Title: The Laughter of
Strangers
Author: Michael J. SeidlingerAuthor's webpage:http://michaeljseidlinger.com/
Publisher: Lazy Fascist Press (http://lazyfascistpress.com/)
Genre: Literature
ISBN: 978-1621050971
Available on Amazon
What is the purpose of
identity? It is to dignify the existence of human separation. We are all equally
varied in characteristics and personalities. Like two snowflakes, none of us are
the same, and unlike Tyler Durden’s philosophy we are all special. In
The Laughter of Strangers, Michael Seidlinger challenges the concept of
self by giving several faces and facets to the boxer who is, was, and always
will be Willem Floures.
While identity is a feature
set aside for others to differentiate, ego and self-esteem are internal machines
to determine identity; the protagonist’s main struggle in the book is
discovering the “true” Willem Floures through rigorous tests of both. Is it
Sugar, Black Mamba, or Executioner? Seidlinger takes readers on an existentially
vagrant journey through the stages of Floures’s life, using boxing matches as
vibrant reveries of combat against actions and behaviors of past and
present.
His prose is clean and
concise and he wastes no breath in getting the story across, in passages such as
“Looking back all I hear is laughter. All I see is white. All I taste is the
ache of my bleeding mouth, tongue numb, my eyes wanting so very much to roll
back, have a look at the inside of my broken skull.”
There are no extraneous
details or descriptions to bore you out of your mind—no—merely conflict in the
mind of a character on the path towards self-discovery, categorization, and
personal revelation. If you’re looking for a read with a broad degree of
settings and action, you will miss out a bit, but Seidlinger makes up for it
with honest characters, ones that blend together likes the rounds do for a
fighter.
As for my recommendation, I
would say disappear into the crowd and try, for yourself, not to laugh as the
world of Willem Floures crumbles, and thrives, on the southpawed boxer’s back.
Be a spectator in his final fight for glory and gratification. Stand in his
corner while he battles for inner supremacy and against the throes served by
years of publicity. We are all looking for our place in the world, to be
understood and find meaning. In the words of Willem
Floures:
“You had to hurt yourself in
order to be heard. You have to continue working, being productive, doing
whatever it is that you do to maintain their attention. If no one pays attention
to you, you aren’t really alive.”
The match starts
now.
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