Wrestler's Cruel Review

Hi,

With a slight dry spell in new releases and inspired by the "Wrestling Isn't Wrestling" video (which is amazing by the way), I decided to re-read The Wrestler's Cruel Study by Stephen Dobyns. It's sort of about wrestling but really that's just the springboard to a wilder philosophical investigation.

Michael Marmaduke is a big, genteel lug who works as a professional wrestler going by the name Marduk the Magnificent. He's engaged to an incredibly sweet young woman named Rose White. His life is thrown into turmoil when Rose White is kidnapped. Trying to track down his fiancee, Michael gets caught up in a rumble between opposing gangs organized around Gnostic Christian Heresies. This eventually leads him to a sort of modern-day Nicene Council debating the nature of good and evil.

Meanwhile...there are a lot of meanwhile's in this book. A small galaxy of characters and their stories weave back and forth.

Primus Muldoon -- Michael's trainer and Nietzschean adherent.
Wally -- a hapless loser who's life changes with a lucky coin.
Seth -- a young man running for his father's life.
Brodsky and Gapski -- two police detectives who appear alike but hate each other.
Violet White -- Rose's less-innocent sister.
Deep Rat -- well, the name says it all doesn't it?
Beetle -- A homeless man with an important story to tell.

And lots of others. Despite the raft of characters, the plot moves smoothly between them and keeps everyone and their concerns distinct.

I liked the book the first time I read it and enjoyed it a second time. Just a wonderful cross-section of philosophy in a whimsical tale.

later
Tom