The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break

by Steven Sherrill and Steven Sherril

Book Overview

Five thousand years out of the labyrinth, the Minotaur finds himself in the American South, living in a trailer park and working as a line cook at a steakhouse. No longer a devourer of human flesh,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312308922
• ISBN13: 9780312308926
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Read this as soon as you can; it's SO fine

I say often that I'm not big on magic realism but if it all could be as Sherrill's fabulous novel, I'd happily snuggle up with the category until kingdom come. In any case, this novel consumed me entirely on more levels than I can count. There really aren't any cardboard characters here, even the minor players are drawn well (maybe two exceptions). Required reading for those who enjoy mythology, have a restaurant fiction fetish or a southern novel fixation and just anyone at all loves a really good book. Finest kind of reading; miss this one and be so sorry.

Best 1st novel since "Ghostwritten"

I didn't pick up this book the first time I saw it because I assumed it would have a one-joke plot; my wife read it first and persuaded me to give it a try. It turned out to be one of the finest contemporary novels I've read in years. Sherrill never loses compassion for his protagonist despite his gleeful mastery of the Southern grotesque style--rather like Flannery O'Connor, come to think of it. The minotaur, known simply as "M" to his friends (shades of Kafka?), is more humane than some of the humans, good-natured, fallible, groping toward connection with the strange and numerous race of homo sapiens around him. His efforts, missteps, failures and yearnings echo those of every Outsider in literature and life. Are we not all half-human, half-beast, struggling to make our thick tongues give voice to our deepest beliefs and longings? I laughed, I cried, I passed it on to a friend.

An exceptional first novel

A sweet, melancholy book in which the Minotaur, now some 5,000 years old, is working as a line chef in a steak place in some unnamed southern state. Now known only as ÔM,Õ his days are filled by a daily routine that Sherrill somehow manages to infuse with an overwhelming sense of longing. Once a savage, terrifying force, the Minotaur now spends his days repairing automobiles, his nights carving prime rib. M stands on the outside looking in, both attracted and terrified by the prospects of friendship and love. In clean, uncluttered prose, Sherrill lets us see the loneliness and longing of his character in sharp relief. It is remarkable that such an understated book should be so affecting.Perhaps the most impressive thing about this novel is that Sherrill is able to take such a strange premise and to turn it into something genuinely moving; to make us feel as if there is something important at stake in the MinotaurÕs search for love; that his fate will tell us something important about ourselves, about our own hopes and longings.

A Uniquely Wonderful Book!

Tentatively, I decided to read this book simply because it wasn't like anything I had read before. The subject seemed too far fetched and I wanted to see if the author was successful. To my surprise Sherrill did a wonderful job! His vocabulary and descriptive talent made this story totally believeable! This book should have received much more attention. I look forward to another book by Sherrill.

Truly a book worthy of praise

If you read any synopsis of this book, you'd probably think, "Wow, how odd." Well, you'd be correct. However, putting the book down and not reading it because of that would be a grave mistake. As debut novels go, this is certainly one of the better. It is not large, perhaps 350 pages, has a focused scope, great characters, and great writing.Steven Sherrill's poetry background is evident in the book, but you certainly don't have to be a poetry lover (I'm not) to enjoy it. His writing is gorgeous, interspacing long lyrical lines with brief five word sentences. His descriptive talents are amazing. As one who worked in a restaurant in high school, I can say that the sights, sounds, and events that take place at the Minotaur's work are exactly correct. Sherrill uses humor and humanity to great effect and by the first few pages of the novel, I did not find it strange at all that a creature with the head of a bull and body of a man was coexisting with humans in the modern South. I found myself identifing with some of what the Minotaur goes through, and found myself rooting for him. If you've ever thought about taking a chance on a new author, this book is an excellent choice. It will make you smile and at the same time make you wonder about what it is to be fully human.