L ifestyle /C ulture
The Wrestler’s Cruel Study: Courtesy of W.W. Norton & Co. • Everybody: Courtesy of W.W. Norton & Co.

like watching a car crash in
slow motion, but as with
“Moneyball,” Lewis manages to
write a page-turner nonetheless.

seems tailor-made for the mass
market — pro wrestler Michael
Marmaduke, aka Marduk the
Magnificent, seeks to find his
abducted fiancée — Dobyns
goes far deeper than just a
Andy Gotlieb, managing
editor conventional story.

“Wrong Alibi,” by Christina
Instead, the author plumbs
Dodd (HQN, 2020)
the depths of society, considers
“The “Wrestler’s Cruel Study,” various philosophies and, for all
by Stephen Dobyns (W.W. Norton
& Co., 1995)
Two rather different books sit
atop the nightstand these days.

“Wrong Alibi” is a conven-
tional bestseller type of thriller,
complete with an interesting
protagonist looking to get
revenge on the man who set
her up for murder, a compel-
ling setting and a couple twists
and turns.

It’s the kind of story that
easily could be adapted for the
big screen.

That said, it’s well-written
and moves briskly along,
making it an ideal beach
read — particularly when it’s
90 degrees in Margate, and
Evie, the main character, is
dealing with subzero Alaskan
temperatures. Then there’s “The Wrestler’s
Cruel Study,” which I saw on
my parents’ bookshelves, sitting
there years after it was a book
club read. Having read a couple
of Stephen Dobyns’ horror-
thriller books years earlier
— and remembering that he
had a knack for turning a pretty
good phrase — I dug in.

But “The Wrestler’s Cruel
Study” is the opposite of a
beach read. While the premise
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM I know, the meaning of life. Not
the typical kind of stuff to read
at 11:30 p.m. before drifting
off to sleep, but thought-pro-
voking nonetheless.

Eleanor Linafelt, staff writer
“Everybody,” by Olivia Laing
(W.W. Norton & Co., 2021)
“Everybody” is “a book
about freedom,” as the subtitle
states, and Olivia Laing tackles
this broad subject with an
equally broad overview of
people and movements who
have resisted various forms
of oppression over the past
century. Each of the eight chapters
focuses on a different threat
to bodily freedom, from
climate change to incar-
ceration to racism. Laing
provides a detailed look into
the lives of figures who have
grappled with restrictions
on their freedom, including
Susan Sontag, Malcolm X
and Magnus Hirschfeld.

“Everybody” is most compel-
ling when Laing’s voice comes
through; her autobiograph-
ical anecdotes and cultural
analyses are refreshing amidst
the sometimes tedious histor-
ical information.

The consistent thread
throughout the book is
Wilhelm Reich, a German
psychoanalyst and protégé of
Sigmund Freud who was forced
to flee Berlin after the Nazis
came to power. Laing weaves
details of his fascinating
and unusual life through
each chapter, tying together
complex struggles for freedom
across countries and decades.

Jarrad Saffren, staff writer
Microfiction by the very online
writer Default Friend (default-
friend.substack.com) I had never read short
fiction before, as I grew up
in an era (the 2000s) when it
had long since fallen out of
the mainstream. But in this
smartphone/social media
age, everything is niche now,
so short fiction can have its
place again. My own digital
See Read, Page 20
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JULY 8, 2021
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