The Minotaur is depressed and smokes - Steven Sherril
‘The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break’ caught my eye the moment I set eyes on the cover. And when I read it, it did not disappoint. A realistic, almost disappointing life, of one of the greatest and most feared monsters in the world’s history, the Minotaur lives a normal life in today’s contemporary society.
From the very beginning, the Minotaur poses a lot of questions. What is he doing here? Why does he work in a restaurant? How is he accepted into every day places? Is he happy?
M lives a mundane, boring life. He wakes up, goes to work, where his entire life revolves, goes back to his trailer park and sometimes fixes his car. He literally doesn’t fit in anywhere, not only is he awkward, but he is also big with big horns, he can’t physically speak because of his anatomy and can’t see because of his animal head. His little communication comes from grunts and noises that he directs to some of his colleagues at the steak house or his neighbours. He acts like the other men in his life, pathetically, because he wants to fit in, he wants them to think he is cool and for that reason he says things he doesn’t believe in. That is still is not enough so M continually tries to join conversations after work, he watches and listens to the waiters’ conversations and grunts if he wants to be acknowledged, but then he finds himself unable to finish a sentence. He blurbs sexists or unfunny jokes to the boys who, consequently, laugh hard at him. However, the Minotaur doesn’t want to be like them. He doesn’t want to be sexist, he doesn’t want to comment on his colleague’s breasts, nor does he want to be like them. But loneliness can be hard to overcome, in the same thought he believes that he would be happier if he was like them.
In his trailer, he can’t read because of his head, nor does he watch TV, although he has tried, he doesn’t even fit through the door. He chooses to live there, he chooses to not fit in. He has dreams to leave. Likewise, he plans every day things, from what to buy at the shop to the things he has to do before going to work. Planning and planning and dreaming and dreaming without a goal. He knows what he wants, what he wants to say but, because of his lack of action, his lack of words, he stays in the same place, he chooses to stay and live through his loneliness.
He is seen also as someone who can’t speak and as a consequence, he is not listened to. Furthermore, he tries to say something, he is unable or not listened to. He is not seen as a normal human being, he is a monster to some, disgusted, a dumb fool to other or a harmless idiot. But his entire existence in modern society is complete contradiction. He is big, he is strong, he used to murder people in Ancient Greece, but M doesn’t remember that, Sherill reminds us that the Minotaur is unable to use that as an advantage when he is taken advantage of. He doesn’t take initiative, he is the one scared of the boyish men at work that use him. Not only that, but he is scared of life because he can’t be like the others.
Although the story is short in respect to the message, the plot doesn’t really matter. I learn from M, on what he feels and on what not to do. I felt seen, how sometimes you just want to fit in, that sometimes you see people being loud, and you think that they are happy, but maybe, in the inside, they are equally lonely.
This is a story of true loneliness, of not being able to see your own self-sabotage- a true story of everyone’s lives.