The Tale of One Bad Rat (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Helen Potter lived a happy life until she got lost in a nightmare of sexual abuse. Now she's traveling through urban and rural England on a journey that is remarkably similar to the one Beatrix Potter once took. Bryan Talbot's inspirational story of young Helen Potter and her journey of healing won numerous awards and unending acclaim for the British writer/artist . . . even letters of commendation from Judy Taylor, the chair of the Beatrix Potter Society. This book is yet another example of a touching story that transcends the misperceptions that comics are disposable, juvenile pap.

From Booklist

Unlike most graphic novels, this powerful new effort is neither genre fiction nor autobiographical, but a compelling tale of childhood sexual abuse and recovery. Its heroine is teenager Helen Potter, who has run away from an abusive father and whose path to recovery takes her from a squat in London to refuge at an inn in the British countryside. Along the way, she meets characters and situations that Talbot derives from the work of Helen's namesake, Beatrix Potter, whose life he symbolically links to Helen's. Talbot's vivid, realistic full-color illustration brilliantly evokes the story's settings, yet even more effective are his compassionate characterizations. Although Helen's eventual decision to take responsibility for her recovery seems somewhat facile, her ultimate triumph is genuinely inspirational. This graphic novel has the potential to affect a large audience, notably including counselors and others who work with abuse survivors. Gordon Flagg

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Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; 1st Trade Pbk. Ed edition (October 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569710775
• ISBN-13: 978-1569710777
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #538,823 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all time favorite graphic novels, January 31, 2003

By	Eric Fritzius (Ronceverte, WV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Stunner, August 3, 2005

By	S. E. Tyson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting use of the graphic novel to address social issue, May 3, 2004

By	deaner73 (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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.