Steven Sherrill

My sky-high expectations for this book have become obscured to me now; the things which attract me to this kind of reshaped myth, however, are always present and were fulfilled here. Sherrill delivers a mythical character in a world with grease and trash and breath, a clear environment which fits with the fictional South tradition. The dust cover review promises relatability in the character of the Minotaur, and this was fulfilled with a replacement of his classical emotion with a modern show more sterility. M cannot act in his moments of crisis. The narrator presents bloody and explosive routes he would have taken in his heyday, but he has come to a point of paralysis. He watches catastrophes with a sensation that I am familiar with in crowds, and next to industrial equipment. It is a knowledge that harm will happen too fast, from unimagined directions, a feeling that humanity should be hopeless in the face of what it has made. Even social disasters seem to wash over him, his own powers even of moving or talking obscured beyond the reach of his imagination. Any obligation for him to act even to protect those he loves is presented as an outdated moral standard, some useless old ideal in a technological modernity he can neither fully experience nor escape.
He has become a modern man: he understands and functions in a reality of going to work every day and needing a place to sleep, yet his existence is built around traditional values he never grew out of. The irritations and limits of his physical body are made comic and pathetic by his bull configuration, but we all itch too much, we can’t see where we want to, and who can get words to come out right? It’s not a remaking of a specific myth. It’s a new novel which takes worn characters and puts them right in our world where we can get a straight look at them. show less

This novel posits what would happen if mythological creatures still lived in our world. The minotaur tries to keep a low profile. He has a job as a line cook in a steak house working for cash under the table, lives in a run down trailer park and fixes cars on the side. Despite having the head of a bull, people view him the same as anyone else who may have a physical deformity or disability. Navigating the world with a pair of horns and an oversized head presents unique challenges. Fitting show more into things, self-care, clothing and relationships are things he barely manages to cope with. "M"'s daily adventures would make a cool movie with the advances in CGI. John Waters, are you listening? show less

“The architecture of the Minotaur’s heart is ancient. Rough hewn and many chambered, his heart is a plodding laborious thing, built for churning through the millennia. But the blood it pumps—the blood it has pumped for five thousand years, the blood it will pump for the rest of his life—is nearly human blood. It carries with it, through his monster’s veins, the weighty, necessary, terrible stuff of human existence: fear, wonder, hope, wickedness, love. But in the Minotaur’s world show more it is far easier to kill and devour seven virgins year after year, their rattling bones rising at his feet like a sea of cracked ice, than to accept tenderness and return it.”

Five thousand years on from apparently being killed by Theseus the Minotaur or M as he is known by his colleagues has escaped the labyrinth and is now working as a line chef in North Carolina. M leads an ordered lifestyle in a shabby trailer park, keeping to himself , keeping his horns down and simply trying to fit in in this new town.

Virtually all the characters in this book are regular, everyday, hard working, lower-middle-class human characters struggling to bring in a regular pay check, people are fired and new ones hired, some are cruel some are kind, some get injured at work, some move homes but all are simply trying to keep a roof over their heads and make a life for themselves. M is no different.

M is the proverbial elephant in the kitchen. He is the person people try to talk down to or ignore, the guy whom the bullies like to try and poke fun at and belittle. But despite his unfortunate deformity he pays his rent, fixes cars on the side and helps out his colleagues and neighbours. Whatever his past, he is now part of the great human herd trying to survive. He isn't going to die but he's got to make a living. M is a team player, who is good at what he does but different nonetheless.

Home is little better, an under-furnished trailer shaped like a boat. Most of the time, it is all the Minotaur can do to meet the day-to-day responsibilities of his own small world. Though a hybrid, M feels with the emotions of a man. He has needs and longings but his deformity makes them almost impossible to meet. He suffers in near silence, unable to escape and compelled to live on. His bargain with Theseus was no bargain. He endures and we are sad for him.

'The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break' is well written. The first half of the book is rather slow, mundane and nothing really happens but the second half kicks into gear; we know that M's life is about to change but whether or not its going to be for the better is kept under wraps. There are some funny scenes and there some sad scenes, it speaks of a world that seems unchanging from the outside but as human beings we know that that is never really the case. Sherrill doesn't try to give the reader any glib answers or pass judgments but gives us a new way to think about what it means to live within visible limitations. M has neither freedom nor hell but a limbo that stretches in time without end.

This book ia about what it means to be human and the use of a Minotaur in this way is an interesting device and really wasn't what I was initially expecting. If you want a fast paced plot then this really isn't for you but if you prefer your action slower and more considered then it's worth giving this novel a go. show less

Reprieve. Into the Minotaur's life there occasionally comes a reprieve from the inevitable loneliness, relentless and exhausting, that is endured by those who live forever. These moments of reprieve are dangerous times, though. When looking out at eternity, it's easy to lose sight of the past, to repeat the same mistakes. If not careful the Minotaur can be seduced by a turn of luck - can be blinded, so to speak. In these sweet and rare moods, he's prone to acting hastily.

M is the Minotaur show more who lived in the labyrinth of Knossos all those years ago, who came to an arrangement with Theseus and slipped out of the back exit leaving the Greek hero to claim that he had killed him.

Five thousand years later he is a chef in a grill restaurant in North Carolina, having realised a long time ago that cookery skills will always be needed and don't change too much over the centuries. In this version of our world people are aware that the old immortals are still hanging around, so although they may be shocked to see a man with a bull's head, no-one rings the newspapers and M isn't likely to end up in a freak show.

Unfortunately for M, his bull's head makes him top-heavy and he is always ripping things accidentally with his horns. Speech is also hard for him, so he doesn't like talking and finds it difficult to connect with his neighbours and his colleagues at the restaurant. show less