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Memorie di un ratto
Esta novela lleva al lector a la mente y el universo de una rata y, al hacerlo, transforma uno de los animales más despreciados de la naturaleza en una criatura representativa de todos nosotros.
187 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
December 7, 2024
A novel about being a rat. The book is entirely from the rat's perspective, he narrates, but as is often the case with animal narration, this narration always remains detached and aloof, no opinions given, no feelings, no expectations, only facts and events, only the harsh reality of a blunt existence. Consequently, this makes for a dry reading experience so you're relying on the plot. Sadly, that doesn't exist either because Zaniewski isn't telling a Disney story about a rat who goes on an adventure with a plucky squirrel called Dave, he's telling a real story of a real rat, which ultimately involves little more than eating, gnawing, fucking, fighting, surviving. This is the format of the whole book, just an endless repetition of these moments with only the occasional deviation (listening to the sound of a man playing an instrument and being, seemingly, moved by the music). But otherwise, it's rinse and repeat. Eating, fighting, fucking, existing.
I found it rather boring. The first half only became momentarily interesting when he fucked his own mother with psychotic detachment. He is a rat after all, it's what they do. As I said, Zaniewski knows that he can't anthropomorphise the rat otherwise it loses its only intriguing feature, namely that it is a bleak and realistic interpretation of an animal's existence. He further accomplishes a cold detachment by switching from first person to second person on a regular basis, pulling and pushing the rat in and out of focus. This is actually very effective. But it isn't necessarily much fun to read. My interest picked up a little when he went on the ship and arrived in some war torn country (followed by a few more trips here and there, including a tropical climate). But even this begins to return to the repetition of gnawing, and eating, and fucking, and surviving. The only book I can really compare it to is Black Beauty, where the protagonist also narrates (and with equal detachment) but at least Black Beauty meets different people, has different experiences with people who treat him well or poorly and speak to him (giving the reader some respite). But this is just relentless gnawing, fucking, fighting, etc. It's obviously a much bleaker view of the animal's life but it's also less enjoyable to read too. Maybe an adventure with a squirrel called Dave would have improved it.
The book is worth a look. It manages to be both awful and beautiful in its cynical outlook. But the bottom line remains... I was bored when reading it and found the whole thing to be very dry, dull, and stolid.
I found it rather boring. The first half only became momentarily interesting when he fucked his own mother with psychotic detachment. He is a rat after all, it's what they do. As I said, Zaniewski knows that he can't anthropomorphise the rat otherwise it loses its only intriguing feature, namely that it is a bleak and realistic interpretation of an animal's existence. He further accomplishes a cold detachment by switching from first person to second person on a regular basis, pulling and pushing the rat in and out of focus. This is actually very effective. But it isn't necessarily much fun to read. My interest picked up a little when he went on the ship and arrived in some war torn country (followed by a few more trips here and there, including a tropical climate). But even this begins to return to the repetition of gnawing, and eating, and fucking, and surviving. The only book I can really compare it to is Black Beauty, where the protagonist also narrates (and with equal detachment) but at least Black Beauty meets different people, has different experiences with people who treat him well or poorly and speak to him (giving the reader some respite). But this is just relentless gnawing, fucking, fighting, etc. It's obviously a much bleaker view of the animal's life but it's also less enjoyable to read too. Maybe an adventure with a squirrel called Dave would have improved it.
The book is worth a look. It manages to be both awful and beautiful in its cynical outlook. But the bottom line remains... I was bored when reading it and found the whole thing to be very dry, dull, and stolid.
April 27, 2023
Aproape 4 stelute 😊
In aproximativ 220 de pagini parcurgem intreaga existenta a unui sobolan - din momentul in care devine constient de sine si de mediul inconjurator, pana in ultima clipa de viata - a fost o calatorie stranie, dura, traita aproape permanent cu teama, dar si cu scurte momente de tihna.
Prin ochii personajului vedem din cand in cand si scurte cadre din viata oamenilor, de cele mai multe ori intr-o lumina sumbra, tragica, umanii dand dovada de sadism si de prea putina mila si consideratie fata de alte fiinte vii.
Sigur nu este o lectura usor de digerat - sunt foarte multe scene violente, pline de cruzime, cu atat mai ciudate si greu de acceptat daca sunt privite dintr-o perspectiva umana, insa exact acesta este cursul firesc al lucrurilor in natura.
In aproximativ 220 de pagini parcurgem intreaga existenta a unui sobolan - din momentul in care devine constient de sine si de mediul inconjurator, pana in ultima clipa de viata - a fost o calatorie stranie, dura, traita aproape permanent cu teama, dar si cu scurte momente de tihna.
Prin ochii personajului vedem din cand in cand si scurte cadre din viata oamenilor, de cele mai multe ori intr-o lumina sumbra, tragica, umanii dand dovada de sadism si de prea putina mila si consideratie fata de alte fiinte vii.
Sigur nu este o lectura usor de digerat - sunt foarte multe scene violente, pline de cruzime, cu atat mai ciudate si greu de acceptat daca sunt privite dintr-o perspectiva umana, insa exact acesta este cursul firesc al lucrurilor in natura.
December 31, 2020
I first heard of this book through John Gray and the interviews he gave on behalf of his latest book Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life. He credited it as being the best representation of the consciousness and “philosophy” of a non-human animal. He might just be right. Five stars for this immersive and ambitious gem.
Akin to J.A. Baker’s visceral The Peregrine this one makes Watership Down look like Beatrix Potter. Instead of merely relying on observations, this time we are invited into the mind of an individual rat, following him from birth to death.
Anthropomorphism necessarily runs amok but this isn’t a feel good Disney narrative, it is a well researched, largely amoral (they do mark the human traps I suppose) universe, survival at all costs, truly red in both tooth and claw. The foreword is excellent, as the author challenges human arrogance and lays out his intentions to offer a voice to other animals.
I ultimately came away feeling for the tragic existence of the rats, as with so many trillions of wild animals, they are plagued by constant fear and avoidance of predation, human sadism, poisons, sickness, hunger, thirst, illness etc. All of this in order to instinctually pass DNA on to new generations of pups who follow into the grinder as the cycle perpetuates and expands. The Blind Watchmaker truly has a lot to answer for.
Akin to J.A. Baker’s visceral The Peregrine this one makes Watership Down look like Beatrix Potter. Instead of merely relying on observations, this time we are invited into the mind of an individual rat, following him from birth to death.
Anthropomorphism necessarily runs amok but this isn’t a feel good Disney narrative, it is a well researched, largely amoral (they do mark the human traps I suppose) universe, survival at all costs, truly red in both tooth and claw. The foreword is excellent, as the author challenges human arrogance and lays out his intentions to offer a voice to other animals.
I ultimately came away feeling for the tragic existence of the rats, as with so many trillions of wild animals, they are plagued by constant fear and avoidance of predation, human sadism, poisons, sickness, hunger, thirst, illness etc. All of this in order to instinctually pass DNA on to new generations of pups who follow into the grinder as the cycle perpetuates and expands. The Blind Watchmaker truly has a lot to answer for.
