Customer Reviews

The Tale of One Bad Rat

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"Once upon a time, there was a very bad rat..." So begins The Tale of One Bad Rat. And though it would seem a classic Beatrix Potter beginning, this tale is not hers, but is actually a graphic novel written and illustrated by British artist Bryan Talbot. For those unfamiliar with the term, graphic novels are essentially thick comic books, often collected from a series of individual comics. It's a format not entirely dissimilar to Beatrix Potter's own, and the similarities with her work do not end there.

As in many of Potter's tales, Bad Rat's main character is one of unfortunate circumstance who has to see her way past the wicked foxes and ill-tempered farmers of her life to find her happily ever after. Instead of using an actual rat, though, Talbot introduces us to Helen Potter, a wildly imaginative, homeless teenager, whose only possessions are the Beatrix Potter books she took when she ran away from home and whose only friend is her small nameless pet rat.

Helen's world on the streets of 1990s London is not an easy one. She gets by panhandling and through the kindness of her fellow street kids, but is plagued by occasional bursts of her own imagination. Among other things, she sees visions of possible ways to end her life, can see historic versions of her surroundings, can envision people as their animal counterparts and even imagine a giant version of her own pet rat. She views herself as a bad person-a bad rat. This psychologists tell us, is often the case among those who, like Helen, have been damaged by the all too common nightmare of parental abuse. It is the exploration of this important problem that forms the foundation for this story.

Like her namesake, Helen's finds pleasure in drawing-whether doodling on her pants or copying Beatrix's illustrations from her books. Helen finds hope in the parallels she sees between her life and Beatrix's. She wishes more than anything else to leave London for the Lake District village of Sawrey, where Beatrix herself lived much of her life. After some unfortunate incidents involving the police, this is exactly what Helen does. Escaping London for the peaceful Sawrey brings her some happiness, but it does not allow her to escape her past. Finally facing that past and her abuser becomes Helen's ultimate quest toward her happy ending.

In The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot has created a modern version of a Beatrix Potter story, filled with colorful true to life characters and villains every bit in Mr. McGregor's league. The story also serves as a love letter to the English Lake District and its various villages-a land of lush green mountains that were a passion of Beatrix Potter's for much of her life and served as the setting for many of her tales. He has also created a work about the terribly important issue of sexual abuse-especially considering that government studies estimate that one in three girls will be molested before they're eighteen, and that statistic is based only on the few cases that are reported. And while Bad Rat is ultimately an uplifting tale of survival, it reminds us that not everyone lives happily ever after.

Like Spiegelman's Maus and Satrapi's Persepolis books, this graphic novel shows how powerful this genre can be in dealing with brutality, in this case with childhood sexual abuse as well as with animal experimentation, social isolation, homelessness, and a horrifying family life. As society and family prey on Helen, the protagonist, she thinks, she reads, she develops her own thoughts and insists on going her own way--and on getting others, including readers, to think differently about their own preconceptions and assumptions as she sheds her abusers.

Take the example of rats--far from being reviled at best and something to be experimented on at worst, Helen shows other characters and us, the readers, that they're intelligent, amazing creatures that should be respected and even worshipped, as in Hindu religion. What's especially great about this novel is the way that it mixes an unflinching look at horror and brutality (Helen being abused by her father and rejected by her mother; fantasies of suicide; scenes of sexual predation as she hitchhikes; and much more) with a clear appreciation for the power of art and thinking (as well as the positive example of another assertive individual, Beatrix Potter) to help someone come into her own and leave her abusers behind.

First off, let's get the bad bits out of the way - The cover of Bryan Talbot's, 'The Tale of One Bad Rat,' has got to be the worst looking/designed cover of any graphic novel or book that i've ever seen.

Now for the good - once you get past the hideous cover all is quickly forgiven both with Talbot's great artwork and excellent writing with story, theme and character. Most people will have heard of this book for its unique attempt (at the time) to address serious social issue (sexual abuse) which it does a fantastic job of in terms of taste and message. But while the abuse theme hovers constantly throughout the book, Talbot opens the world of his characters up and vividly recreates the mean streets of London and the scenic splendour of the English countryside that gives this book a grand feel to it without being bogged down by the heavier theme at hand. Also of interest is the way the books of Beatrix Potter is weaved into the storyline not to mention some intriguing bits involving rats.

