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The Wrestler's Cruel Study
It's after midnight. Two gorillas are descending the side of a New York high-rise. Can that be? But this is only the beginning of Stephen Dobyns's dazzling new novel. Part quest (in pattern), part comic book (in tone), and chiefly an exploration of a young man's search for his missing fiancee, it deals with such matters as heroes, good and evil, wrestling, kidnapping, and subplots from the Brothers Grimm - all as regarded by an omniscient "camera eye." Come see Michael Marmaduke as he progresses from confused innocence to darker self-knowledge; meet Rose White and her sister Violet, along with Deep Rat, cops Brodsky and Gapski, and Primus Muldoon, manipulator of men, who calls on Nietzsche to draw aside the veil of illusion we hide behind. Stephen Dobyns has invented a compelling world where fun and puns mingle with daring make-believe, and larger-than-life characters play out the crucial human questions: How do we live? How do we handle our demons?
412 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
9 people are currently reading
367 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Dobyns
82 books206 followersDobyns was raised in New Jersey, Michigan, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He was educated at Shimer College, graduated from Wayne State University, and received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1967. He has worked as a reporter for the Detroit News.
He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University.
In much of his poetry and some works of non-genre fiction, Dobyns employs extended tropes, using the ridiculous and the absurd as vehicles to introduce more profound meditations on life, love, and art. He shies neither from the low nor from the sublime, and all in a straightforward narrative voice of reason. His journalistic training has strongly informed this voice.
He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University.
In much of his poetry and some works of non-genre fiction, Dobyns employs extended tropes, using the ridiculous and the absurd as vehicles to introduce more profound meditations on life, love, and art. He shies neither from the low nor from the sublime, and all in a straightforward narrative voice of reason. His journalistic training has strongly informed this voice.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
July 14, 2007
One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. "Wrester's Cruel Study" reveals that the melodramatic world of professional wrestling is rigged by a group of philosophers, playing out their philosophical arguments with oiled-up musclemen in the ring. Bizarre ancient snake cults, Nietzche-like managers, and a mostly-innocent main character trying to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend-- what more could you want?
December 4, 2013
I threw this book across the room when I was done, which was a first for me. Reading the other reviews, I'm an obvious minority, but I found the story and its resolution unsatisfying, and it pissed me off greatly.
The story's set in NYC, but one could be forgiven for thinking that it took place in Smalltown, U.S.A., because the same 15 or so supposed strangers constantly bump into each other and unknowingly affect each other's lives. I realize there was supposed to be a degree of surrealism in this, but I didn't feel that such a tone was convincingly maintained throughout the novel, so all the super-incredible coincidences felt jarring to me.
*Spoilers ahead*
So, my main issue with the book is the amount of questions that were left unanswered. Many things were hinted at, but some things were left completely in the air. For instance, Violet White kept threatening Deep Rat, something about crushing his hands. We are made to understand that Deep Rat is a sneaky and violent thug, so why would he be afraid of Nurse White? For another, it was strongly hinted that Beetle had found Michael Marmaduke as a baby in the trash years ago, and that Michael was a product of the Bacchanalian cult orgies that Violet currently participates in. What is the significance of this? It played no role whatsoever in the events that transpired in the novel, so why reveal that information to the reader?
Also, I felt that the writer's use of deus ex machina stretched the limits of credulity. For example, the sudden advent of the private detective character who infiltrates the Bacchanalian orgy to rescue someone who is apparently Rose White, and who just so happens to have been transformed by her sister into some sort of literary character from one of the p.i's books. First of all, the p.i. isn't even there to rescue anyone, he's just there spy on the daughters of the man who hired him. Secondly, this p.i. doesn't seem to think there's anything unusual about finding a book character at this orgy. Third, they basically just drive away into the sunset after he takes her from the orgy, and that is the end of Rose White as a character in the novel (though we haven't actually heard from her since the first chapter). Did she know who'd kidnapped her, and why? What had happened to her in the days since? We know that ultimately she wound up in the cosmetic surgery clinic where Violet works, but we also know that there had been videos showing her hanging in cages and tied to train tracks and such. Where was she, and how did those different weirdos get those videos? Where they involved in her kidnapping? Why?