April 1, 2011
There is virtually no plot in this seemingly ruthless account of the life of a rat and while I found this perpetually perplexing...and even disappointing as I read the book, I have been haunted by it for years...rats pausing for a moment to listen to music and a moment of Christlike compassion on the part of a strange human...I will be searching a used book site to find this book again. It is beautiful. REALLY beautiful. The compassion in this book is sort of tangled...it scurries in dark places and climbs up ropes and confronts discrimination...perhaps best called a sort of species prejudice racism.
October 14, 2018
An amazing narrative. Just finished translating it in Urdu.
July 19, 2021
I did not enjoy this book. I love rats--I've kept them as pets since I was a kid; they're smart, playful, affectionate, amazing little creatures. The rat narrator of this book, and all the rats he encounters, are mindlessly violent. The only fleeting affection we see is that of a mother for her new litter. In the foreword, the author claims to have studied rats, and yet he makes various false assumptions (that they can see long distances, that they can vomit, that members of the same colony will readily kill and eat each other in disputes over territory/food). The only family groupings the narrator experiences are small nests: a mother, her young, her mate. But wild rats often live in large colonies with very elaborate social structures. While our protagonist, a lone male, does sometimes encounter larger 'families' of rats, the author never explores that structure; they're just hordes attacking the narrator (which is actually unlikely--the larger and more secure a colony, the less violent toward outsiders). I'd much rather have read a book narrated by a member of one of these larger families, exploring that structure.
As I said, the protagonist is a loner; the narrative focuses on his wanderings in search of a safe place that feels like home. He's constantly compelled to hop on the nearest train or ship (rats are wicked smart, but even I had trouble accepting the idea that a creature that can't see more than a few feet could grasp the concept of high-speed, long-distance transportation) and find somewhere new. Everywhere he goes, he encounters war and violence among humans, among rats, and between the two species. It's pretty effing bleak. Which is probably an accurate characterization of the life of a wild rat, even if distorted in the particulars.
Aside from the inaccuracies in his depiction of rats, the author had some tics that made the book very hard to read: switching between first- and second-person, often from one sentence to the next, and for no apparent reason. It's the rat talking, then it's 'you'--wait, am I the rat? The author intimates in the foreword that rats and humans have much in common, and that he was really writing as much about us as about them. But constantly switching voice is not the way to convey this concept; it's just disjointed and distracting.
He also constantly switches between past and present tense; maybe this is meant to convey the timelessness of the rat's struggle, or some other philosophical notion, but again, just hard to read.
Maybe both of those narrative tics have to do with the fact that this was translated from the original Polish? I tend to doubt it. Tense and voice aren't generally subject to interpretation.
Anyway, I wanted to like it--the story of a rat's life, told from the rat's perspective, should've been a really cool read for a rat fan like myself. But the inaccuracies and weird writing and gratuitous violence among the rats all spoiled it for me. (The violence perpetrated by the humans was depressing but totally believable; we're awful creatures.)
As I said, the protagonist is a loner; the narrative focuses on his wanderings in search of a safe place that feels like home. He's constantly compelled to hop on the nearest train or ship (rats are wicked smart, but even I had trouble accepting the idea that a creature that can't see more than a few feet could grasp the concept of high-speed, long-distance transportation) and find somewhere new. Everywhere he goes, he encounters war and violence among humans, among rats, and between the two species. It's pretty effing bleak. Which is probably an accurate characterization of the life of a wild rat, even if distorted in the particulars.
Aside from the inaccuracies in his depiction of rats, the author had some tics that made the book very hard to read: switching between first- and second-person, often from one sentence to the next, and for no apparent reason. It's the rat talking, then it's 'you'--wait, am I the rat? The author intimates in the foreword that rats and humans have much in common, and that he was really writing as much about us as about them. But constantly switching voice is not the way to convey this concept; it's just disjointed and distracting.
He also constantly switches between past and present tense; maybe this is meant to convey the timelessness of the rat's struggle, or some other philosophical notion, but again, just hard to read.
Maybe both of those narrative tics have to do with the fact that this was translated from the original Polish? I tend to doubt it. Tense and voice aren't generally subject to interpretation.
Anyway, I wanted to like it--the story of a rat's life, told from the rat's perspective, should've been a really cool read for a rat fan like myself. But the inaccuracies and weird writing and gratuitous violence among the rats all spoiled it for me. (The violence perpetrated by the humans was depressing but totally believable; we're awful creatures.)
July 20, 2015
A journey full of dangers, trials, struggles, and quests awaits you. You will wander farther and farther, only to want to return even more.
Rat was a worn soul. Heads of hungry brothers and sisters inherited the baby rat's safe. You're never young if you're out before you know you were young once. Mothers forget when the next generation are already in her bare light tunnel womb. Rat knows it existed in the name of lurking. Dangers, the only words of old paved the road in lost. Fear everything. Andrzej Zaniewski's Rat is safe when he is taken care of. He will be safe again when it is out of his paws, teeth or tail. He has his smell. He has the dolce choir of alarm bells. Zaniewski's Rat is the proverbial I, the unroyal we. A mass murdered mass consciousness stream. Safe together, safe alone. If you only want to be where you aren't truth. This worked for me. I don't know a lot about rats. Most of my observations were limited to indignation about the Pixar Ratatouille. "You're stealing! That doesn't belong to you!" nonsense because of course humans have the right to claim everything under the dark as theirs alone? Zaniewski only really annoyed me when Rat feels a young rat again because he screws a young female rat. Please! I felt a sense of doom from being female when reading anything about nature that the female is there to have babies and the rest of the time in the world is left for the penis havers. Come on! The exceptions cannot only be that the girl rats are stupid about building nests and the hyper aware male rat knows the dangers. Rat is in their place when his old rat companion (a temporary ceiling of this isn't all there is just you) mounts him when he can't have a female. I feel like I feel like this all the time when the personal drops away to numbers and universal places. I don't feel like it is true the best time you have is when you're a baby. Maybe if forget what new feels like but not hinged on the backs of parents doing the hard for you. I don't agree with Zaniewski on that. (But I have often felt that the only palatable time to be a girl in oppressive to females societies is when you are too young to know what is going to happen to you. Maybe that does count for the girl rats. Zaniewski does have his Rat mating with his little sister, though. SHE never was free from sharp teeth taking.)
I've only seen rats in cages or running on darkened city streets. Where there are people I never want to be. My other for rats is the harbinger of you let everything go the end. Squalor heaven for the rats. These are the smells of death people in Rat. Kindred spirits are fallen and the rest might kill you in the name of stranger danger. I liked a lot what this said about Zaniewski out and about watching rats. I can see him loitering around docks, mind journeying with the rats jumping ships. Maybe this time there will be another outcome than the end. He thought about the lab rats in the maze outside of variables. The statistical we makes it. The mothers eat the young. The old rat the I, you, us Rat tails is only not lonely when he has left him. He mounted him when the lady rats rejected him. He becomes the old rat himself but doesn't see it because the enemy stays the enemy when everything you see was danger to begin with. Rat out runs the dangers until he doesn't. Rats will kill you if you don't smell like them. The falling through the cracks makes it more likely that you will not be favored this time. He wears the every rat face. I liked the authorial choice to be afraid of everything as if the enemy were his own mind. All of that could happen to You the rat too. I felt like a no body rat too. I always want to forget I'm even reading a book at all. That didn't happen but maybe it can't if you don't want to be where you are.
