Ebook249 pages3 hours
Doctor Rat
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this ebook
This World Fantasy Award winner in the vein of Animal Farm delves into a lab worthy of a mad Nazi scientist—but run by a brilliantly sadistic rodent.
In the annals of American literature, there has never been a character quite like Doctor Rat, PhD. From one of the most indispensable storytellers in speculative fiction, this biting satire introduces a narrator of learned charm and humor, and a twisted logic that is absolutely chilling.
Doctor Rat is a credit to his species. A survivor of the most refined scientific experiments, now removed from the maze, he has become a valued and productive member of the academic community. When he must administer a lethal dose, he comforts his fellow rats with his compassionate slogan: “Death is freedom.”
But everything changes when animals worldwide begin to rebel, refusing to accept their proper places in the natural order of things: as test subjects, pets, or food. And only Doctor Rat has the courage to defend mankind from the ungrateful animal kingdom.
Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “dazzlingly original” and “occasionally quite beautiful,” Doctor Rat is a sly and stylish indictment of fanaticism in mice and men.
“A truly imaginative impresario . . . [Doctor Rat] teases your conscience with educated wit and versatile improvisation, not to mention the casual flick of the tail about to be cut off.” —Kirkus Reviews
In the annals of American literature, there has never been a character quite like Doctor Rat, PhD. From one of the most indispensable storytellers in speculative fiction, this biting satire introduces a narrator of learned charm and humor, and a twisted logic that is absolutely chilling.
Doctor Rat is a credit to his species. A survivor of the most refined scientific experiments, now removed from the maze, he has become a valued and productive member of the academic community. When he must administer a lethal dose, he comforts his fellow rats with his compassionate slogan: “Death is freedom.”
But everything changes when animals worldwide begin to rebel, refusing to accept their proper places in the natural order of things: as test subjects, pets, or food. And only Doctor Rat has the courage to defend mankind from the ungrateful animal kingdom.
Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “dazzlingly original” and “occasionally quite beautiful,” Doctor Rat is a sly and stylish indictment of fanaticism in mice and men.
“A truly imaginative impresario . . . [Doctor Rat] teases your conscience with educated wit and versatile improvisation, not to mention the casual flick of the tail about to be cut off.” —Kirkus Reviews
Read more from William Kotzwinkle
Fata Morgana Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Exile Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Amphora Project Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for Doctor Rat
Rating: 3.4479167135416664 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
96 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Once again, here's a book that I might have enjoyed more if I'd read it when I first came across it years ago. Picking it up now, I found it off-putting. In part that's the point of the book, the main character being a rat in a lab that conducts seemingly pointless, always fatal experiments on its subjects. The other narrative thread in the book seems to point toward some kind of animal revolution or spiritual liberation. I found it difficult to enjoy the dark humor, because the cruelty of what was happening was too heavy for that, the result being that what was intended as ironic humor only made the early scenes more horrific. A drier telling of the lab's practices would have been less immediately alienating, although I realize that may in part have been the point.
In any event, I'm reporting on my impressions of the book's early chapters. I opted not to complete my experience with this book and left it on the bus for someone else to discover. Maybe it will resonate more with them than it did with me. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very clever & funny - includes a bit of wisdom, too. Recommended for fans of Vivian Vande Velde and maybe Sharon Shinn.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was quite different than other stories I have read. The overall book was predictable and somewhat anti-climatic. I gave it three stars for the originality of Doctor Rat's narrative and frequent quips.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dr. Rat, incarcerated in an animal experimentation facility at a university, has been driven insane by his treatment and is now a sycophant and cheerleader for the researchers, although they don’t realize it, since he’s a lab rat. He’s probably the only rat that quotes St. Thomas Aquinas: “Animals have no soul!”As he rules over the lab, in his mind anyway, animals across the globe are gathering together in vast meetings, drawn, compelled by an unknown force. They are just waiting for man. When man does come, disaster results. In the lab, the animals are revolting too. Dr. Rat is the only one on the side of the researchers.It’s easy to read Dr. Rat as a blistering polemic against the mistreatment of animals by man, mainly through now disgraced animal research. And maybe this book helped the cause, but it also is darkly hilarious and a wonderful story, both Kotzwinkle trademarks.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5If William Gibson wrote Animal Farm - in a hurry. Definitely different!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5this is a very interesting book, showing us how shitty the human race can be and the author had a very unique way for us to view this. it was very clever of him to use Doc Rat as the main character. you are disgusted by him and then realize well he is taking all his view points from humans so if you are digusted by him, you are disgusted by the human race as well. i also enjoyed all the chapters from the points of view of animals from all over the world from bears, sloths, elephants, and turtles to caged animals at the zoo. it's a pretty gory/devastating look at animal cruelty and i would definitely recommend this book to other people.
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Doctor Rat - William Kotzwinkle
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