Have You Seen The Horizon Lately? (Paperback)

~ Jamie S. Rich (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

World-famous author Percival Mendelssohn and his wife Iris were the toast of literary society until her shocking suicide exposed the emptiness behind the couple's idyllic public image. Convinced that there was no love left in the modern world, Percival decided he would abandon it, disappearing from the face of the Earth and leaving stunned fans to forever wonder what happened to their favorite writer. Now, nearly a decade has passed, and one girl is determined to find her authorial guru and get some answers. Julia Jimenez has traveled halfway around the planet to Beijing, and she's convinced the strange man she's found hiding in a Chinese home is the one everybody's been looking for. In fact, the more he denies it, the more sure of her discovery Julia becomes. Insinuating her way into his life of isolation, she slowly tries to draw Percival back out amongst the living. Can she prove to him that his safe and precious life, tucked away with his books and an army of cats, can't protect him from the harsh realities he's trying to deny? Or has he become so broken by the failure of his romantic ideals, he can never be at peace again?

Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Oni Press (August 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932664734
• ISBN-13: 978-1932664737
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,825,954 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Classic Dealing With Love Loss and Our Need To Connect, September 9, 2007

By	Geoffrey Kleinman (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After reading Jamie Rich's The Everlasting, I had expected the follow up (billed as the third chapter in a thematic trilogy) to be another extremely enjoyable light indie-unrequited-love-story. While the book does indeed deal with unrequited love it's anything but another light indie love story. Have You Seen The Horizon Lately? is a deeply philosophical and gut wrenchingly emotional book dealing with loss, the search for self and how we try to connect or disconnect with the people and world around us.

In The Everlasting Jamie Rich used everything but the kitchen sink narratively to tell his story (from emails to articles... just imagine it, it's in there). Here he uses a much more sophisticated narrative structure that volleys between the individual past of the two main characters and their current intertwined present. It's a narrative style that works brilliantly, giving you glimpses to how and why these two characters came to be where they are.

Have You Seen The Horizon Lately? is a very intimate book, set within the tiny walls of a foreign retreat, enclosed so much you can actually feel the walls.

A core theme of the book is suicide, and it's presented in both a stark philosophical perspective and jaw droopingly emotional. It's that combination of thinking and feeling that come together in this book. Just when you think it's going to fly off into pretentious pontifications about life, the universe and everything it spins back around and grounds itself in the real implications of these things and how they really effect and impact people and their relationships with each other.

The greatest tragedy of Have You Seen The Horizon Lately? is that it may be missed by most people. Like Rich's previous books it's been released by Oni Press (best known for their graphic novels and comics). Have You Seen The Horizon Lately? is a piece of fine literature, and given the right exposure it could be listed up there with Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar as a truly great book that deals with the impact of suicide on those who survive.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A dark novel, October 23, 2007

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

Reviewed by AJ Cooper for Reader Views (10/07)

This is a dark novel that has a main vein of suicide with some hope of romance and the future. Percy, a world-renowned author, mysteriously disappears after his wife Iris can no longer live with the attentions Percy receives from all of his admirers. Iris waits until they are out at a party and leaves prior to Percy's departure so that she can commit the act of suicide and be dead before his arrival at home. This discovery sends Percy over the edge and he disappears with his assistant in the hopes of never being found.

Val, his servant and assistant, has gone to great lengths to dissuade and trick Percy's fans from locating his true location. Julia, a meandering college student and fan of Percy's, has traveled far to discover Percy's hiding place in China. She is able to persuade her way into the home in China and has promised Val if she leaves she will not be able to return. Julia works her way into Percy's heart and attention by simple acts of just being with him and his numerous cats in his garden. Julia has come with only the clothes on her back. She has to persuade Val to buy her personal items, but never any clothing. Julia lives for months in the same clothes and takes opportunities to wash them when Val has left the house and Percy is secluded in his room listening to music and reading books.

I was somewhat interested in "Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?", but found it hard to follow because each chapter jumped to a different time period for Percy or Julia. The depression and talk of suicide throughout the entire book was not interesting and many times very cumbersome to read. The novel included excerpts from the characters writings and from interviews with the characters. I found no interest in these portions and skimmed through them.