I fear the sun, I fear brightness, I fear space, I fear wind, I fear birds.
My copy is the glossy black paper cover. The rat is part of the darkness except for part of his world feelers. The whiskers seem to listen. I think whispering is louder than not trying to hide.
Rat was a worn soul. Heads of hungry brothers and sisters inherited the baby rat's safe. You're never young if you're out before you know you were young once. Mothers forget when the next generation are already in her bare light tunnel womb. Rat knows it existed in the name of lurking. Dangers, the only words of old paved the road in lost. Fear everything. Andrzej Zaniewski's Rat is safe when he is taken care of. He will be safe again when it is out of his paws, teeth or tail. He has his smell. He has the dolce choir of alarm bells. Zaniewski's Rat is the proverbial I, the unroyal we. A mass murdered mass consciousness stream. Safe together, safe alone. If you only want to be where you aren't truth. This worked for me. I don't know a lot about rats. Most of my observations were limited to indignation about the Pixar Ratatouille. "You're stealing! That doesn't belong to you!" nonsense because of course humans have the right to claim everything under the dark as theirs alone? Zaniewski only really annoyed me when Rat feels a young rat again because he screws a young female rat. Please! I felt a sense of doom from being female when reading anything about nature that the female is there to have babies and the rest of the time in the world is left for the penis havers. Come on! The exceptions cannot only be that the girl rats are stupid about building nests and the hyper aware male rat knows the dangers. Rat is in their place when his old rat companion (a temporary ceiling of this isn't all there is just you) mounts him when he can't have a female. I feel like I feel like this all the time when the personal drops away to numbers and universal places. I don't feel like it is true the best time you have is when you're a baby. Maybe if forget what new feels like but not hinged on the backs of parents doing the hard for you. I don't agree with Zaniewski on that. (But I have often felt that the only palatable time to be a girl in oppressive to females societies is when you are too young to know what is going to happen to you. Maybe that does count for the girl rats. Zaniewski does have his Rat mating with his little sister, though. SHE never was free from sharp teeth taking.)
I've only seen rats in cages or running on darkened city streets. Where there are people I never want to be. My other for rats is the harbinger of you let everything go the end. Squalor heaven for the rats. These are the smells of death people in Rat. Kindred spirits are fallen and the rest might kill you in the name of stranger danger. I liked a lot what this said about Zaniewski out and about watching rats. I can see him loitering around docks, mind journeying with the rats jumping ships. Maybe this time there will be another outcome than the end. He thought about the lab rats in the maze outside of variables. The statistical we makes it. The mothers eat the young. The old rat the I, you, us Rat tails is only not lonely when he has left him. He mounted him when the lady rats rejected him. He becomes the old rat himself but doesn't see it because the enemy stays the enemy when everything you see was danger to begin with. Rat out runs the dangers until he doesn't. Rats will kill you if you don't smell like them. The falling through the cracks makes it more likely that you will not be favored this time. He wears the every rat face. I liked the authorial choice to be afraid of everything as if the enemy were his own mind. All of that could happen to You the rat too. I felt like a no body rat too. I always want to forget I'm even reading a book at all. That didn't happen but maybe it can't if you don't want to be where you are.
I fear the sun, I fear brightness, I fear space, I fear wind, I fear birds.
My copy is the glossy black paper cover. The rat is part of the darkness except for part of his world feelers. The whiskers seem to listen. I think whispering is louder than not trying to hide.
February 17, 2019
“We have long stopped seeing partners in animals. We view them only as biological elements that should be subordinated to our will, our knowledge, and our whims. We judge the animal’s intelligence insofar as it submits to us. We have built huge slaughterhouses, farms, tanning factories, millions of places of destruction. We are not only arrogant but also the most cruel of all nature’s creatures, and we consider that as normal or even as good form, as we do the wearing of elegant fox furs or coats made of aborted astrakhan lambs. I’m writing about those issues because it might be worth our while to realize who we are and where we are really going” (xi-xii).
January 28, 2019
Première oeuvre de littérature polonaise découverte et grosse surprise.
Dans Les Mémoires d'un rat, l'auteur, Andrzej Zaniewski, met le lecteur dans la peau d'un rongeur mal-aimé, un rat gris.
La prouesse de l'auteur est d'avoir écrit un roman à la fois très réaliste, cru, et symbolique, emprunt d'une grande poésie.
Une oeuvre atypique qui offre une nouvelle perspective sur la vie, particulièrement sur l'existence humaine et notre cohabitation avec les autres espèces.
Dans Les Mémoires d'un rat, l'auteur, Andrzej Zaniewski, met le lecteur dans la peau d'un rongeur mal-aimé, un rat gris.
La prouesse de l'auteur est d'avoir écrit un roman à la fois très réaliste, cru, et symbolique, emprunt d'une grande poésie.
Une oeuvre atypique qui offre une nouvelle perspective sur la vie, particulièrement sur l'existence humaine et notre cohabitation avec les autres espèces.
February 16, 2021
(3.5 zvezdice)
Neobična tema, veoma zanimljiv stil pripovedanja.
Preporučio bih je svakom ko bi da pročita "nešto drugačije".
Neobična tema, veoma zanimljiv stil pripovedanja.
Preporučio bih je svakom ko bi da pročita "nešto drugačije".
April 12, 2021
« Everywhere, at any place, an enemy may skulk. Everywhere, at any hour, death lurks. Life has taught you to fear. You yourself have learned to bite, bite and crush, crush and kill. »
First of all, I loved this book, but it was also a painful read because... I adore rats. (Yeah I used to have pet rats but that’s another story) And if you love animals, there’s a gruesome death on every paragraph , which is normal because ... It’s a rat’s life!
So, if I ended up being traumatized it is because the author did his job, with a great economy of words.
Some readers may find the whole story repetitive because everything is seen through the rat’s eyes. It wasn’t, for me. And it certainly revealed a lot about how we live, us, the human beings. (And most of the time, our cruelty, contrary to animals, has nothing to do with survival)
The thing I’ll definitely remember is the rat’s urge to run, get out, wander around. This was definitely the energy of this original little book.
First of all, I loved this book, but it was also a painful read because... I adore rats. (Yeah I used to have pet rats but that’s another story) And if you love animals, there’s a gruesome death on every paragraph , which is normal because ... It’s a rat’s life!
So, if I ended up being traumatized it is because the author did his job, with a great economy of words.
Some readers may find the whole story repetitive because everything is seen through the rat’s eyes. It wasn’t, for me. And it certainly revealed a lot about how we live, us, the human beings. (And most of the time, our cruelty, contrary to animals, has nothing to do with survival)
The thing I’ll definitely remember is the rat’s urge to run, get out, wander around. This was definitely the energy of this original little book.
April 25, 2021
Un roman de o originalitate rară, incredibil de poetic și crud, cuprinzând tragedii, drame ori aventuri precum expedițiile lui Heracle, nenorocirile lui Oedip, călătoriile lui Ulise, disperarea lui Niobe, moartea lui Antigona, destinele zeilor, titanilor și a oamenilor. Aceste povești se întâlnesc, se împletesc și se unesc în conștiința unui șobolan de mărimea și greutatea unei inimi umane.
