Andrzej Zaniewski

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.… (mehr)