This is one graphic novel you'd never encounter too frequently in a long time! It is a very illustrative and eye-opening tale about an unhappy English teenager who took her beloved rat and fled the chambers of horror which she would've called "home", which was haunted by her sexually abusive father and her haughty, unloving mother. After a whole series of very scary misadventures with sexual predators and pursuing policemen as well as begging for food and sharing a run-down room with a cocky young boy who leads a helping hand, Helen finally decides to turn around and face her worst enemy - who happens to be her own loving daddy. And, Helen also finds a very powerful inspiration in her most favorite author, Beatrix Potter - who probably had gone through the very same situation in her youth. Very clever storytelling and such beautiful, realistic artwork that truly glitters with a subtle element of fantasy and action adventure, though I found Helen's encounter with her perverted dad a bit too melodramatic and some of the characters depicted in the story are a bit ugly to look at, like the girl's mother, who is wearing too much make-up on her aging face. However, this is the very kind of creation I wish I can find on more and more of the graphic novels and comic books being produced today instead of just superheroes and oversexed young bimbos.

I've seen several people criticizing the cover art of this book, and I think this needs clarifiction.

If you read Beatrix Potter books as a child, as I did, you would have recognized immediately that the cover is a direct homage to the classic white covers of the little books. The plain white background, centered watercolor illustration, and even the title font is a faithful echo of every tale she ever published. Go check out one and see if you don't revise your opinion. I was, in fact, drawn to the book immediately BECAUSE I recognized it as a Beatrix Potter concept.

Oh, and the story is a very good one, and timely. :)

Many people shy away from grahic novels, thinking they are "just comics" or "full of violence and sex" (after all, we also use the word "graphic" in front of the words "violence" and "sex" all the time in movies and television). However, this book is not "just a comic".

This graphic novel tells the story of Helen Potter, sexually abused by her father for years, who runs away from home, heading for the home of her favourite childhood author, Beatrix Potter. The book starts with Helen begging on the streets of London, before she heads north to find Hill Top Farm, Beatrix's home.

The story of Helen's abuse at the hands of her father, and of the complete lack of feeling and neglect from her mother, is told through flashbacks, and as Helen talks to her pet rat. This is interspersed with Helen's journey north towards the Lake District, which mirrors her journey towards the eventual confrontation with her parents and with her own self.

This book is a touching story of hope told in a graphic format that will reach an audience that a more traditonal text-based novel of this ilk might not reach. The illustrations are vivid, yet the characters are also realistically portrayed (none of the gravity-defying female body parts that show up in some graphic novels!). According to the author, this book is also being used in outreach and therapy programs for abused children and teens.

This is a valuable book for any library to have.

The graphic novel "The Tale Of One Bad Rat" by Bryan Talbot is an Eisner Award winning story about Helen Potter, a woman who was sexually abused by her father for 8 years while she was a child and teenager.

The current second edition has excellent hardcover design, paper quality, and illustration color reproduction. The graphic novel, a story in 3 parts, was originally published in four individual comic books. I enjoyed having the whole story in one professionally crafted volume.

I'm not a person who writes many reviews. I don't enjoy writing reviews for the sake of writing reviews. I tend to only take the time to write reviews when I estimate I've found a great artwork that may be underrecognized or underappreciated in some way. I'm not alone in admiring this graphic novel. I was initially introduced to this book because it was recommended by both Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore.

This is an exquisitely well-thought out story. And Bryan Talbot is a master storyteller, writer, imagist, and draftsperson. His linework, line weight, and drawing abilities leave me with firm rememberances. His ability to paint and color is comparable to Milo Manara - and I mean that as a high compliment. His colors support a concert of details used to set compelling and accurate emotional atmospheres. Talbot doesn't just lay down flat colors. In studying his illustrations, you can see the care of every color weight, stroke direction, and visual texture.

The story begins with Helen living on the streets after running away from home. The story arcs through her beginning processes of recognizing she was sexually abused and trying to understand the harm the abuse did to her. The story is about trying to recover from incest by taking dramatic and active steps to repair what can be rebuilt. Helen reads many self-help books about child abuse and incest, she separates from her abuser, and she eventually confronts him.

Many of Helen's dialogues and thoughts are taken from research Talbot did after reading many books about sexual abuse of children and interviews of sexually abused women from many different countries. The story intimates the famous author (Helen) Beatrix Potter may have suffered from similar abuses as a young woman. And the story parallels similar steps and locations both Ms. Potter's took to separate from their fathers to become self-defining and self-reliant individuals.