Furthermore, the writer bludgeons the reader over the head with the dual identities theme. Simply juxtaposing Michael Marmaduke and Marduk the Magnificent (as well as the other wrestlers and their personas) would really have served to illustrate this theme perfectly well. But the author absolutely beats the reader over the head with his exhaustive discussions of "Gimmick". Probably 1/3 of the way into the book, I actually exclaimed out loud "Ok! We get it: Identity, The Masks We Wear, The Dual Natures That Exist Within All Of Us. . . ya got anything else to say?".
Perhaps worst of all were the insufferably long and boring diatribes about obscure Christian philosophies. I found myself skimming, which I never do when reading for pleasure. But it was all just so esoteric and dull and seemingly pointless.
For all that, though, I did like the character of Muldoon and his ruminations on Nietszche. I thought the character of Wally Wallski was pathetic and tragic, and I was interested in his story (it didn't involve the comeuppance I was desperately hoping for, so ultimately it was a disappointment). And most of all, I enjoyed the author's writing style, particularly the way he describes scenes and sets up perspectives. It was a bit like reading a really artsy screenplay. I thought that seemed interesting and innovative.
I realize that it's quite probable that much of the book went over my head, and that whatever genre this is is probably not my cup of tea. I have read some Kafka, and I understood and enjoyed his surrealist perspective. That was not the case here. The "whodunit" at the core of the main plot was the primary driver for me to continue reading, and the poor resolution to that left me feeling like I had slogged through this thing for nothing.
The story's set in NYC, but one could be forgiven for thinking that it took place in Smalltown, U.S.A., because the same 15 or so supposed strangers constantly bump into each other and unknowingly affect each other's lives. I realize there was supposed to be a degree of surrealism in this, but I didn't feel that such a tone was convincingly maintained throughout the novel, so all the super-incredible coincidences felt jarring to me.
*Spoilers ahead*
So, my main issue with the book is the amount of questions that were left unanswered. Many things were hinted at, but some things were left completely in the air. For instance, Violet White kept threatening Deep Rat, something about crushing his hands. We are made to understand that Deep Rat is a sneaky and violent thug, so why would he be afraid of Nurse White? For another, it was strongly hinted that Beetle had found Michael Marmaduke as a baby in the trash years ago, and that Michael was a product of the Bacchanalian cult orgies that Violet currently participates in. What is the significance of this? It played no role whatsoever in the events that transpired in the novel, so why reveal that information to the reader?
Also, I felt that the writer's use of deus ex machina stretched the limits of credulity. For example, the sudden advent of the private detective character who infiltrates the Bacchanalian orgy to rescue someone who is apparently Rose White, and who just so happens to have been transformed by her sister into some sort of literary character from one of the p.i's books. First of all, the p.i. isn't even there to rescue anyone, he's just there spy on the daughters of the man who hired him. Secondly, this p.i. doesn't seem to think there's anything unusual about finding a book character at this orgy. Third, they basically just drive away into the sunset after he takes her from the orgy, and that is the end of Rose White as a character in the novel (though we haven't actually heard from her since the first chapter). Did she know who'd kidnapped her, and why? What had happened to her in the days since? We know that ultimately she wound up in the cosmetic surgery clinic where Violet works, but we also know that there had been videos showing her hanging in cages and tied to train tracks and such. Where was she, and how did those different weirdos get those videos? Where they involved in her kidnapping? Why?
