Firmin

May 18, 2010 Olivia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-literature

This book really surprised me. When I saw it at Powell's Books, I knew right away I was the target audience. See that white chunk on the right side of the cover? It's a literal chunk taken out of the book. As though a rat had nibbled it. On the back, it said it was a book about Firmin, a rat who begins by consuming literature, but soon finds it consumes him. It's about a rat who loves books. Perfect for me. So I bought it, guessing it would be a fun, cute summer read, with little substance.

It is...more

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Jan 01, 2008 Molly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Again, I must be a voice of dissent here. I loved this novella. It is written from the perspective of a rat who was born in a bookstore to an alcoholic-mother in a litter of other rat-like rats. Firmin is of course different from his brothers and sisters: he possesses a yearning for knowledge and a loneliness that he obliquely recognizes as the loneliness of the human condition--particularly among those humans whose lives he vicariously observes. This makes him a liminal figure at home neither i...more

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Apr 12, 2009 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-about-books-about-books, littry-fiction, table

so i bought this years ago and hadnt read it. and then the new, even cuter edition came out so i had to get it again, but actually read it this time because i am a sucker for cool book design. and im glad, because its not a cute book, despite its illustrations and little ratbite. its more sad than cute, and it is definitely not for kids. and i am a grown up!! (she says, eating all the candy from the basket daddy sent for easter...)

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Mar 06, 2008 Jose rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lit-norteamericana, lectura

Profunda decepción. Después de todo lo bueno leído sobre esta novela, de saber que Seix Barral ha apostado fuerte por ella al comprar los derechos mundiales, lo único que puedo decir es que me ha aburrido profundamente. Todos los que hemos leído convulsivamente a lo largo de vida estamos predispuestos a sentirnos identificados con esta rata devoradora, en el sentido literal primero y en el sentido lector después, de libros. Lo peor que me ha pasado a mí durante la lectura es que también me he se...more

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Mar 14, 2009 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sam Savage’s wildly original novel, the story of a rat born on a copy of “Finnegan’s Wake” in a Boston bookstore, is a tender, beautiful gift to bibliophiles!

Unlike his siblings who feast on the pages of books in blissful ignorance, Firmin not only consumes the books surrounding him in his birthplace, but also becomes consumed by them – their thoughts, their words, and their ideas. He has the “gift of lexical hypertrophy,” but is, unfortunately, trapped by the physical limitations of being a ra...more

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Jul 27, 2008 edifanob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-books

Ich hatte die Gelegenheit, dieses Buch vorab zu lesen.

„Gut essbar gleich gut lesbar“ FIRMIN - EIN RATTENLEBEN aktualisiert

Das ist die Devise von Firmin, einer Ratte.

Er kommt als 13. eines Rattenwurfs in einer Bostoner Buchhandlung zur Welt.
Firmin ist anders als seine Geschwister. Er bekommt nie genug Muttermilch und so wendet er sich den Büchern als Nahrungsquelle zu. So nimmt die Entwicklung zur Leseratte ihren Lauf.
Die Welt der Bücher ist eine Offenbarung für ihn.
Er nimmt sie für sich ein und...more

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Sep 09, 2007 Alicia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Firmin is a story of a rat who lives in a bookstore, eats books (words) and understands the text of the stories he reads. When the bookstore is torn down to make way for urban renewal he goes in search of a new home.

Firmin is, at it's core, an outsider story about someone who never really fits into the world in which he finds himself.

I have a theory about helping people find books. I think all of us are ultimately searching for our story recreated and retold in many different ways, so my person...more

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Dec 22, 2008 Helen (Helena/Nell) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's not an all-time classic, but it has something.

I liked the pictures of the little mousy-looking rats at the bottom of the pages -- the little dears.

I also liked the bite out of the top of the book, which reflects the way Firmin, the first-person narRATor, devours books, both literally and metaphorically.

