The Minotaur takes a cigarette break, (Steven Sherrill)

The Minotaur takes a cigarette break (Steven Sherrill). Not one of the best books i have ever read, but enjoyable all the same. The core plot is as such… The Minotaur, and other mythical beings, are no longer living in their old obscurity. Instead, they have a more modernized obscurity. The Minotaur, referred to by his friends and co-workers as “M”, has traveled the world for the last 5000 years, and has only recently settled in this parched landscape.

the trailer he rents is too small for him to comfortably live in. the trailer park he lives in contains a few folks he has gotten to know fairly well. not that he cares for the most part, humans are fickle and mortal.

having given up the “old world”, he lives in rural southwestern USA. i cant tell exactly where, but the feel i get is that it is new mexico, if the location was mentioned by name i missed it. M has gotten a job as a line cook at a local dive, and brings in enough cash to make him comfortable.

M is lonely and depressed. the book covers a 2 week period of upheaval when M’s whole world falls apart, mainly due to an obsession over a woman, seconded only by his lack of concentration. Immortals performing a minimum wage restaurant job, would, after all, be very very out of their element.

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metaphor stringing into metaphor, this really was rather enjoyable. The reality is that you could take the Minotaur out of it entirely. you would left with a tale of a sad sad sad man. someone who is lonely, clumsy. someone quiet and reserved. someone who would do anything in his power to be part of a group, to be accepted and welcomed.

M as a human would be the equivalent of a 35 year old man who only moves out of his mom’s basement because she passes on and 15 years later, finds himself with zero social skills, and a propensity towards flirting with married women (because their rejection is expected in advance) even though secretly he would do them in a heartbeat provided he could avoid all conflict, emotional attachment and cuddling… [that was an awesome run on sentence!]

putting the minotaur back, you have a metaphor for emasculation. you have a fallen immortal, dodging insults and common fear as he attempts to survive the monotony of living forever. he the bastard offspring of an immortal and bovine. sterile from birth, he is man only in form and then only in the lower half. he is a combination of teenage rage and old gentlemanly despair.

he spends his nights putting salve on the wounds where his bull and human halfs meet. the skin there is perpetually in pain, like a bad rash, ever reminding you that you are never going to fit in, and there will never be another like you.