Of sewers and labyrinths

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Denise Hamilton’s review of Rick Riordan’s ‘The Battle of the Labyrinth,’ in our section last week, gave us this fascinating image of Daedalus’ maze:

‘Riordan’s genius is in reimagining classic myths for the 21st century, making them relevant to young adult readers while staying true to the spirit of the originals. ‘Battle of the Labyrinth’ focuses on the sinister maze where Theseus slew the Minotaur. But the labyrinth isn’t under a palace in Crete anymore; it lies just below the mortal world, where ‘it’s been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything together underground.’ ‘

Now, in the new issue of Book Review, comes an unexpected echo in Chris Daley’s take on, well, shoot, Los Angeles’ sewer system. The book that Daley assesses for us is Anna Sklar’s ‘Brown Acres: An Intimate History of the Los Angeles Sewer System,’ published by Angel City Press. The review looks at a fascinating and obviously overlooked aspect of life in the city, and I couldn’t help but detect a faint whiff (sorry, couldn’t resist) of the myth in this statement: ‘To call the process of building the underground network of pipes and ultimately a sewage treatment plant Herculean would be an understatement.’

The one word that unsettles me in the book’s title is ‘intimate’ — what does that mean? As far as I can tell from the publisher’s site, Sklar didn’t take the plunge like a latter-day Jean Valjean as part of her research. Thank goodness.

Read the rest of Daley’s review here or peruse the entire issue of the Los Angeles Times Book Review here.

Nick Owchar