Customer Reviews

Rat

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4 star:		(3)
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I liked this book, though it was disturbing and depressing. I don't think anyone who doesn't want to read about the brutal and hopeless part of the world should read this. It's a story about a wild rat, from a rat's point of view; his thoughts and experiences. In being bluntly real, the book reveals the truth about people - that we are animals, and we do cruel things to other animals. Rats have their own worlds within our world - their worlds are the worlds we built! Sewers, cellars, barns, boats, trains. Since they are in our worlds, you learn about us too in this book.

This is a real portrait of a rat's life. It explains the life of an animal like the ones we see squashed on the road. I want to know those stories - because they aren't told by Hollywood or in the bestseller lists - but it is a very real part of the world. I think everyone should read this. I got very depressed, but it's okay - because I know that anyone would be depressed. That makes me feel a little better, somehow.

Andrzej Zaniewski writes very emotionally. For example, on page 1: "Try to recall that first darkness that you have seen and remembered, summon it up in its first, earliest shape, try to re-create the course of life, the events, the wanderings, the escapes, the travels--from the first moments after leaving Mother's warm belly, from the first painful, choking breaths of air, from the experience of sudden cold, from the cutting of the umbilical cord and the gentle touch of the tongue." This is how he writes through the whole book. So you get very emotional, and find out what it must feel like to be this rat. And, because the rat really acts like a rat (I have pet rats, so I recognize it), I knew the view is very realistic. Except for the part where the rat vomits - rats don't vomit; I guess that is one bit of knowledge the author did not have.

No solution to the brutalness of the world is given; and I really felt wounded after finishing this book. The comfort is that maybe there is something I could do about the way of the world.

Some insightful descriptions are "balancing on my tail" and how the rats attack other rats because they smell alien. This is how rats really act. You also find out what rats eat in the wild - they are predators too, like we are.

If you can stand feeling depressed and wounded by a story, then I think this one is worth reading because of the insight you gain about people and animals.

Rarely do I find myself thinking about passages in a book months, even years, after I have read the book. When I do, however, it means something extradordinary has happened. Two years have passed and still I think about numerous passages from this book. It is almost like a dream, unsettling and on the edge of frightening. I see the story as an allegory dangerously close to humanity's darker side. This is not an easy book to read because it is so horribly truthful at times, and starkly ugly at others. It could generate much debate about "art" and "reality", but it is not for the weakly motivated soul. Be prepared for a terrible journey buffered only by brilliant prose.

I could barely believe the Kirkus reviewer read this book. It is a thrilling balance of anthropomorphism (it's first-person after all) & allegory & all framed in the realistic behavior of actual rats. The ending was so powerful my heart caught in my throat & I was upset for days.

Surprisingly fascinating book; turns out rats are just like us -- only different.

Sort of a tale of rat existentialism.

A masterfully imaginative look into what a rat might think.

I've always liked rodents. In fact, it was the mysterious cover art of the rat face hidden in darkness that first attracted me to pick up this book. Starting to read, I discovered that the story was told from a rat's point of view. I found following the life of the rat a worrisome and harrowing experience. This was only made more difficult by sensing the fear which was a constant in the rat's life. There was also a pervading theme of death, although I tried to not let this distract me from the story. The author jarringly changed voices, moving erratically and at whim through first and second person narration, sometimes in the same paragraph. I don't know why he did this, but I could feel myself becoming just as disoriented as the rat itself. Was this the author's subtle way of grabbing my attention?

The book was shocking. For either a person fearful of rats or one who loves them, there was enough in this story to startle anyone. I've not read another book quite like it. I'd qualify it as a definite read for people who like things that are odd or experimental. In the few places that the narrative became a bit tedious, I forgave the author as so, too, must be the life of a rat. In the end, I was surprised by how well the author ensnared me into his rat's world, thereby showing me my world from a rather odd perspective.

Someone let me borrow this book, saying I would like it! I read it once and immediately went out and ordered my own copy from the USA. It is simply the MOST moving book I have ever read in my life and I doubt any other will ever beat it. All those people who have ever been cruel to an animal or ever eaten one (i.e. "meat"), should read this book. True, rats can't vomit, but maybe that was symbolic of how cruel the world really is to these creatures, that our hero rat did actually vomit? Not sure, but regardless, from the moment I started reading it to the time I finished it (how hard it was to read those final pages! I was bawling!!!), those INTENSELY HEARTBREAKING images will stay with me the rest of my life. I hope it convinces those idiots who use rat traps and cement live rats in their burrows and poison and torture and kill them, that what they are doing is WRONG! As a rat owner, it gave me tremendous insight into my rats' own little world. Hopefully, selfish humans will read this bible to the rat and start practising compassion towards all living creatures. I have truly NEVER been so affected by a book in my life! Zaniewski has captured in a novel, what most will never realise in a lifetime.