What do you think?
Rate this book
A Labyrinth for Loons
Writer Leonard Smith wants to go home, but he’s stuck in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur during Covid lockdown, and the airlines seem haphazardly selective about who flies and who doesn’t, based on the type of travel visa one holds.
While waiting for the opportunity to get out, Leonard agrees to look after the belongings of another tourist—the Kiwi—who’s committed suicide. The dead man, also a writer, has written a bizarre manuscript concerning real-life accounts of a brutal minotaur housed within a labyrinth. Before he realizes it, Leonard finds himself in custody of the embalmed corpse, storing the dead man until he can be transferred for burial in another city.
Through a bureaucratic screw-up, Malaysian authorities confuse Leonard with that of the deceased Kiwi—who possesses just the right kind of visa. Is Leonard capable of assuming the false identity of the dead man for a chance to go home?
Getting desperate while holed-up with a wily cat, a 13-year-old house guest who could possibly be homicidal, and a dead man in the closet—that at times doesn’t seem all that dead—Leonard slips into profound questions of his own identity.
The only way to find answers is in the labyrinth—where the minotaur waits.
While waiting for the opportunity to get out, Leonard agrees to look after the belongings of another tourist—the Kiwi—who’s committed suicide. The dead man, also a writer, has written a bizarre manuscript concerning real-life accounts of a brutal minotaur housed within a labyrinth. Before he realizes it, Leonard finds himself in custody of the embalmed corpse, storing the dead man until he can be transferred for burial in another city.
Through a bureaucratic screw-up, Malaysian authorities confuse Leonard with that of the deceased Kiwi—who possesses just the right kind of visa. Is Leonard capable of assuming the false identity of the dead man for a chance to go home?
Getting desperate while holed-up with a wily cat, a 13-year-old house guest who could possibly be homicidal, and a dead man in the closet—that at times doesn’t seem all that dead—Leonard slips into profound questions of his own identity.
The only way to find answers is in the labyrinth—where the minotaur waits.
172 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 30, 2021
About the author
Michael A. Greco
13 books8 followersMy stories start out as ordinary beans. I like to think of them as such.
I don’t know what I have, but I’m compelled to water these beans. Shoots then grow into stems and my beanstalk matures. Sometimes the stems die; the story loses life. Then I travel along my beanstalk and find new stems to explore. Eventually leaves grow and there is a flowering, as the organism that is my story comes to life, and the characters take shape, and I can see them and hear their voices.
Then they grow up and go off and do things I haven’t planned.
The nerve!
That’s how I know I’m getting somewhere.
I don’t know what I have, but I’m compelled to water these beans. Shoots then grow into stems and my beanstalk matures. Sometimes the stems die; the story loses life. Then I travel along my beanstalk and find new stems to explore. Eventually leaves grow and there is a flowering, as the organism that is my story comes to life, and the characters take shape, and I can see them and hear their voices.
Then they grow up and go off and do things I haven’t planned.
The nerve!
That’s how I know I’m getting somewhere.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 10, 2021
A world in lockdown traps people in place with escape coming in the form of elaborate and nearly impossible to complete bureaucratic hoops, eliciting either a sense of fantastic joy or a sense of agitation and restlessness in Michael A. Greco’s A Labyrinth for Loons.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Leonard Smith is a writer whose life has recently shifted from Japan to Malaysia to take advantage of their schools for his daughter. When the world goes in to a lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Leonard remains in Kuala Lumpur as his wife and daughter leave for Kyoto, as leaving Malaysia is dependent upon the kind of visa you have; there’s limited opportunity to escape and a great need for patience required to endure this hardship. While continually testing his chance to get out and back to his family, Leonard agrees to be the keeper of another tourist’s belongings after his death, though they’d only met once; Leon Schmidt is also a writer and has completed a strange manuscript about a labyrinth and a minotaur. A series of strange, and seemingly unthinkable, events take place within the confines of the condo tower that confuse and eventually conflate the identities of Leonard and Leon.
Though reading about life set in a Covid-19 lockdown might be far from the escapism you’re aiming for right now, this book uses this all too familiar situational setting to its benefit to explore some wild thoughts, and the accompanying behaviors, that have potential to build up within people during periods of social isolation; the ideas and events depicted as the narrative progresses become more and more outlandish in an entertaining and typically humorous, if dark, way. There’s a certain level of authorial self-referential content within this story, such as references to previous Greco stories, that begs the question of this tale being fiction or the author’s life (albeit exaggerated or part of an alternate version of reality), which, as someone who has read many previous works of the author, was a little confusing at first but it does also play with the overriding concept of identity (personal, cultural, etc.) that’s explored throughout the book.
*I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Leonard Smith is a writer whose life has recently shifted from Japan to Malaysia to take advantage of their schools for his daughter. When the world goes in to a lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Leonard remains in Kuala Lumpur as his wife and daughter leave for Kyoto, as leaving Malaysia is dependent upon the kind of visa you have; there’s limited opportunity to escape and a great need for patience required to endure this hardship. While continually testing his chance to get out and back to his family, Leonard agrees to be the keeper of another tourist’s belongings after his death, though they’d only met once; Leon Schmidt is also a writer and has completed a strange manuscript about a labyrinth and a minotaur. A series of strange, and seemingly unthinkable, events take place within the confines of the condo tower that confuse and eventually conflate the identities of Leonard and Leon.
Though reading about life set in a Covid-19 lockdown might be far from the escapism you’re aiming for right now, this book uses this all too familiar situational setting to its benefit to explore some wild thoughts, and the accompanying behaviors, that have potential to build up within people during periods of social isolation; the ideas and events depicted as the narrative progresses become more and more outlandish in an entertaining and typically humorous, if dark, way. There’s a certain level of authorial self-referential content within this story, such as references to previous Greco stories, that begs the question of this tale being fiction or the author’s life (albeit exaggerated or part of an alternate version of reality), which, as someone who has read many previous works of the author, was a little confusing at first but it does also play with the overriding concept of identity (personal, cultural, etc.) that’s explored throughout the book.
*I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
August 11, 2021
This is the first "during Covid" novel that I've read. It has everything that makes this historical time frustrating: long lines, scarce supplies, zoom meetings gone wrong, separated from loved ones, etc. We're still experiencing some of this so maybe that's why I felt frustrated with the novel. Either that or the author's very strange sense of humor. There are just some jokes that don't quite land. It's like part Covid story and then part bizarre story of mistaken identity with a dead guy hanging around. The title is appropriate, it's definitely a labyrinth for loons - just not my particular cup of tea. 3/5 stars
August 11, 2021
The first half of the black comedy, A LABYRINTH FOR LOONS, by Michael Greco is such a realistic portrait of life under Covid lockdown set in Kuala Lumpur that this reader was sure it was a memoir. It is actually a witty novel that becomes more far-fetched in its second half and is about an author/teacher fighting bureaucracy trying to fly back to his family in Japan. There are also some somber insights about the death of a neighbor (not of Covid) and the struggles of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Mainly though, Greco’s novel offers fascinating escapism even if it’s about being stuck in one place.
August 25, 2021
This book was a pretty good read, and a quick one. I liked it pretty well and it was fun to read, although I don't think I'd re-read it. It was a fun read, although it also struck me as weird at times. Overall a good book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews