to remind myself of this authors unique vision of things.

Why not 5 stars? Perhaps because the book was like an itch that I could not scratch. The author is angry and bitter and his vision of the world and those around him which is not anything like my own. I feel that I could perhaps have a very interesting conversation with Jason, but I think it just as likely that he would judge me in some negative fashion because I hold a different worldview than he...or perhaps I am totally wrong on that front. I can intersect with his viewpoints through a book such as this and be appreciative of it; it serves to remind me that there are those out there who are necessary in this world: the ones who have great anger and fixate on conspiracies and the wonders of an era long gone, they have resentment and view things in a way that I more than likely cannot or choose not to. Whether I agree entirely or even on a miniscule level with what the author has to say about "us" I appreciate his passion and his words keep my mind open to views other than my own. That makes this a valuable book and one that I will remember for a very long time.

I recommend this work for both those who question everything and those who do not question enough.

I love zombies...books...movies...it doesn't matter, I love the entire idea of zombies from Romero to today.

I don't know what to classify this book as...a book about zombies would not come to mind. Frustrating, yes. Pointless, definately. Zombies, not so much.

It was nightmare to get through the book, and I could only wish I could go back in time and tell myself to scratch my eyes out before considering buying the book. I didn't care about the main character; he was horribly annoying and I couldn't care less if he lived or died. You couldn't get to know the main character and all I got from him was that he was annoying and often stoned, not the kinda guy that I could root for, or in this case even understand.

The writing style was odd to say the least...bolding every instance of END whether it was by itself or buried in a word was pointless and frustrating. The story jumps about too often and having to figure what was going on from paragraph to paragraph gets old quickly.

If you are looking for a zombie book, this is not for you. There are plenty of good chioces out there. If you are looking for a story about an annoying unmotivated stoner, this might be what you are looking for.

I'll spare the rehash of the plot, as it is somewhat disappointing in its surfaced cliche-ness and its obvious lack of completion and besides you can find summaries elsewhere on this page.

In a nutshell: Every sigh, the end is a moderately well written book that suffers mainly from the authors inability to remove himself and his issues from the narrative. Now, its true that every piece of art stems from the artist and that the creation's existence demands a creator and blah, blah, blah, but at a certain point the co-mingling becomes tedious. Much like Wes Anderson can not resolve his looming daddy issues, Jason Hornsby can not shake his near paralyzing feelings of immense inadequacy and geek self loathing, as evidenced not just by this book, but by the author's puerile responses to some of his negative reviews on this very site. The result is a muddled blend of horror, pop culture and nihilism all covered by a raw and exposed desire to be oh-so-deep while ignoring the fact that he's merely waist deep in the shallow end. The characters are inconsistent and interchangeable, the plot a meaningless jumble of moments barely strung together by the reappearance of occasionally familiar names.

Its as if Mr. Hornsby has never gotten over the fact that he set out to write the great American novel and ended up with just a zombie book and the sad part of it is: you get the feeling that if he could just get over himself, that he could write something pretty damn good. If he'd just realize that there is nothing wrong with genre work, he might turn out some pretty seminal zombie tales. You can tell that he's familiar with horror and zombies. He can really write some good gore. He's got a good grasp of language with some excellent phrases and observations (if somewhat naively snarky) and shows a definite potential at good character work if he'd just focus on creating reality based people instead of using fetishized dreams of the cast of Friends if they had been angry and hip in their coffee shop, but he doesn't. He's just the red-headed stepchild of Tarantino and the story never dives any deeper than the surface, veering away into mumbled jibber-jabber and convoluted non-sequiters whenever an emotional or character moment threatens to rear its ugly head..

Overall, Jason Hornsby may be an author to watch for in the future, once he reconciles his own reality with his child hood day dreams of self-perception, but until then, his work, including Every Sigh, the end is one to pass. It is barely coherent, slow and without fun. My recommendation is to wait for him to get better.