Furthermore, the writer bludgeons the reader over the head with the dual identities theme. Simply juxtaposing Michael Marmaduke and Marduk the Magnificent (as well as the other wrestlers and their personas) would really have served to illustrate this theme perfectly well. But the author absolutely beats the reader over the head with his exhaustive discussions of "Gimmick". Probably 1/3 of the way into the book, I actually exclaimed out loud "Ok! We get it: Identity, The Masks We Wear, The Dual Natures That Exist Within All Of Us. . . ya got anything else to say?".
Perhaps worst of all were the insufferably long and boring diatribes about obscure Christian philosophies. I found myself skimming, which I never do when reading for pleasure. But it was all just so esoteric and dull and seemingly pointless.
For all that, though, I did like the character of Muldoon and his ruminations on Nietszche. I thought the character of Wally Wallski was pathetic and tragic, and I was interested in his story (it didn't involve the comeuppance I was desperately hoping for, so ultimately it was a disappointment). And most of all, I enjoyed the author's writing style, particularly the way he describes scenes and sets up perspectives. It was a bit like reading a really artsy screenplay. I thought that seemed interesting and innovative.
I realize that it's quite probable that much of the book went over my head, and that whatever genre this is is probably not my cup of tea. I have read some Kafka, and I understood and enjoyed his surrealist perspective. That was not the case here. The "whodunit" at the core of the main plot was the primary driver for me to continue reading, and the poor resolution to that left me feeling like I had slogged through this thing for nothing.
April 28, 2010
Hold the line and stop talking about bullshit completely ancillary to the main plotline, which is the interesting plotline, maybe the ONLY interesting plotline. Don't let the need to demonstrate conclusively that we are all a latticework of overlapping gimmickry and that we are always at war with these gimmicks lure or detour you into silly digressions about a magical coin or that terrible, retrograde miniplot about the dude with the humorless and emasculating wife. This book is a very deliberate collision of the highbrow and the lowbrow, slamming Nietzsche into professional wrestling and making good points about both in the process but actually works best when playing at these extremes - the wrestling matches themselves play themselves out in grand, overwraught gushes of action and theology and the novel's few great set-pieces of the borderline ubermensch protagonist flinging himself against monstrous freaks born over into extremity by their dedication to their wrestling gimmicks manage to be interesting as a lecture and an action movie simultaneously. Even the indulgence of the occasional interlude of unbroken pedantry in the form of Muldoon's hectoring of the audience works pretty well as Cliffs Notes on the author's main purposes. If he'd held to one repetition of the same argument, this would've been a five-star novel.
Take the premise that we are always at war with ourselves - that we are perpetually unreconciled between our light and dark impulses, that all virtues have a perilous inverse (gentleness becomes cowardice, stoicism becomes indecisiveness, rage becomes bravery, etc) - and play it out as often and obviously as you can. Expect to read about being tortured by honest self-reflection (the two police officers - police being one of the character classes who have it the roughest throughout this novel), of one person being split down the middle to form resentful dopplegangers (Rose and Violet), of seeming opposites who clearly won't feel so split down the middle until they've met their other half (the rich girl, the boy without legs). This is a book about Dualism, over and over and over again. There is a coin with a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other side. There are long and awful passages about various factions of Christian study far, far overemphasized relative to their ultimate narrative purpose.
Duality sucks for the author and the reader alike - Dobyns is handy with prose and tells a good story and reads best when he allows himself moments of absurd action - gorillas, snake-men, cults - and worst when he returns, as he often does, to the serious business of making a point.
Take the premise that we are always at war with ourselves - that we are perpetually unreconciled between our light and dark impulses, that all virtues have a perilous inverse (gentleness becomes cowardice, stoicism becomes indecisiveness, rage becomes bravery, etc) - and play it out as often and obviously as you can. Expect to read about being tortured by honest self-reflection (the two police officers - police being one of the character classes who have it the roughest throughout this novel), of one person being split down the middle to form resentful dopplegangers (Rose and Violet), of seeming opposites who clearly won't feel so split down the middle until they've met their other half (the rich girl, the boy without legs). This is a book about Dualism, over and over and over again. There is a coin with a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other side. There are long and awful passages about various factions of Christian study far, far overemphasized relative to their ultimate narrative purpose.
