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43rd out of 44 books
—
183 voters
Doctor Rat
by
William Kotzwinkle (Goodreads Author)
As the grant-supported, knowledgeable survivor of the most refined scientific experiments, Doctor Rat, Ph.D., dedicates himself to defending mankind against the worldwide rebellions, uprisings, and insurgencies of his fellow animals.
Paperback, 243 pages
Published
October 13th 1997
by Marlowe & Company
(first published May 1976)
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67th out of 142 books
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214 voters
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Sep 10, 2008
Terence
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Terence by:
Maevisvintage
Shelves:
sf-fantasy
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The low ratings for this book on Amazon -- most of them from folks who evidently missed the point -- erodes my faith in humanity. This book is a true treasure. (Oddly, it seems that another edition of this book has separate and much higher ratings.)
I think it's the combination of humor and vivisection that throws people off. Even today, one rarely sees expressed any viewpoint on animal research other than "second holocaust" or "sacred scientific obligation". It takes an admittedly twisted wit to...more
I think it's the combination of humor and vivisection that throws people off. Even today, one rarely sees expressed any viewpoint on animal research other than "second holocaust" or "sacred scientific obligation". It takes an admittedly twisted wit to...more
Thoroughly anthropomorphized laboratory animals experience their prolonged vivisection experiments as a kind of concentration camp horror where the inevitable violent death is the only freedom. It is narrated alternately by animals of different species -- though on a non-physical level, they are all human -- and chiefly by Doctor Rat. Eventually they participate in an anarchic rebellion and explore the possibilities of free love (hampered by Doctor Rat's castration at birth).
"This is the sort of...more
Animal Farm for the Vietnam War era, told from many different animals' points of view. Dr. Rat, a mentally unbalanced but eloquent lab rat who fancies himself a scientific expert, acts as an apologist for mankind's worst acts against animals--vivisection, experimentation, hunting, and slaughter--by preaching that humans are animals' superiors, that animals don't have souls, that animals have a moral duty to serve humanity as both food and grist for scientific experimentation, and ultimately that...more
An allegorical account of animal rebellion which is distrubing on multiple levels. It is an account of an uprising told, for the most part, from the perspective of a lab rat whose self-acclaimed lofty position casts his allegiance to the ruling species and its causes.
On one level there are obvious symbolic parallels to the Nazi death camps and other situations where absolute control is exercised by one group over another without any sort of accountability. But more disturbing are the description...more
On one level there are obvious symbolic parallels to the Nazi death camps and other situations where absolute control is exercised by one group over another without any sort of accountability. But more disturbing are the description...more
It was a long time ago, but this book really worked for me at the time. A combination of the lunatics taking over the asylum and Stockholm Syndrome, Doctor Rat is convinced that all of the experiments and vivsection taking place in his lab is for the good of mankind and that all of the rats should be grateful for their chance to contribute. All of the experiments are carefully monitored by Doctor Rat to make sure that just enough healthy young animals are put to death in order to justify the eno...more
Stephen King recommended book. Noted as "important to the genre we have been discussing" from Danse Macabre, published in 1981.
A darkly humorous take on the use of animals in human research. Seen from the eyes of a lab rat, you have a bizarre and disorientating angle on the world. Taking to lead other animals in a revolution to make the world theirs once again, Doctor Rat is a political statement on the way we treat our planet and its inhabitants. A novel to question your views and moral standing on the ethics of animal testing. You will laugh and smirk at some of the writing, but there will always be that underlining n...more
Once 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...more
this 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 world from bears, sloths, elephants, and turtles to...more
This was an interesting to see through the mad mind of a lab rat (and other animals too) how they view the world and the sorts of things humans do to them in the name of science. The book was really hard for me to get involved in, having the inner monologue interspersed with he speaking dialogue took a bit of attention. I liked the concepts, and the idea of the story though; thought provoking in a twisted manner.
read this in my teens and couldnt have recommended a book to more people during that time. this book is always haunting my subconscious. i do eat meat and i do love animals. but this book was a rude awakening to the way of the world. i loved it then and still love it. one of these days i will have to revisit the odd and absurd world of Doctor Rat.
Many view this book as a treatise against experimentation on animals. I tend to take the story figuratively about the danger of conformists inside a system or institution design to create suffering. This is an darly humorous book on the banality of evil.
Without the historical context, which I did not have when I was trying to read this (I got it as a random Amazon deal), it doesn't work at all. Once I read the context, it didn't make up for the fact that I didn't like the book.
Think about animal experimentation in an abstract way? This book will sensitize you to the brutality that we inflict upon 'dumb' animals in the name of scientific and medical 'progress.'
Disturbing on a number of levels. I'd like to think that we've come some way in our treatment of animals since this was written. Thought provoking though.
I understood the concept and agree that animal rights is all something we should be aware of but the story itself is choppy and a bit monotonous to read.
Very clever & funny - includes a bit of wisdom, too. Recommended for fans of Vivian Vande Velde and maybe Sharon Shinn.
A book that helped me learn to recognize people who are apologists for horrific acts.
very detailed disgusting and gory but pretty insightful
Loved it. Read it at an impressionable age.
This was a very strange story about the animals' revolt due to animal experimentation told by Dr. Rat who, oddly enough, tries to stop his fellow animals.
I read this when I was a kid and it blew a great number of my circuits. Doctor Rat is a Quisling rat in a laboratory full of animals undergoing senseless experiments, often depicted quite graphically. This episodic novel eschews stridency for a very dark satire that gets under the skin. All of the lab-animals are anthropomorphicized, like a Disney film created by sick maniacs on datura. Makes The Secret of NIMH look like Pollyanna.
The conceit gets a little dragged out in this ridiculous book of animals rebelling against their human betters (due to cruel experiments and environmental degredation). But Dr. Rat is a great character ( a mad lab rat keeping a newsletter of the various experiments on his peers in the lab), and the surreal personification of animals in a lab as they endure outrageous (but sadly realistic) "experiments" is worth a look.
clever, actually brilliant on some levels, a lab rat with keen awareness of his position life and I believe somewhere homosexual tendencies. This odd little book is something I feel every american must read, preferably by the age of 15..... strange moral doctrine.
A view of animal research from the point of view of Dr. Rat, PhD. It is satirical, and funny, but also a troubling look at the world where humans think everything and everyone else is subordinate to them. This book is a neglected and ignored masterpiece.
This book made me squirm when I first read it many years ago. But I've learned to appreciate the bizarre humor of it over time. It teaches you a lot about the world we live in (and the creatures we live among).
I almost put it down when Doctor Rat referenced a quite literal "baking a trayful of cats" but stuck with it since it was easy to skim. Yeah, it didn't get much better from there.
It was ok. Kinda depressing and a bit of PETA propaganda. I kept having to remind myself that this was written in the '70s.
Really weird book about experimenting on lab animals. It weaves two stories together that converge (that ol' bit).
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William Kotzwinkle is a two-time recipient of the National Magazine Award for Fiction, a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Prix Litteraire des Bouquinistes des Quais de Paris, the PETA Award for Children's Books, and a Book Critics Circle award nominee. His work has been translated into dozens of languages.
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Sep 11, 2008 08:50pm