Review of The Laughter of Strangers by Micheal Seidlinger

Synopsis

‘SUGAR’ WILLEM FLOURES

That’s a name I built from the ground up. I wasn’t the first to systematically climb the ranks, beating the sugar out of everyone I had known to be inferior, leaving only the sour taste of defeat, my claim forever being:

“I am the greatest!”

I can still hear it now. In the silence of this locker room, blood drying on my face, I can still hear those words.

And I was. I was the greatest.

JAB

LEFT HOOK

JAB

LEFT HOOK

RIGHT HOOK

JAB

STRAIGHT

TO THE BODY:

JAB

JAB

POWER SHOT STRAIGHT

POWER SHOT STRAIGHT

UPPERCUT

And then a voice says, “‘Sugar’… you are no longer sweet with the science.”"

Review

A novel just as much about boxing, as society, media, mental illness and the darkest aspects of the human psyche. The narrator Willem Floures is a fighter who may be past his prime, and floundering towards doomsday, but the real intrigue in the novel comes in the notion that Willem Floures isn’t the only Willem Floures, there’s impostors everywhere. A larger story is at play here than just a desire to be champion, remain champion or even just win another fight. As the narrator loses his grip on reality, the story becomes claustrophobic, but the skill of the author pushes the text forward, compellingly into an intriguing mix of gritty noir reality and lucid nightmare. Looking forward to more from the author.