I love to read and particularly have a sweet spot for zombie fiction. However most follow the same formula: Outbreak occurs, character A is in place X and has to travel a great distance to get to place Y for kid/wife/parent/safety while on the way he encounters zombies/outlaws/survivors and good/bad times occur...writes itself. So when I heard that a new zombie book was coming out and that it took a different approach to the subject I preordered the book.
Then I started reading it.
I understand that the writer is trying to be different, but trying to be different and actually being different are two...well two different things. From the first page I got the feeling that the author was trying to be cool, and that he was trying to make his main character (which he obviously sees as a reflection of himself) cool. And that was the problem with the content and style of this book; it was too busy trying and not actually doing. I am sure the author thinks of himself as this misunderstood loner that is just too cool for the world, and maybe he is and I am reading too much into his writing style. However the ability to conjugate a verb or to attach an adjective to a noun does not make a great writer. Also repeatedly referring to a well known book (Catcher in the Rye) and trying to write in the same vein as that book does not make your book that book.
I know this review is mainly focused on style, but if you are too aware of the style of the book it is difficult to focus on the content. It's like watching a movie with bad acting. No matter what you just cant get over the fact that you are not being taken into the world of the movie, but are rather sitting watching somebody go through the motions of acting in front of a camera.
Even the most cliche zombie fiction can take you into the world of a zombie infestation as long as it is well written.
So, this book it not literary masterpiece, it is not Catcher in the Rye, or some new incarnation of Chuck Palahniuk. Nor is it a great piece of zombie fiction akin to World War Z.
I really wanted to like this book and I tried my best, but it is not there. The substance behind the prose was empty.

I enjoy encountering the profound: that rush of thought, that churning of the imagination and gut, that feeling, if only for an instant, of connecting with something grander than oneself. There is no single type of narrative that can move me in this way. A poignant moment in the simplest of narratives can reveal great truths. At the same time, even stories that I don't fully understand can give me this rush.

With that understanding, Jason Hornsby's Every Sigh, The End may be the best zombie novel I have read. And no, I don't mean to damn with faint praise. So let me rephrase that: Every Sigh is a fine novel, period.

To be sure, Every Sigh is well-written. The atmosphere is tense. The characters are real. Ross Orringer may be an annoyingly passive and obnoxious protagonist at the start of the novel, but we come to understand him as he faces situations way beyond his (and our) experience. The build-up to the zombies -- just one element of a much broader horror -- is slow, but compelling. When the zombies actually appear, they have context, and that makes them all the scarier.

However, what makes Every Sigh stand out is the impression of significance. It feels like a grand truth is peeking through the enigmatic and conspiratorial fog that suffuses the novel. It all seems to mean something.

Now, to be honest, I'm not really sure what that "something" is. Every Sigh's secrets are never fully revealed. Where I see glimmers of profundity, others, perhaps rightly, may see empty posturing. But I think Hornsby handles his enigmatic narrative just right. The story feels epic. The ending feels satisfying. And I like that the mysteries underlying the novel are never fully explained. Too much exposition can transform the mysterious and compelling into the mundane and silly. Hornsby answers enough questions to sate the reader. But he knows when to step back and let the reader's imagination finish the job.

I pushed my way through this book, since I enjoyed "John Dies at the End" (by David Wong) and I was hoping this book would be as good, since it has some similar style elements.

Typical to the zombie genre, the book starts off with grammatical mistakes and typos. I wrote to the author telling him I liked his book but please just watch the errors next time since it makes it unprofessional and hard to recommend. I got back an asinine and angry response telling me the errors were "intentional" and comparing himself to Kerouac. Then he went on about how he has a Master's in English and in fact teaches English himself (as a second language, in China). So there!

Added to the fact that he also compares himself to Bret Easton Ellis in his gushy self-congratulatory preface, and you have a guy with the ego of Salman Rushdie and the skill of, well, a guy who has to self-publish zombie novels.

If you want fun escapist literature, do yourself a favor and read Travis Adkins' books (his editor), or the Monster Planet/Nation/Island books. If you want to read good literature by a jerk then read Catcher in the Rye.