“A trap is only a trap if you don’t know about it. If you know about it, it’s a challenge.”
~China Miéville, King Rat
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Book Review: The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, by Steven Sherrill
td Whittle
Posted on April 17, 2013
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill My rating: 5 of 5 stars Here’s my advice and the three-word version of my review: read this book. There are some excellent reviews already on Goodreads about The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, and I don’t have an especially brilliant addition to those. What I would say, though, is that the book is worth reading because the writing is sublime. It’s at turns funny and tragic. It engages our empathy in a way that reminds us — however uncomfortably — that we, too, are instinct-driven animals lurking beneath the more refined parts of our neocortex; that we are somewhat freakish and terribly vulnerable; and that, frequently, we are wholly or partially inadequate…
“It’s not going to last,” she said, carefully squeezing the lime into her drink and giving it a thorough stir. “You sound very sure.” He tried to keep the hope out of his voice. They’d done this dance before. Many times. “She doesn’t like to travel.” She dipped one finger in the drink, ran it along the rim and then licked the salt, tasting it. “But you just went to Vegas?” He hated the question in his voice. Hated the tingle of excitement elicited by watching her lick her fingers. Hated that he wanted details to think about later. She shot him a look of disgusted amusement. “Vegas isn’t traveling. It’s…” She searched for a word. He waited, knowing…
“Alone. Yes, that’s the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn’t hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym.” ~Stephen King