Where it doesn't quite (sorry) bite is in the character of the narrator, which is not sufficiently distinctive. I like the situation; I like the idea; but the voice reminded me of a number...more

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Nov 04, 2008 Stephanie Griffin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone who has a soul.

This amazing book, written by first-time novelist Sam Savage, blew me away with its intelligent writing and perceptive looks into the human condition. Yes, it’s from a rat’s perspective. Don’t let that deter you from reading one of the best books of the past two years.
Firmin discovers that he lives in a bookshop basement in a run-down part of a city. He nibbles on the pages of the books, but also learns to read voraciously. He closely observes the world of the bookshop and ventures out to nearby...more

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Dec 05, 2008 June rated it 2 of 5 stars

There is some genius behind this story, but unfortunately, it is a genius I do not fully appreciate. What started out as a desire to read a grown-up version of Ratatouille, turned into a much more contemplative Kafka Metamorphosis-esque narrative about literally being a low-life (a rodent) surrounded by humans occupying the same social status. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy parts of it. The author can comment a lot on the true nature of humans by disguising it as natural animal rat instinct - t...more

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Feb 20, 2009 Shannon rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Former Hamster Owners

Recommended to Shannon by: ??

I'm not sure what list I found this on or how it got on my request list from the library (I really should keep track of that sort of thing), but I thought it might be a nice follow-up to The Book Thief since it also deals with the impact of books on life. Unfortunately, Firmin is not of the caliber of The Book Thief.

The title character and narrator is a rat. This was my biggest barrier to enjoying the book. While the book has components that I felt I could have really connected to via another na...more

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May 07, 2013 Bjorn rated it 5 of 5 stars

If there is one thing a literary education is good for it is to fill you with a sense of doom. There is nothing quite like a vivid imagination for sapping a person’s courage. I read the diary of Anne Frank, I become Anne Frank. As for others, they could feel plenty of terror, cringe in corners, sweat with fear, but as soon as the danger had passed it was as if it had never happened, and they trotted cheerfully on.

The "others", in this case, being our narrator's fellow citizens of a run-down neig...more If there is one thing a literary education is good for it is to fill you with a sense of doom. There is nothing quite like a vivid imagination for sapping a person’s courage. I read the diary of Anne Frank, I become Anne Frank. As for others, they could feel plenty of terror, cringe in corners, sweat with fear, but as soon as the danger had passed it was as if it had never happened, and they trotted cheerfully on.

The "others", in this case, being our narrator's fellow citizens of a run-down neighbourhood in 1960s Boston. Born in the basement of a used bookstore (his crib lined with shredded pages of Finnegan's Wake), neglected by his alcoholic mother, bullied by his siblings, young Firmin has to feed and raise himself - the thirteenth child to a mother with twelve tits.

(Yeah, he's a rat.)

And so Firmin starts eating books. And then reading books. As the others grow strong and leave the basement to mate, scrounge for food and get run over in the street, Firmin stays behind, the smartest and loneliest rat in the world, ravenously reading his way through the entire published world of literature - from the Great Books to religious pamphlets, sci-fi novels to long-debunked medical theories and maps of the world. He teaches himself to read, teaches himself to critique, to discuss, to interpret... only that as a rat, he has no one to discuss it with. Other rats avoid him (as he them), and this being pre-computer age with its feather-touch keyboards, there is no way for him to communicate with humans; he can only squeak, and he's too weak to work a typewriter. As far as anyone can see, he's just a rat to be poisoned or stomped on. For a long time, his entire world is made up of books and the local cinema, which only shows old black-n-white Hollywood movies and cheap porn. And then something happens...