Duality sucks for the author and the reader alike - Dobyns is handy with prose and tells a good story and reads best when he allows himself moments of absurd action - gorillas, snake-men, cults - and worst when he returns, as he often does, to the serious business of making a point.
June 16, 2025
this is one of the few books i have read twice. very funny and very intellectual (albeit long). it is a surreal morality tale exploring Nietzian philosophy.
In Stephen Dobyns' "The Wrestler's Cruel Study," the plot centers around a famous professional wrestler, "The Gladiator," who becomes entangled in a dark mystery when his fiancée is kidnapped by two gorilla-like men, leading him on a bizarre, twisted journey through the underbelly of New York City to find her, while uncovering disturbing secrets about the city's elite and the nature of evil itself.
The story begins with the sudden abduction of the wrestler's beautiful fiancée, Rose White, from her Manhattan apartment by two large, mysterious men with gorilla-like characteristics.
The protagonist, "The Gladiator", is determined to find his beloved and starts his own investigation, venturing into the city's seedy underworld, encountering strange characters and cryptic clues.
As the wrestler delves deeper, he uncovers a complex web of power, corruption, and bizarre rituals involving the city's wealthy elite, hinting at a sinister organization behind the kidnapping.
The book title refers to a disturbing element of the plot where the kidnappers seem to be conducting a twisted psychological experiment on the victim, testing her limits and manipulating her mind.
The novel is noted for its dark humor and surreal elements, blending elements of mystery, thriller, and satire, creating a unique and unsettling atmosphere. Throughout the story, the wrestler undergoes a personal transformation, grappling with his own dark impulses and wrestling with the morality of his actions as he tries to save his fiancée.
The novel explores elements of the human psyche, morality, and psychology. Evil is seen as a potential force within every individual, especially in the context of power and wealth. In this regard, the wrestler's public persona, "The Gladiator", is contrasted with his private self, raising questions about how people present themselves to the world. Another key aspect of the novel's structure is the nature of the city in modern societies. New York City is depicted as a chaotic and dangerous labyrinth, with competing forces of good and evil. The city is an integral part of the wrestler's complex journey.
This is one of the most complex, but satisfying, novels I have read.
In Stephen Dobyns' "The Wrestler's Cruel Study," the plot centers around a famous professional wrestler, "The Gladiator," who becomes entangled in a dark mystery when his fiancée is kidnapped by two gorilla-like men, leading him on a bizarre, twisted journey through the underbelly of New York City to find her, while uncovering disturbing secrets about the city's elite and the nature of evil itself.
The story begins with the sudden abduction of the wrestler's beautiful fiancée, Rose White, from her Manhattan apartment by two large, mysterious men with gorilla-like characteristics.
The protagonist, "The Gladiator", is determined to find his beloved and starts his own investigation, venturing into the city's seedy underworld, encountering strange characters and cryptic clues.
As the wrestler delves deeper, he uncovers a complex web of power, corruption, and bizarre rituals involving the city's wealthy elite, hinting at a sinister organization behind the kidnapping.
The book title refers to a disturbing element of the plot where the kidnappers seem to be conducting a twisted psychological experiment on the victim, testing her limits and manipulating her mind.
The novel is noted for its dark humor and surreal elements, blending elements of mystery, thriller, and satire, creating a unique and unsettling atmosphere. Throughout the story, the wrestler undergoes a personal transformation, grappling with his own dark impulses and wrestling with the morality of his actions as he tries to save his fiancée.