January 2, 2014
The book Rat is about the life of a rat. He roams looking for nothing in particular, safety, adventure and eventual his home. Andrzej Zaniewski has figured out a nice concept where all the myths, fairy tales and facts about the ratrace were told, but I thought it was worth just two stars. I’ll explain.
The characters
None of the characters has names, which is not illogical. Rats don’t give each other names. The main character (he has also no name but is described by me, you and he) gives some rats a nickname, the old rat, the one-eyed woman, ect. Yet he doesn’t do that every rat so it is sometimes confusing.
Moreover, the book has only one character really worked and that is the main character, the other come and go without really leaved an impression. The only one that helps the development of the plot is actually the old rat, but after he leaves, you never see him again. That's a shame, and let it plot seem more event after event after event.
The plot
The concept of the plot is very interesting. The life of a rat’s point of view, it should be fun to read.
To tell you the truth: That's it and that's the reason that I have read the book. The story is in fact quite boring. The writer seems to repeat himself. You fight, you run, you eat and you kill and then it starts all over again. It goes on and there is too little variation.
I think if Andrzej had half of his story deleted, it would have been a great book.
One of the things that kept forcing me to read were all fairy tales, myths and truths that were contained in the book. They made me curious every time what would happen this time, and what that would retaliate. I think one of the biggest pluses of this book.
The writing style
The writing style is unlike any writing styles that I have ever read, especially in a whole book. In short stories I have read something similar, but a whole book? No.
Probably there is a reason why this kind of writing style, show rapid short flashes of images, things left to the reader to think for themselves, no thoughts but only perceptions and emotions, is used only in short stories. After a while it becomes very tiring to read. The first pages are fun, then they aren’t.
Moreover, the writer suddenly starts to change, seemingly for no reason, perfective. It bothers me, because first-person perfective, which he first used, was easier to read than it was the second and third person, which he used later more and more.
Still, I do think there is a logic error in the style. He used the perfective change more at the end. Perhaps the protagonist identifies himself less. I don’t know.
All in all it is a good book with an interesting concept and a creative writing style. The characters could have been better and the story would have been a lot better if it was shorter.
August 15, 2022
Gris, con tu lomo redondeado, sobre tus patas como resortes, con tu larga y pesada cola, atraviesas la calle, atenta al menor rumor, murmullo, movimiento. En todas partes, en cualquier lugar, puede acechar un enemigo; en todas partes, a cualquier hora, amenaza la muerte. La vida te ha enseñado a tener miedos; a morder, a morder y a destrozar, a destrozar y matar”.
Dicen que la literatura no puede cambiar el mundo, que su ejercicio no posee capacidad de transformación, que no sirve para nada; pero es mentira, no hay nada más necesario que prestar atención a las palabras en un mundo tan mercantilizado como el nuestro. Es más, sin tenerles ningún cariño y gracias a las palabras, una rata me debe la vida, pues si yo no hubiera leído este extraño y feroz libro difícilmente se me hubiese ocurrido salvarla. También es verdad que eso ocurrió hace bastante tiempo, por lo que teniendo en cuenta sus escasos años de vida (y los peligros a los que están expuestas) difícilmente seguirá viva.
La cosa sucedió así: en una casa de campo y en los meses últimos de invierno —no recuerdo si era finales de febrero o marzo— una rata cayó a la piscina abandonada. No tenía mucha agua, pero sí la suficiente para ahogarla. A pesar de ello nadaba con prestancia. Era enorme. Seguramente habría caído allí por un descuido o por estar huyendo de los gatos. A nadie pareció importarle mucho su destino. Pero yo acababa de leer por primera vez este libro y andaba sobrecogido por su lectura. Este libro que luego releí tropecientos veces y regalé y perdí y volví a encontrar y comprar en una librería de viejo, porque se encontraba descatalogada y era muy difícil de hallar. Así que busqué uno de esos palos enormes en los que se suelen recoger las hojas que caen y se lo coloqué de trampolín a la cansada nadadora. No tuve que esperar mucho: enseguida se aferró a él. Hubo un par de segundos de indecisión, como si estuviese planificando sus siguientes pasos, y enseguida comenzó a moverse hacia mí, posiblemente haciendo un acopio de sus últimas fuerzas; renovada en la esperanza de salvarse aumentó su velocidad y remontó hasta llegar a la superficie corriendo, evitando que yo pudiera hacerle algo; ahí noté el miedo del roedor, su miedo y su tremenda fuerza, su enorme agilidad. En apenas unos segundos llegó hacia la espesura de unos árboles y por allí se perdió.
Yo pensé que había revertido (dentro de mis posibilidades) “los caminos de la historia”. La batalla entre humanos y ratas de las que se habla en ese libro con tanta crudeza. El libro de un maldito, un escritor maldito polaco que creo que a día de hoy es octogenario, y que tuvo que salir primero editado en Chequia porque ningún editor de su país se atrevió a publicar semejante novela. Cuando la obra comenzó a ser alabada por una legión de lectores irredentos, entonces sí que se preocuparon en Polonia por editarla.. ¿Habría comprendido la rata mi gesto? Lo dudo; pero sorprender seguro que le habría sorprendido. Una rata no espera jamás clemencia de un ser humano. Ni la espera ni se le otorga, ni siquiera se la otorgan entre ellas, pues basta un cambio de olor en su pelaje para que se destrocen entre sus camadas, incluso entre una misma familia.
Es un libro feroz, durísimo. Un libro que se centra en la vida de una rata desde su nacimiento hasta su muerte. Los lamidos de la madre, su leche, la atracción por la luz, las trampas, los venenos, los tropiezos con felinos, los sabores de las comidas, los huecos, las galerías, sus dientes que no dejan nunca de crecer, las peleas entre ratas, los apareamientos, las camadas, la lucha incansable por la comida, otra vez los venenos, los agujeros que son rellenados, las alcantarillas, las cuadras, los viajes en barco, las casas de campo, la ciudad, los coches, las lechuzas, todos los numerosos peligros que ha de sortear una rata. Y también algo que me sorprendió sobre manera: las ratas colonizadoras y viajeras, como hay una estirpe entre ellas que se juegan el tipo renunciando “a las comodidades” que les ofrecen sus territorios de nacimiento, y viajan, ya sean en barcos, en trenes o en lo que puedan, hacia otros geografías, en los que tendrán que defenderse como ratas invasoras que son de inmediato atacadas, y sobrevivir y mezclarse y vuelta a viajar hasta el aliento final, siempre perseguidas y odiadas, pero sin dejar de atacar y defenderse, hasta el último aliento.
Ahora que lo pienso a este libro genial y durísimo le debo algo más que la anécdota de un rescate: le debo un relato. Si no lo hubiera leído y releído jamás se me habría ocurrido escribir el relato Mirelle, incluido en El emperador de los helados. También tengo que añadir que hay notables diferencias: la mía es una rata-hembra y la de Zaniewski es un macho; la de él es de ciudad y la mía de campo, más concretamente del Jura: una cadena montañosa que posee un encanto muy particular y los mayores bosques de toda Francia; la suya no tiene tiempo más que para buscar comida y la mía gracias a ser la mascota protegida de un Vizconde loco no tiene necesidad de buscar nada porque está por completo saciada en sus necesidades básicas; la suya es despiadada y vulgar y la mía es despiadada e intelectual, voraz e incansable lectora. En lo que ambas coinciden es en su odio a los gatos.
