For the last book club of the year we read Paddy’s selection: a surreal tale of the Minotaur living in present day America. He keeps himself to himself, trying to carve out an unremarkable life and hold down a job as a cook in Grub’s Rib. Paddy had high expectations of this book, with its basis in such a powerful and famous myth.
My main criticism of the book is that I felt the central concept was unrealised. I think Dan and Paddy agreed – Paddy thought that a short story might have been a better vehicle for the idea, feeling that it was stretched out too thinly over a novel. I added that he could have probably fitted the idea into a haiku especially with the neat (and slightly trite) summing up on the last page. Dan was a little frustrated by the lack of action throughout – apart from the confrontation at the end. I found the lack of curiosity and from humans a little unconvincing, especially as there were some points when people reacted to M with horror or derision. Ann thought it was a bit of a cop out that M doesn’t seem to care about transient beings. Lots of unanswered questions. Paddy compared the book unfavourably with Nights at the Circus, feeling that Fevvers was a brilliant realisation of almost the same concept. Ann pointed out that Fevvers was highly eroticised unlike M. I didn’t feel that the author was comfortable sexualising his male characters.
The main theme of the book seemed to be alienation from the human condition. Paddy thought that the use of the Minotaur as the central character was intended to symbolise the beast that lurks inside us all, feeling that the author was maybe aiming to make an existential point. Dan felt that other authors e.g Camus and Ralph Ellison had already successfully tackled alienation and isolation and that this book wasn’t really adding anything new to the discussion. I thought that although the novel hints at mythological depths, especially in its poetic italicised passages, wasn’t really exploring the significance of the Minotaur’s animal nature. Ann wanted to know why and how he was socialised – I agreed, thinking that his past lives actually sounded a lot more interesting!
Despite our criticism that the central concept hadn’t really worked, I think we all agreed that it is a beautifully written book. The author is a published poet and it shows. The prose is engaging and avoids cliché. Ann had only just started reading the book but agreed feeling that the interactions in the book were drawn particularly well.
It would have been interesting to have a few more disagreements – not many of us had read the book and I think we could have done with a few different viewpoints. The book has had a positive critical reception and response from readers so it was surprising that all of us found it so disappointing.