The novel explores elements of the human psyche, morality, and psychology. Evil is seen as a potential force within every individual, especially in the context of power and wealth. In this regard, the wrestler's public persona, "The Gladiator", is contrasted with his private self, raising questions about how people present themselves to the world. Another key aspect of the novel's structure is the nature of the city in modern societies. New York City is depicted as a chaotic and dangerous labyrinth, with competing forces of good and evil. The city is an integral part of the wrestler's complex journey.
This is one of the most complex, but satisfying, novels I have read.
July 22, 2009
This book is just astounding - I may have read it three times, possibly a record for a book that I've never taught. This book is wise and philosophical and bawdy and inventive and just plain fucking funny, much like a lot of of Dobyns' great poetry. THIS is the film that should have brought back Mickey Rourke--a professional wrestler goes on a hunt for his missing girlfriend, but of course the hunt becomes one of his own identity, and professional wrestling's place in the world of identity.
October 12, 2008
This is one of my all-time, top five, favorite books ever, and I found it by accident in a used bookstore. It has everything including the kitchen sink in it, and I'm pretty sure does a better job of explaining the way the universe really works than anything else I've ever read.
May 4, 2019
What a book... a pulp fiction narrative reveling in the nuances of Gnostic Christian thought, Nietzchean philosophy and professional wrestling. Uneven? Sure. Fun? Absolutely. Worth your time? Mileage may vary.
Give it a shot. If you're not entertained, you have a shot if being enlightened.
Give it a shot. If you're not entertained, you have a shot if being enlightened.
September 18, 2020
Lovers of philosophy, hands up please! This would probably be the book for you. The Wrestler’s Cruel Study by Stephen Dobyns would probably be described as a farce, due to the sheer absurdity of so many plot points. Yet, it’s also a book that takes on heavy (in my opinion) topics such as Nietzsche. Just like the dualism explored in the morality and personality, this book is a study in opposites and how one can be two things at once.
The bones of the plot is very simple. A wrestler’s fiancé is abducted and he embarks on a journey to find her. I could see where this was heading a mile away but Dobyns sure brought us on a ride to get there. From framing the search as a journey of self-discovery, to positing that language is reductive but action is a purer representation. Wondering how that second point even came into the picture? It is this knitting together of many disparate ideas that created this absurd comedy which made me sit down and think hard.
It’s been quite a while since I last read anything remotely philosophical (my KI teachers would have been proud) and this was a nice dip of a toe back into the pond. I wouldn’t recommend it for casual readers, but if you’ve been having deep thoughts recently, this just might be the book for you.
Diversity meter:
-
The bones of the plot is very simple. A wrestler’s fiancé is abducted and he embarks on a journey to find her. I could see where this was heading a mile away but Dobyns sure brought us on a ride to get there. From framing the search as a journey of self-discovery, to positing that language is reductive but action is a purer representation. Wondering how that second point even came into the picture? It is this knitting together of many disparate ideas that created this absurd comedy which made me sit down and think hard.
It’s been quite a while since I last read anything remotely philosophical (my KI teachers would have been proud) and this was a nice dip of a toe back into the pond. I wouldn’t recommend it for casual readers, but if you’ve been having deep thoughts recently, this just might be the book for you.
Diversity meter:
-
February 21, 2024
This book almost made me forget that reading was supposed to be enjoyable. I probably should have given it up sooner, honestly, but the initial premise--a wrestling promoter who built his entire indie group around the drama of philosophy--was so good and the character, Primus Muldoon, was brilliant, far more brilliant than the execution of this wandering, poorly aged, poorly paced excuse for a Odyssean tale. Primus Muldoon quickly gets swapped out for milk toast Michael Marmaduke, and Michael goes on what can only be charitably called an adventure of such poor planning that major characters are still being introduced 350 pages into a 424 page novel. One gets the sense that the author just read some philosophical debates somewhere and wanted to put what he saw into a book, so much so that it's not a surprise when you get to the bibliography and find out he's wholesale lifted passages from a number of religious and philosophical texts. It's a shame he didn't research any of his subjects with the same zeal as his plagiarism--and it's also a shame he didn't plagiarize a plot. There are actual wrestling matches with more salient and original philosophical and emotional thought than this mess.