Lo dicho: la literatura influye en la vida y la transforma. Muchísimo. Es verdad que, a veces, no la transforma del todo, pues yo sigo sintiendo animadversión por estos animales; eso sí, gracias a la literatura, he llegado a admirar su capacidad de resistencia, aunque los prefiero muy lejos. Puedo salvarles la vida, pero si se atreven a acercarse los perseguiré.
Si tienen la oportunidad busquen este libro. Y si no, no se preocupen: la vida me ha enseñado que los libros llegan a uno en el momento en que ellos quieren llegar. Y este no resulta un libro complaciente y no es, desde luego, para lectores dubitativos y moralistas. Encantará a muy pocos y será abandonado por la mayoría. Su prosa es vertiginosa, simula ser una cola de roedor en continuo movimiento y a veces te agarrota y aplasta por su crudeza, porque lo que te cuenta sabes que es real, que la vida es despiadada en todos los sentidos.
En todo caso traten de leer cosas que se salgan de su zona de confort. Los lectores debemos ser como esas ratas peregrinas que aprovechan los medios de locomoción de los seres humanos para plantarse en la otra parte del globo terráqueo. Sin ese afán de conocer otras lecturas, otras prosas, otros prismas, otras tradiciones literarias, otros horizontes, el acto de la literatura es más provinciano, menos fecundo.
La curiosidad mata, pero también amplia el conocimiento del universo. Las ratas y los seres humanos (tan enemigos entre ellos y tan iguales en su comportamiento) llevamos miles de años experimentándolo.
Hasta otra.
Dicen que la literatura no puede cambiar el mundo, que su ejercicio no posee capacidad de transformación, que no sirve para nada; pero es mentira, no hay nada más necesario que prestar atención a las palabras en un mundo tan mercantilizado como el nuestro. Es más, sin tenerles ningún cariño y gracias a las palabras, una rata me debe la vida, pues si yo no hubiera leído este extraño y feroz libro difícilmente se me hubiese ocurrido salvarla. También es verdad que eso ocurrió hace bastante tiempo, por lo que teniendo en cuenta sus escasos años de vida (y los peligros a los que están expuestas) difícilmente seguirá viva.
La cosa sucedió así: en una casa de campo y en los meses últimos de invierno —no recuerdo si era finales de febrero o marzo— una rata cayó a la piscina abandonada. No tenía mucha agua, pero sí la suficiente para ahogarla. A pesar de ello nadaba con prestancia. Era enorme. Seguramente habría caído allí por un descuido o por estar huyendo de los gatos. A nadie pareció importarle mucho su destino. Pero yo acababa de leer por primera vez este libro y andaba sobrecogido por su lectura. Este libro que luego releí tropecientos veces y regalé y perdí y volví a encontrar y comprar en una librería de viejo, porque se encontraba descatalogada y era muy difícil de hallar. Así que busqué uno de esos palos enormes en los que se suelen recoger las hojas que caen y se lo coloqué de trampolín a la cansada nadadora. No tuve que esperar mucho: enseguida se aferró a él. Hubo un par de segundos de indecisión, como si estuviese planificando sus siguientes pasos, y enseguida comenzó a moverse hacia mí, posiblemente haciendo un acopio de sus últimas fuerzas; renovada en la esperanza de salvarse aumentó su velocidad y remontó hasta llegar a la superficie corriendo, evitando que yo pudiera hacerle algo; ahí noté el miedo del roedor, su miedo y su tremenda fuerza, su enorme agilidad. En apenas unos segundos llegó hacia la espesura de unos árboles y por allí se perdió.
Yo pensé que había revertido (dentro de mis posibilidades) “los caminos de la historia”. La batalla entre humanos y ratas de las que se habla en ese libro con tanta crudeza. El libro de un maldito, un escritor maldito polaco que creo que a día de hoy es octogenario, y que tuvo que salir primero editado en Chequia porque ningún editor de su país se atrevió a publicar semejante novela. Cuando la obra comenzó a ser alabada por una legión de lectores irredentos, entonces sí que se preocuparon en Polonia por editarla.. ¿Habría comprendido la rata mi gesto? Lo dudo; pero sorprender seguro que le habría sorprendido. Una rata no espera jamás clemencia de un ser humano. Ni la espera ni se le otorga, ni siquiera se la otorgan entre ellas, pues basta un cambio de olor en su pelaje para que se destrocen entre sus camadas, incluso entre una misma familia.
Es un libro feroz, durísimo. Un libro que se centra en la vida de una rata desde su nacimiento hasta su muerte. Los lamidos de la madre, su leche, la atracción por la luz, las trampas, los venenos, los tropiezos con felinos, los sabores de las comidas, los huecos, las galerías, sus dientes que no dejan nunca de crecer, las peleas entre ratas, los apareamientos, las camadas, la lucha incansable por la comida, otra vez los venenos, los agujeros que son rellenados, las alcantarillas, las cuadras, los viajes en barco, las casas de campo, la ciudad, los coches, las lechuzas, todos los numerosos peligros que ha de sortear una rata. Y también algo que me sorprendió sobre manera: las ratas colonizadoras y viajeras, como hay una estirpe entre ellas que se juegan el tipo renunciando “a las comodidades” que les ofrecen sus territorios de nacimiento, y viajan, ya sean en barcos, en trenes o en lo que puedan, hacia otros geografías, en los que tendrán que defenderse como ratas invasoras que son de inmediato atacadas, y sobrevivir y mezclarse y vuelta a viajar hasta el aliento final, siempre perseguidas y odiadas, pero sin dejar de atacar y defenderse, hasta el último aliento.
Ahora que lo pienso a este libro genial y durísimo le debo algo más que la anécdota de un rescate: le debo un relato. Si no lo hubiera leído y releído jamás se me habría ocurrido escribir el relato Mirelle, incluido en El emperador de los helados. También tengo que añadir que hay notables diferencias: la mía es una rata-hembra y la de Zaniewski es un macho; la de él es de ciudad y la mía de campo, más concretamente del Jura: una cadena montañosa que posee un encanto muy particular y los mayores bosques de toda Francia; la suya no tiene tiempo más que para buscar comida y la mía gracias a ser la mascota protegida de un Vizconde loco no tiene necesidad de buscar nada porque está por completo saciada en sus necesidades básicas; la suya es despiadada y vulgar y la mía es despiadada e intelectual, voraz e incansable lectora. En lo que ambas coinciden es en su odio a los gatos.
Lo dicho: la literatura influye en la vida y la transforma. Muchísimo. Es verdad que, a veces, no la transforma del todo, pues yo sigo sintiendo animadversión por estos animales; eso sí, gracias a la literatura, he llegado a admirar su capacidad de resistencia, aunque los prefiero muy lejos. Puedo salvarles la vida, pero si se atreven a acercarse los perseguiré.