This book was created to bring more attention to addressing the serious and common problems of sexual abuse: "It's been estimated that one in three girls will be molested before they're eighteen. Approximately 90 percent of that abuse is committed, not by the stereotypical stranger in the raincoat, haunter of the schoolgates, but by a close, male relative."

The story appears to have been written to emphasize that sexual abuse victims commonly take on the self-perception they are bad - even when bad things have primarly been done to them. Some children who experience incest may believe their parents must be good, and they make an incorrect reasoning progression and assume they must be a cause of their parent's bad behavior. Also, sexually abusive parents often verbally and emotionally abuse their child, communicating they are ugly, unpopular, or unlikable. This can lead a child to self-loathing, a misperception they are a bad rat - when they are not.

The story champions the concept of judging individuals by their individual actions and not by their stereotype. Helen literally has a pet rat she rescued from being dissected at her high school. And later in the story, she has an imaginary friend who is a rat, with whom she discusses, vents, and works out her problems. She researches and discovers for herself many good qualities about vilified rats. The "rat" exploration and theme is a fascinating juxtaposition in a story that also focuses on the misbehaviors of men - who would ironically often be referred to as "rats" for their incestuous behavior. Talbot appears to be emphasizing the distinction between reality and appearances, emphasizing compassion for literal rats who are well-behaved social creatures and disdain for figurative "rats" who are ill-behaved social creatures. The book's title can be easily interpreted to infer not all rats are bad.

Helen used art, creativity, and storytelling, like Beatrix Potter likely did, to address the difficult problems she was facing but did not feel able to discuss or face directly or publicly. Our art is often our heart on our sleeves, and sometimes artists use allegory and metaphor to address serious problems, problems they don't feel safe or proper discussing openly or directly. Sometimes they draw what they cannot say or communicate through words.

Talbot does a masterful job of drawing, painting, and writing many things that need to be communicated openly, directly, and often.

This fine graphic novel is a stellar example of what comics can do better than any other artform. Prose by itself wouldn't convey the combined power of text & illustration Talbot uses to such stunning effect. Beginning with the Beatrix Potter-style cover art, he offers layers of emotional & artistic meaning, utilizing flashbacks, fantasy, and harsh realism to tell the story of a damaged but ultimately victorious young woman -- and he's able to tell it from both the inside & from a more omniscient viewpoint. His detailed & expressive faces provide nuances that would do many accomplished actors proud.

What makes this work is that it's not just A Very Special Episode sort of story. Helen is an individual, not a case study, for all the extensive background material. Her story is not simply about healing & recovery, but about the importance of art, as well as the struggle towards wholeness that every human being must undergo. And the lush, colorful art only adds to the richness of this work, which rewards many rereadings. Highly recommended!

I really enjoyed this trade paperback. I'm going to buy it for my friend as a Christmas present, because her situation kind of parallels the book... If you're not a Beatrix Potter fan, you will be...

A 16 year old girl called Helen Potter leaves home, running from an abusive father and a mother who doesn't care. She finds herself begging on the streets of London and, along with her pet rat and a bag full of Beatrix Potter books, she begins a journey similar to Potter's out of her horrible situation into a place where she is safe and happy both in mind and body.

Bryan Talbot does a fantastic job depicting the horrors of street life in London. The sprawl, the crazies who are out there preying on the young and vulnerable, and those who would help them, namely those in similar circumstances albeit somewhat older. Talbot also deals with the issue of abuse delicately and yet brutally as well. We see the circumstances in which it happened and how it affected Helen. The psychological damage it does to a young mind is written clearly and honestly so those who haven't been abused (eg. me) could follow and begin to understand the victim's feelings.

Talbot also throws out facts about rats and their history, as well as the life story of Beatrix Potter. Helen's journey takes her to the Lake District which was Potter's home for many years and he draws absolutely stunning landscapes of the area. He also puts together a Beatrix Potter-esque story at the end of the book "written" by Helen. The artwork throughout is brilliant with Talbot opting for the first time to use human models to draw from to add an extra dimension of reality to the story.

Why this is labelled "Young Adult" is insulting as anyone should be able to read this without being put off that it might be "childish". It's a searingly honest look at a taboo issue in our society and deserves a wider audience than simply "young adults".

A brilliant and moving comic book from one of the masters of the medium, Bryan Talbot's "The Tale of One Bad Rat" is an utterly engrossing and wonderful read. Highly recommended.