Customer Reviews

Doctor Rat

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dr. Rat is an expose' on mankind's cruelty to other forms of life around him, most specifically the animal kingdom. This book is an indictment of animal experimental laboratories, slaughter houses, poaching and hunting. Kotzwinkle uses a fast talking insane rodent to portray a macabre view of the inside of an animal experimentation laboratory grotesquely similar to a Nazi concentration camp. In the words of Dr. Rat himself "...having been driven insane, I hold the necessary degree in psychology." With this pointed statement, this bizarre story unfolds. Kotzwinkle paints a dark and frightening tale that is a reflection of our times. This book cuts right into the artificial and bloody foundation of Psychiatric `research' and experimentation, and the reader will be appalled at the harsh spotlight that it shines on the inhumane practices so common place in our society, yet hidden behind a paper-shuffling bureaucracy. This is a very clever book, and very timely. It will open anyone's eyes with its startling viewpoint. A real shocker filled with cold realism. This book is absolutely disgusting at times, but very poignant. It will open your eyes.

Entertaining tale of the humans use of animals for medical research.

This book allows you to look at a different point of view in animal research. from the animals side. What do they think? Do they feel? Do they care? Should we, as humans, care about these things? This book is not for kids.

Dr. Rat is an exploration of the use of animals in human research. You are given the view of a lab rat that has been in the research lab just a little too long. He is missing various parts and is quite mad. He talks in poems that make a lot of sense when you stop to listen to them. He is as smart as he is savey in the 'way' of the lab and leads the animals in a revolution to take over the world.

Very entertaining, much more of a social statement than other books of his,and makes you think about the use of animals in medical research and if it is the 'right' thing to do. A must read for those of used who think we are liberal and open minded. And even for those who believe strongly in animal reseach.

If you read Dr. Rat you will never forget it -- ever. I read this many years ago and was reluctant to pick it up for a re-read because of the discomfort and horror it engendered, although I felt oddly compelled. A second reading did nothing to change my mind that a book that could make me that uncomfortable was worth a second look. (Those who believe in mankind's God-given right to dominion over the earth and its creatures should be forced to read Dr. Rat.) This is a strange, intense, often wildly funny, but serious book for people who relish chewy intellectual meat over sentimental feel-good pap.

I have read these other reviews. Yes, it is laughably funny; yes, it is frequently greusome. What I have failed to read about this book, at least so far, is what can be taken from it. On a basic level, it will make you think about animal conciousness and experimentation, animal cruelty, and blind procedure. True, this makes the story excellent by many standards. However, at the heart of the novel is a message of social and political awareness, and the comentary makes a profound statement on the ailing status of the world today. Kotzwinkle has created an AWESOME METAPHOR which stretches far beyond "a sad story about lab rats", and I am shocked other reviewers couldn't see that!

William Kotzwinkle's novel Dr. Rat combines a cautionary dash of Orwell's Animal Farm with the rancid horror of Sinclair's The Jungle to tell a savagely critical tale of humanity's mistreatment of the other animals sharing our world. Dr. Rat goes for the throat with appalling accuracy, clawing at the emotional core we try to protect with logic and reason. This novel forces us to look at the cruelly underside of animal experimentation, slaughtering houses and hunting. Told with a savage humor that does nothing to cushion the blow of confronting our own barbarism, Dr. Rat stands out as a masterpiece of recognition and rage.

The title character is a laboratory rat long mad from running the maze. "Death is freedom," he shouts again and again.
But while Dr. Rat gaily recites the gratuitous atrocities performed on his fellows by the Learned Professor and his graduate assistants -- "Nobody knows exactly what he's doing, or why. It is sufficient that each month we mention cancer and a new kind of plastic." -- the revolution brewing inside the lab mirrors a great gathering of every sort of animal in the outside world. The story flashes to the mind of a different creature for a chapter, either one suffering at the hand of man or one beginning the trek to the mustering, then flips back to Dr. Rat's lone stand against the rebelling research subjects.

Dr. Rat ignites emotions that most of us are less than comfortable experiencing; all the more reason to read this book and to open your eyes.

Even though this book is fiction, there is a lot of truth to it. This is a book I think everyone should read just so they know what happens in animal testing laboratories. Whether you're not aware or would rather turn away from the issue, animal testing is a cruel science experiment gone wrong.

Watership Down smokes with Grateful Dead. Whacky and inspired. Read book in one sitting, laughing out loud.

Though I'm not a fan of the "cheesy" cover on the latest edition of this book (the earlier covers were more artistic) the message from the story is the same.

To summarize the story; it is about an Animal Revolution against mankind. Every single animal has joined this revolution except for one, Doctor Rat.

Throughout the book the author attempts to give perspectives from both sides (the animals and Doctor Rat's) but the main character (Doctor Rat) is really a character that had been admittedly driven insane by the very beings he has sworn allegiance to.

Animal lovers, political zealots, and anyone with an imagination should enjoy this book.

**Because of some of the language and graphic descriptions contained in this book some people may be turned off. Though that is understandable I still recommend this book.

I am tempted to put Dr. Rat in my top ten all time books. Gruesome, witty, with one of literatures most memorable characters in my opinion. I am amazed how the author has such unusual anthromorphic insights into the mind of animals. Really, this book makes you cringe, laugh, and most of all think. Highly recommended. "Rat shocked, shocked, shocked...still comes back for more" please see "Animal Lab Routines"...vol4pp45-47

Anthropomorphic animals revolt! The first and the last chapters of this book were definitely the best. Those first chapters were hard to read, though. They were very sad. Kotzwinkle does not use grisly words when describing the maltreatment of laboratory animals. He's clinical and candid, which is disturbing in its own way. Heat oven to 250. Insert tray of kittens, paws taped down. Note plaintive cries and vaginal bleeding. I don't know if any of
the experiments he described are real, but he sounded [mad]. He then goes on to report the horrible treatment of all sorts of animals; from domestic dogs to cattle. Horrible, horrible, and sad. All of it sad. Made me a little ashamed to have pets. The revolt that started in a lab extended to all the animals of the world. The book ended on a global scale, both grand and sorrowful.

25 years ago I read Doctor Rat and have been a vegetarian ever since.