Si tienen la oportunidad busquen este libro. Y si no, no se preocupen: la vida me ha enseñado que los libros llegan a uno en el momento en que ellos quieren llegar. Y este no resulta un libro complaciente y no es, desde luego, para lectores dubitativos y moralistas. Encantará a muy pocos y será abandonado por la mayoría. Su prosa es vertiginosa, simula ser una cola de roedor en continuo movimiento y a veces te agarrota y aplasta por su crudeza, porque lo que te cuenta sabes que es real, que la vida es despiadada en todos los sentidos.
En todo caso traten de leer cosas que se salgan de su zona de confort. Los lectores debemos ser como esas ratas peregrinas que aprovechan los medios de locomoción de los seres humanos para plantarse en la otra parte del globo terráqueo. Sin ese afán de conocer otras lecturas, otras prosas, otros prismas, otras tradiciones literarias, otros horizontes, el acto de la literatura es más provinciano, menos fecundo.
La curiosidad mata, pero también amplia el conocimiento del universo. Las ratas y los seres humanos (tan enemigos entre ellos y tan iguales en su comportamiento) llevamos miles de años experimentándolo.
Hasta otra.
May 31, 2024
#2024 #63
Șobolanii sunt probabil printre animalele cele mai detestate de către omenire. De-a lungul anilor li s-au atribuit răspândirea epidemiilor celor mai aprige precum ciuma. Când rostim cuvântul “șobolan” primele asocieri nu sunt dintre cele mai plăcute. Mereu îi vom asocia cu termeni precum murdărie, boală, spațiu îmbâcsit și mizerie.
Conform unui material publicat de LiveScience.com în cazul în care omenirea ar dispărea de pe pământ, șobolanii ar fi printre puținele viețuitoare capabile să supraviețuiască unui eveniment apocaliptic. Având o putere de adaptare mult peste cea a altor animale, șobolanii ar umple în scurt timp o planetă fără oameni devenind chiar uriași, potrivit oamenilor de știință.
Cred că cartea lui Andrzej Zaniewski vine ca un preambul la aceste relatări. Aici avem viața unui șobolan cu provocările și trăirile sale cele mai intime. Autorul ne introduce în lumea tainică a acestor rozătoare și ne face să ne simțim în pielea unui șobolan. Acele treceri de la persoana întâi la persoana a doua sporesc acea stare de déjà-vu. Cititorul ajunge să se confunde cu animalul rozător. Instinctele de supraviețuire se activează, sentimente de frică și panică dau naștere unor stări de claustrofobie. Dar și mici bucurii apar la orizont atunci când protagonistul izbutește să se strecoare prin urechea acului și să scape cu viață dintr-o situație fără ieșire la prima vedere. Anume acest aspect, modul în care ajungem să simțim pe propria piele trăirile unui șobolan, fac din romanul lui Zaniewski o scriere excelentă.
Atunci când a fost scris în toamna anului 1979, a fost refuzat de toți editorii polonezi, considerându-l prea sumbru, amoral și pornografic. Acest aspect mi-a trezit curiozitatea, dat fiind faptul că odată cu editarea sa în 1990 a devenit popular, romanul a devenit deci unul controversat și tare îmi mai plac controversele. Cât despre pornografic, nici urmă de așa ceva, n-au citit ei cărțile 18+ din zilele noastre.
Bref, recomand romanul. S-ar putea să fiți surprinși atunci când vă veți descoperi simțămintele într-un narator animal.
“Șobolanul” de Andrzej Zaniewski
Șobolanii sunt probabil printre animalele cele mai detestate de către omenire. De-a lungul anilor li s-au atribuit răspândirea epidemiilor celor mai aprige precum ciuma. Când rostim cuvântul “șobolan” primele asocieri nu sunt dintre cele mai plăcute. Mereu îi vom asocia cu termeni precum murdărie, boală, spațiu îmbâcsit și mizerie.
Conform unui material publicat de LiveScience.com în cazul în care omenirea ar dispărea de pe pământ, șobolanii ar fi printre puținele viețuitoare capabile să supraviețuiască unui eveniment apocaliptic. Având o putere de adaptare mult peste cea a altor animale, șobolanii ar umple în scurt timp o planetă fără oameni devenind chiar uriași, potrivit oamenilor de știință.
Cred că cartea lui Andrzej Zaniewski vine ca un preambul la aceste relatări. Aici avem viața unui șobolan cu provocările și trăirile sale cele mai intime. Autorul ne introduce în lumea tainică a acestor rozătoare și ne face să ne simțim în pielea unui șobolan. Acele treceri de la persoana întâi la persoana a doua sporesc acea stare de déjà-vu. Cititorul ajunge să se confunde cu animalul rozător. Instinctele de supraviețuire se activează, sentimente de frică și panică dau naștere unor stări de claustrofobie. Dar și mici bucurii apar la orizont atunci când protagonistul izbutește să se strecoare prin urechea acului și să scape cu viață dintr-o situație fără ieșire la prima vedere. Anume acest aspect, modul în care ajungem să simțim pe propria piele trăirile unui șobolan, fac din romanul lui Zaniewski o scriere excelentă.
Atunci când a fost scris în toamna anului 1979, a fost refuzat de toți editorii polonezi, considerându-l prea sumbru, amoral și pornografic. Acest aspect mi-a trezit curiozitatea, dat fiind faptul că odată cu editarea sa în 1990 a devenit popular, romanul a devenit deci unul controversat și tare îmi mai plac controversele. Cât despre pornografic, nici urmă de așa ceva, n-au citit ei cărțile 18+ din zilele noastre.
Bref, recomand romanul. S-ar putea să fiți surprinși atunci când vă veți descoperi simțămintele într-un narator animal.
“Șobolanul” de Andrzej Zaniewski
May 2, 2024
I am not very much impressed with this book. Broadly, I already knew things about rats, but this story is not only about animals. There are humans too. Not so nice humans.
🐀
The book is written from a rat's point of view, but sometimes the pronouns shortly switch from the first person to the second person (it feels like the reader becomes the rat) and then back to the first. I'm not sure why the author did that, maybe he really wanted to put us in the rat's role.
🐀
Some scenes made me shockingly realize how animals "work" out there, doing their best to survive helped by their instincts. Not to say that I even felt empathy for the rat!😩 I don't even do that with people, lol.
🐀
Interesting read: no suspense, nothing too new, sometimes gross - just a story that will make you meditate.
🐀
The book is written from a rat's point of view, but sometimes the pronouns shortly switch from the first person to the second person (it feels like the reader becomes the rat) and then back to the first. I'm not sure why the author did that, maybe he really wanted to put us in the rat's role.
🐀
Some scenes made me shockingly realize how animals "work" out there, doing their best to survive helped by their instincts. Not to say that I even felt empathy for the rat!😩 I don't even do that with people, lol.
🐀
Interesting read: no suspense, nothing too new, sometimes gross - just a story that will make you meditate.
April 16, 2021
Întuneric. Întuneric ca după Facere, întunericul te împresoară. Atunci a fost mai întuneric încă: o barieră neagră, ermetică mă despărţea de viaţă, de spaţiu, de conştiinţă. În afară de întuneric nu ştiam nimic, spre deosebire de cele ce se întâmplă acum, când în creierul meu sclipesc imagini, resturi de lumină, rămăşiţe, fărâmituri, umbre.