May 21, 2021
Nietzsche meets the WWF, or something like that. This is a weirdly cerebral yet also goofy book that grabs bits and pieces from theology, philosophy, theosophy, and, of course, professional wrestling and fuses them into a bizarre tale with twists and characters galore. There are some very funny scenes but also a lot of disturbing imagery and pseudo-philosophizing. I may never hear the word "gimmick" in the same way again.
December 2, 2017
There were parts I really liked and parts that just seemed goofy to me. The ending seemed kind of up in the air.(just like the coin!) It's a book you really have to just laugh at and move on I guess. It had a lot of references to Nietzsche and philosophy which I thought was pretty cool but it seemed so crazy that it was hard to get into.
January 3, 2020
I can see why this book gets such opposing reactions. I loved certain sections but got bogged down
in the philosophical rants that went on too long. Found myself not looking forward to picking it up.
in the philosophical rants that went on too long. Found myself not looking forward to picking it up.
Read
May 18, 2020bizarre
you have to be in the right mindset to deal with this one
you have to be in the right mindset to deal with this one
August 23, 2021
I've loved this book for years.
But none of my literary friends do. I don't know why.
But none of my literary friends do. I don't know why.
September 14, 2024
I have to think on this one for a few days
January 16, 2022
I get why people like this, but it’s just not for me. Crime/mystery is my least favorite genre and dressing it up with allegory and postmodernist conceits don’t make it any more palatable. I love his poetry though!
Read
February 22, 2023brilliant, and so much fun
"It is always difficult to be on top of the description when the action starts. Everything happens all at once, and of course it cannot be told that way. First this event, then that event--it's a real nuisance."
"It is always difficult to be on top of the description when the action starts. Everything happens all at once, and of course it cannot be told that way. First this event, then that event--it's a real nuisance."
May 21, 2015
I'm of two minds about this book. On the one hand, it is a wonderfully funny book about a pro wrestler wrestling with who he really is. Is he the mask (or "the Gimmick") or is he the man under the mask, or is he both or neither? The escapades (and they are escapades) that our Hero of a Thousand Faces (Michael Marmaduke or Marduk the Magnificent) must go through to retrieve his Pauline in Peril (actually "Rose White" (or is she "Violet White" or "Snow White"?)) are hilarious and appropriately comic bookish.
On the other hand, "The Wrestler's Cruel Study" is a serious study on the nature of good and evil, the meaning of Satan created by a perfect God, and the dualism of all our natures: our compulsions and the consciousness that hopefully holds them back.
But wait, there's more! Be prepared for Gnostic disputes on the nature of God, Nietzschean aphorisms up the wazoo, the relationship between Fairy Tales and religion, and a very sympathetic portrayal of the modern pro wrestling milieu.
On the other hand, "The Wrestler's Cruel Study" is a serious study on the nature of good and evil, the meaning of Satan created by a perfect God, and the dualism of all our natures: our compulsions and the consciousness that hopefully holds them back.
But wait, there's more! Be prepared for Gnostic disputes on the nature of God, Nietzschean aphorisms up the wazoo, the relationship between Fairy Tales and religion, and a very sympathetic portrayal of the modern pro wrestling milieu.
September 1, 2014
Hmm...
This is not a good story. It is arguably a great book, though. Stephen Dobyns demonstrates narrative mastery by riffing philosophy, by having fun with focalization, by introducing bizarre scenarios and characters, by having them interact in weird and unexpected ways, and by constantly breaking the fourth wall and challenging the reader to consider what it is we like and dislike about fiction. Michael Marduk's journey to find his kidnapped fiancee is one big farce, and we're never told why it happens, what the point of it all is -- and it's by design. Dobyns shows he's a great writer but he's not interested in telling a typical story. It's more like he wants to demonstrate myriad contradictory philosophies in action. The Wrestler's Cruel Study is an allegory of absurdism -- or perhaps more honestly, a gleeful deconstruction of heroism: its arbitrary machinations, its false rewards. Complex, arguably brilliant, and quite frankly, a goddamn slog to get through.