Aminteşte-ţi de acea întunecime iniţială, cheam-o sub înfăţişarea ei primordială, încearcă să-ţi reconstitui viaţa – întâmplările, rătăcirile, fugile, călătoriile – toate de la început: din primele clipe când ai părăsit burta caldă a mamei, din clipa când te-ai înecat prima dată cu o gură de aer, de la senzaţia bruscă de frig, de la tăiatul buricului şi delicata atingere a limbii mamei.
Îmi amintesc: canale, pivniţe, subterane, subsoluri, poduri, tunele, crăpături, despicături, rigole, cloace, şanţuri, ţevi de canalizare, puţuri, gunoaie, rampe de deşeuri, depozite, cămări, coteţe de păsări şi porci, grajduri, staule… Lumea mea de şobolan – viaţa printre umbre, cenuşiuri, întunecimi, înserări şi nopţi, cât mai departe de lumina zilei, de soarele orbitor, de razele care te pătrund, de suprafeţele lucioase şi strălucitoare.
Cât mai departe de lumină – ca atunci când mă ghidam doar după mirosul laptelui din sfârcurile pline şi căutam căldura burţii mamei, când pavilioanele încă închise ale urechilor nu lăsau să răzbată sunetele. Atunci am văzut pentru prima oară pe sub membrana subţire a pleoapelor închise o umbră cenuşie, o pată mai deschisă în bezna adâncă. Era reflexul unui bec aprins, sau răsfrângerea unei raze de soare pătrunzând la amiază prin fereastra pivniţei, care a atins deodată ochii mei închişi şi mi-a trezit primele presimţiri.
Aminteşte-ţi de acea întunecime iniţială, cheam-o sub înfăţişarea ei primordială, încearcă să-ţi reconstitui viaţa – întâmplările, rătăcirile, fugile, călătoriile – toate de la început: din primele clipe când ai părăsit burta caldă a mamei, din clipa când te-ai înecat prima dată cu o gură de aer, de la senzaţia bruscă de frig, de la tăiatul buricului şi delicata atingere a limbii mamei.
Îmi amintesc: canale, pivniţe, subterane, subsoluri, poduri, tunele, crăpături, despicături, rigole, cloace, şanţuri, ţevi de canalizare, puţuri, gunoaie, rampe de deşeuri, depozite, cămări, coteţe de păsări şi porci, grajduri, staule… Lumea mea de şobolan – viaţa printre umbre, cenuşiuri, întunecimi, înserări şi nopţi, cât mai departe de lumina zilei, de soarele orbitor, de razele care te pătrund, de suprafeţele lucioase şi strălucitoare.
Cât mai departe de lumină – ca atunci când mă ghidam doar după mirosul laptelui din sfârcurile pline şi căutam căldura burţii mamei, când pavilioanele încă închise ale urechilor nu lăsau să răzbată sunetele. Atunci am văzut pentru prima oară pe sub membrana subţire a pleoapelor închise o umbră cenuşie, o pată mai deschisă în bezna adâncă. Era reflexul unui bec aprins, sau răsfrângerea unei raze de soare pătrunzând la amiază prin fereastra pivniţei, care a atins deodată ochii mei închişi şi mi-a trezit primele presimţiri.
Read
December 25, 2016I read this book ten years ago, and it's been in the back of my mind ever since, asking to not be forgotten, to be read again.
The prose lives on the surface, concerning itself with the details of a rat's lived life that accumulate into a story. As the author's intro says, "[d]on't think that you love and fail, win and lose, or live and die differently from a rat." The savage struggle of the rat's life is brought more and more into the realm of the familiar, into the realm of the human, as the novel goes on and its rhythm is built into the reader. Sometimes I hate the rat, sometimes I sympathize with it, sometimes I worry about it. I never quite love it.
It seems to me, though, that the point isn't to have any of these particular feelings about the rat, but to recognize that you are the rat. You are the rat.
Something that I wasn't as keyed into on the first read is how the author uses perspective in a bizarre way that I've never before encountered. First-person, second-person, and third-person perspectives are all on display throughout the book, and flow into and out of one another seemingly randomly, even in the middle of paragraphs. It's jarring when you first notice it. I think it makes the most sense after you've read the book and gotten to some of the more metaphorical or delusional parts, where the rat isn't quite sure what is happening or if anything is real or if it's dying or if its eyes are open or if it even has eyes. The perspective shift allows the rat to be a rat, to be an anthropomorphized protagonist, and to be us. To live a life that's simultaneously never quite aware of itself and all too aware.
The prose lives on the surface, concerning itself with the details of a rat's lived life that accumulate into a story. As the author's intro says, "[d]on't think that you love and fail, win and lose, or live and die differently from a rat." The savage struggle of the rat's life is brought more and more into the realm of the familiar, into the realm of the human, as the novel goes on and its rhythm is built into the reader. Sometimes I hate the rat, sometimes I sympathize with it, sometimes I worry about it. I never quite love it.
It seems to me, though, that the point isn't to have any of these particular feelings about the rat, but to recognize that you are the rat. You are the rat.
Something that I wasn't as keyed into on the first read is how the author uses perspective in a bizarre way that I've never before encountered. First-person, second-person, and third-person perspectives are all on display throughout the book, and flow into and out of one another seemingly randomly, even in the middle of paragraphs. It's jarring when you first notice it. I think it makes the most sense after you've read the book and gotten to some of the more metaphorical or delusional parts, where the rat isn't quite sure what is happening or if anything is real or if it's dying or if its eyes are open or if it even has eyes. The perspective shift allows the rat to be a rat, to be an anthropomorphized protagonist, and to be us. To live a life that's simultaneously never quite aware of itself and all too aware.
February 4, 2023
Excellent read. Life of a rate which make the reader conclude that it's just like a human life.
October 21, 2021
"La Rata" es una novela escrita en primera persona en que una rata nos va contando su vida desde su nacimiento hasta su muerte. Se puede considerar una novela de aventuras, aunque sus aventuras son las de una simple rata como millones de ratas, nada extraordinario, a veces repetitiva, a veces aburrida, a veces emocionante, desconcertante, horrible en algunas partes pero también con sus placeres.
Literalmente nos cuenta desde que nace y no puede ni abrir los ojos y como siente su ambiente que le rodea, sus sensaciones como cría que es alimentada por su madre y su padre, luego cuando sale de la madriguera y conoce el mundo exterior, ve cosas horribles que los humanos le hacen a las ratas y también cosas horribles que las ratas le hacen a otros animales y también a los humanos. Sus peripecias con los gatos y otras ratas. Conoce la agresividad del mundo de las ratas, donde otras ratas también lo ven como presa, conoce el hambre, la guerra humana y la enfermedad, conoce el sexo, la vida en pareja, y también la soledad y el abandono.
De un sótano cerca a una panadería, conoce las alcantarillas, la calle, vive en barcos, granjas, casas, y hasta un laboratorio donde ve como los humanos experimentan con ratas blancas produciéndoles tumores aunque él solo se roba la comida de los almacenes sin ser atrapado, pero lo observa todo y lo cuenta todo a su manera.
Pasa de perseguidor a perseguido, de fuerte a débil, de joven a viejo. Hasta que el libro termina en la muerte de el rata, que como todos, algún día tenía que morir.
Es una novela normalita, pero se lee fácil y es entretenida pero nada más profundo que la visión de una simple rata de ciudad.
El prólogo me parece más sustancioso, aunque es corto, pero en él se notaba que el autor investigó a las ratas en la literatura, lo que hizo crecer mis expectativas, aunque después no se cumplieran.
De todas maneras recomendable para alguien que le gustan estos relatos de animales en primera persona viendo el mundo humano desde su perspectiva.
Literalmente nos cuenta desde que nace y no puede ni abrir los ojos y como siente su ambiente que le rodea, sus sensaciones como cría que es alimentada por su madre y su padre, luego cuando sale de la madriguera y conoce el mundo exterior, ve cosas horribles que los humanos le hacen a las ratas y también cosas horribles que las ratas le hacen a otros animales y también a los humanos. Sus peripecias con los gatos y otras ratas. Conoce la agresividad del mundo de las ratas, donde otras ratas también lo ven como presa, conoce el hambre, la guerra humana y la enfermedad, conoce el sexo, la vida en pareja, y también la soledad y el abandono.
De un sótano cerca a una panadería, conoce las alcantarillas, la calle, vive en barcos, granjas, casas, y hasta un laboratorio donde ve como los humanos experimentan con ratas blancas produciéndoles tumores aunque él solo se roba la comida de los almacenes sin ser atrapado, pero lo observa todo y lo cuenta todo a su manera.
Pasa de perseguidor a perseguido, de fuerte a débil, de joven a viejo. Hasta que el libro termina en la muerte de el rata, que como todos, algún día tenía que morir.
Es una novela normalita, pero se lee fácil y es entretenida pero nada más profundo que la visión de una simple rata de ciudad.
El prólogo me parece más sustancioso, aunque es corto, pero en él se notaba que el autor investigó a las ratas en la literatura, lo que hizo crecer mis expectativas, aunque después no se cumplieran.
De todas maneras recomendable para alguien que le gustan estos relatos de animales en primera persona viendo el mundo humano desde su perspectiva.
February 22, 2018
Can be boring because you are just following a rat through its life but can also be confusing because it is told in first, second and third person point of views. I didn’t really learn anything new about rats, and even though it was the author’s aim for the reader to view rats as an intelligent animal and not just a gross, flea covered rodent, I still think they’re kind of gross (even if I already knew they weren’t dumb). It didn’t really feel like muck was accomplished, it took me ages to read and felt like I could have spent that time reading something else. Maybe you need to be more understanding of language and the way it is used to fully grasp this story but it was not something I particularly enjoyed. I can say I enjoyed was the descriptions of settings and how the death and incest was told straight up like it is just a thing that happens in a rat’s world, because it does just happen and all they seem to care about is survival.
August 10, 2020
An odd little novel about the life of a rat. Cruel, violent, merciless struggle for survival in hostile environments created by human beings, animal predators - and perhaps most of all - other rats.
In a way this was like a Discovery Channel document about a rat's life cycle from birth to death trough thick and thin.
But naturally this was also an allegory of our societies and our behaviour with racism, discrimination, prejudices and ultimate violence and hedonism. We are the parasites of the Earth and here a rat is the image of you and me. Not a pretty picture all in all.
I was a bit annoyed at the writers way to mix pronouns (I, you, him) randomly as well as tenses (present and past tense). It may be artistic but I found it simply irritating. Art for art's sake. More or even more.
This was fast to read but I must say I don't know anybody to whom I would recommend this.
Rottaodysseia
WSOY 1994
In a way this was like a Discovery Channel document about a rat's life cycle from birth to death trough thick and thin.
But naturally this was also an allegory of our societies and our behaviour with racism, discrimination, prejudices and ultimate violence and hedonism. We are the parasites of the Earth and here a rat is the image of you and me. Not a pretty picture all in all.
I was a bit annoyed at the writers way to mix pronouns (I, you, him) randomly as well as tenses (present and past tense). It may be artistic but I found it simply irritating. Art for art's sake. More or even more.
This was fast to read but I must say I don't know anybody to whom I would recommend this.
Rottaodysseia
WSOY 1994
February 16, 2018
This book is brutal, yet the author asks you to empathize with the main character, even occasionally using the pronoun "you" in place of "I" to insert the reader into the character's perspective. Perhaps this is a quirk of the translation, perhaps it's intentional. Either way, it was more confusing to me than it was effective, especially when, towards the end of the book, "he" gets supplemented in as the occasional pronoun replacement.
Lots of lists posed as prose. Again, not terribly effective for me.
Lots of lists posed as prose. Again, not terribly effective for me.
January 17, 2019
It's my second time reading this book. It was still in my mind after a few years and i had to see if with the passing years i changed my mind about it. I didn't. It's still one of my favourite books....and i don't really like rats that much.
It's not as simple as a rat's tale and journey. It's a bit more meaningfull than that. At least for me...i think we all struggle at a point in our lives. And the rat is here to show us that we are not that different after all. No matter how big or small.
It's not as simple as a rat's tale and journey. It's a bit more meaningfull than that. At least for me...i think we all struggle at a point in our lives. And the rat is here to show us that we are not that different after all. No matter how big or small.
March 21, 2022
Vermoedelijk ligt het aan de vertaling maar het stoort wel. Er wordt voortdurend geswitched tussen de rat als ik persoon en dan ineens een verteller. En ook verleden en heden wisselen constant. Van de ene zin op de andere. Verder is het wel een interessant verhaal waarbij de harde realiteit van een rattenleven wordt vermengd met mythologie en legende.
April 14, 2024
Firstly, this book doesn't really have a plot, but the writing style definitely makes up for that.
I really felt a lot of sympathy for that rat and it made me think about under which circumstances some animals have to live because of us humans. It's a rlly good allegory.
This book doesn't convince through a super exciting plot, but more through which feelings it triggers in the reader.
Definitely worth reading!!!
I really felt a lot of sympathy for that rat and it made me think about under which circumstances some animals have to live because of us humans. It's a rlly good allegory.
This book doesn't convince through a super exciting plot, but more through which feelings it triggers in the reader.
Definitely worth reading!!!
December 13, 2023
disgusting and vile, you climb inside the mind of the vermin we fear and feel the dirt of the city crawl under your skin like the very rats within this book. truly eye opening and poetically written, makes you wonder if we are the pests to someone elses world.
December 31, 2023
2.5 stars.
A rats journey? POV you’re a rat? Idk so randomly vulgar and strange but somewhat of a hero’s journey. Didn’t love it but it was a quick and easy read. Started the year w a rat book and out with one too.
A rats journey? POV you’re a rat? Idk so randomly vulgar and strange but somewhat of a hero’s journey. Didn’t love it but it was a quick and easy read. Started the year w a rat book and out with one too.
September 16, 2018
Con interesante punto de partida, el desarrollo es un tanto repetitivo debido a ese afán naturalista que obliga a repetir demasiadas peripecias. Pero con buenos y escalofriantes momentos.
May 12, 2020
Cutremurator!
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