This is not a good story. It is arguably a great book, though. Stephen Dobyns demonstrates narrative mastery by riffing philosophy, by having fun with focalization, by introducing bizarre scenarios and characters, by having them interact in weird and unexpected ways, and by constantly breaking the fourth wall and challenging the reader to consider what it is we like and dislike about fiction. Michael Marduk's journey to find his kidnapped fiancee is one big farce, and we're never told why it happens, what the point of it all is -- and it's by design. Dobyns shows he's a great writer but he's not interested in telling a typical story. It's more like he wants to demonstrate myriad contradictory philosophies in action. The Wrestler's Cruel Study is an allegory of absurdism -- or perhaps more honestly, a gleeful deconstruction of heroism: its arbitrary machinations, its false rewards. Complex, arguably brilliant, and quite frankly, a goddamn slog to get through.
March 20, 2013
A great joy, perfect intellectual entertainment. The plot is of little importance. It is a mix of mystery and quest, but there isn̕t much mystery about whodunit, and what happened seems to matter little to the protagonist. What the novel is is an excuse for Dobyns to play with words and ideas.
The novel ends up, more than anything, being about good and evil and what might lie beyond them, which appears to be more good and evil, and in the end gray areas, which is what each of us actually is. Not so profound as fun.
What makes the novel is the author̕s use of language, his senses of humor. There are many ways in which he is funny and plays, not so much with the reader, or even just with his characters and their ideas, but with everything, offering it all up for us to enjoy and not take too seriously as serious as they might otherwise be.
The novel ends up, more than anything, being about good and evil and what might lie beyond them, which appears to be more good and evil, and in the end gray areas, which is what each of us actually is. Not so profound as fun.
What makes the novel is the author̕s use of language, his senses of humor. There are many ways in which he is funny and plays, not so much with the reader, or even just with his characters and their ideas, but with everything, offering it all up for us to enjoy and not take too seriously as serious as they might otherwise be.
May 8, 2018
This is an odd, funny book about character, identity and the malleability of both. A professional wrestler who is really a gentle giant seeks to rescue his girlfriend who was kidnapped by a pair of apes. Meanwhile, a mysterious coin is exchanged from one person to another, drastically changing their lives in the process.
The main hero has to battle grotesquely altered foes in abandoned subway tunnels, in makeshift bullrings, and New York high rise apartments. In the meantime he encounters warring gangs of fatalists with "magic" powers, his Nietzsche quoting trainer,his fiance's evil twin sister who is secretly obsessed with him, and hidden societies pulling strings behind the scenes eternally debating larger philosophical topics. This book is nutso, basically.
So if you like professional wrestling, italian operas, manimals, Nietzsche, and ontological debates this is not to be missed.
The main hero has to battle grotesquely altered foes in abandoned subway tunnels, in makeshift bullrings, and New York high rise apartments. In the meantime he encounters warring gangs of fatalists with "magic" powers, his Nietzsche quoting trainer,his fiance's evil twin sister who is secretly obsessed with him, and hidden societies pulling strings behind the scenes eternally debating larger philosophical topics. This book is nutso, basically.
So if you like professional wrestling, italian operas, manimals, Nietzsche, and ontological debates this is not to be missed.
October 31, 2007
Professional wrestling mixed with Gnostic traditions set in NYC's "underground". The main man Marduk the Magnificent, wrestler of more than men, is built up and torn down as he tries to find his girlfriend after she is abducted by men in gorilla suits. That sounds absolutely horrendous, but somehow I was quite entertained. Plus the reader is treated to characters like wrestling brothers Prime Rib, Prime Rate, and Prime Time, and others with likely names like Wally Wallski. Muldoon, the wrestling manager, the director, the manipulator of men, the trainer of falsehood, sure seems to know his pop-Nietzsche.
This book really reminds me of a good Frank Miller comic book, but in novel form.
This book really reminds me of a good Frank Miller comic book, but in novel form.
July 19, 2008
This is one of the most wonderfully Dadaist books I've ever encountered. Gorillas, detectives, a kidnapping, and warring tribes of urban Gnostics who secretly control professional wrestling. Satan vs. Santa. An evil twin. Rogue pro wrestlers, who have become their personas in the ring-- Ogre, Taurus, The Great Father Snake. Marduk the Magnificent. The False Marduk.
The prose and characters are really enjoyable, and although this book probably should be an entertaining mess, it rises above that. It's magnificent and odd, and goofy as hell. And when certain plot elements disappear, are devoured by the rest of the story, I can't complain.
The prose and characters are really enjoyable, and although this book probably should be an entertaining mess, it rises above that. It's magnificent and odd, and goofy as hell. And when certain plot elements disappear, are devoured by the rest of the story, I can't complain.
August 6, 2010
"Live dangerously," Dobyns says, and he proceeds to tell the story in appropriately reckless fashion. It's weird, wild, ambitious and fun, but it's a book at war with itself, espousing brilliantly on human nature one moment then doling out the amusing shenanigans of cardboard characters the next. In the author's assured hands this works better than it has a right to, especially as his narrator hopstotches from plot tangent to plot tangent with a postmodern wink that tells you he's making much of this up as he goes and hey, you're invited to fill in some of the incidental detail for yourself if so inclined.
December 13, 2009
This was a hysterical book. Nothing to be taken seriously, but very entertaining look at life through the ideas of a Poser Pro Wrestler surrounded by Gnostic thinkers, seedy NY'ers, Gumshoe Detectives, Present tense or has been Wrestlers and there fans. I may not have been able to sit through this book had I not read A Man In Full. This book read more like a Vonnegrut and I was expecting more of an Irvine Welch approach.
March 29, 2010
A fun, wacky read mixing pro-wrestling, Nietzsche, and esoteric Christian theology. Dobyns uses an intriguing narrative voice, a bit like the narrator of Gravity's Rainbow in that it seems to be describing a movie or a script to us. The book is, perhaps, a bit too self-consciously wacky and Dobyns doesn't use this material as well as the latter novels of Phil Dick do, but then, it's hard to imagine anyone beating Dick on that turf.
Want to read
January 16, 2013Forgot to mention that I gave up on this. Not necessarily bad, but life is causing too long of a gap between opportunities to read right now, and this is NOT the kind of book suitable to such circumstances. Would like to come back to it when/if I ever get a good enough chunk of time to devour it more wholly. Right now there are far too many characters and plot points for me to keep track of when I can't pick it up every day.
March 11, 2007
I bought this book at City Lights Bookstore during my first trip to San Francisco.
Though not a student of philosophy (nietzche was mentioned numerous times) for some reason, this novel stayed with me.The idea that good and evil was controlled by higher beings thru the use of WWF wrestlers was so absurd, it worked. Damed pissed that I lent it to a friend and never got it back!
Though not a student of philosophy (nietzche was mentioned numerous times) for some reason, this novel stayed with me.The idea that good and evil was controlled by higher beings thru the use of WWF wrestlers was so absurd, it worked. Damed pissed that I lent it to a friend and never got it back!
July 13, 2012
like so far, but i'm only a couple pages in. Edit: didn't finish it, and most likely won't. It was ok, but I couldn't tell what tone it was trying to have, etc. It was just one of those books that you hit a roadblock while reading, and then you put it down and would rather pick something else up. Which I did and loved.
Edit: didn't finish, never will.
Edit: didn't finish, never will.
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