Name-dropping time: Firmin reads a bit like a tragicomic(er) Tales From Underground filtered through Fritz The Cat. I'd say it's what Auster was trying to do with Timbuktu, except it's much too sentimental (in a good way) to be Auster. But above all - and this reference might be a little obscure - I'm reminded of Hrabal's Too Loud A Solitude, which is eerily similar yet completely different. Two rat-infested basements, two outsiders-by-necessity who, pursued by the authorities, build their own world from books, two short novels about the power and lack of comfort offered by literature... Yet Savage has created something pretty unique: a narrator who could have been unbearably cute but instead is one of the most touching anti-heroes I've come across in a long time, a metafictional short sharp shock (148 pages), a very poignant tale of lonely people unable to connect to others (some rats, some humans), and a story that first cracks me up and then gradually turns the screws until we know that this can never end well. Firmin is just a rat, so he fits perfectly in that proverbial handbasket we're all in whether we realize it or not.

(And Hell, as Jean-Paul Sratre pointed out, is other rats.)

I'm sorry. That last piece was exactly the sort of pun that makes this sound like a joke. It's not. It's one of the most rewarding reads I've had all year, and I really hope more people will give it a shot. Firmin deserves that.(less)

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Apr 28, 2013 Pat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I came across a piece on Sam Savage in one of my issues of Poets and Writers, and found him to be a fascinating character: Savage did what most writers consider doing but don't dare to do, namely, he gave up the fight. Stopped writing at all for a period of several years. Something made him start writing again-- I'd have to dig up the magazine article to figure out what-- and Firmin became something of an international sensation, so, with an eye towards sending Coffee House Press some of my own...more I came across a piece on Sam Savage in one of my issues of Poets and Writers, and found him to be a fascinating character: Savage did what most writers consider doing but don't dare to do, namely, he gave up the fight. Stopped writing at all for a period of several years. Something made him start writing again-- I'd have to dig up the magazine article to figure out what-- and Firmin became something of an international sensation, so, with an eye towards sending Coffee House Press some of my own material, I ordered a copy, not knowing at all what to expect. The book arrived and I looked at it with more than a little suspicion-- when you get a paperback with a cartoon rat on the cover and a die-cut bite mark out of the right-hand side, a little suspicion is warranted. Was this book going to be far too cutesy for my bitter old soul to digest? Worse, it included illustrations... which, unless you're looking for a good graphic novel, is a bit off-putting. In fact, I was completely wrong on both counts. Firmin is the tale of the runt of a litter of rats who are born in the basement of a used bookstore. The literary conceit of the book is that it is told by the rat, who, being weaned on chewed-up pages from Joyce's Finnegan's Wake (which might be the best use for that tome, ever) somehow absorbs language and thought and becomes more a sentient, even sensitive being. I found Firmin thoroughly disarming, with his wants, his hopes, his sad little dreams, and it's not a long novel (more like a large novella) so I was sad to spend such a short time with him. Satisfying opening, middle, and conclusion, all the functional parts of a good novel, deft characterization, attention to detail-- Savage knows what he's doing, and knows too well how we all love to cheer for the underdog. Firmin is the underdog's underdog, a rat rejected at every turn who still somehow remains hopeful, even as he is starving, and scurrying about the city trying not to get killed. I can't recommend this book highly enough, and I wouldn't hesitate to lend my copy to anyone, including your grandmother, because there's little in it that would offend or upset save the plight of the common city rat, seen through too-wise eyes. A tiny masterpiece. Thank you, Sam, for coming back to the page, and for giving us this tale. Thanks, too, to Coffee House Press for putting out this edition (and in the end I even liked the little illustrations, too), and encouraging artists of this caliber to continue their good works. You might not be the right press for my own works, but you're certainly fighting the good fight.(less)

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Apr 01, 2013 Guillermo rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Que delicia de libro. No lo conocía ni de nada y me sorprendió el punto de partida: nada menos que una rata que aprende a leer comiendo libros. Pensé que sería un libro de humor o una disertación sobre la literatura en general... pero no. Era la historia de Firmin. Y que historia tan bonita.

Tengo debilidad por las historias tristes y los finales amargos. Este libro me ha fascinado totalmente. Desde el punto en que conoce a Jerry se augura que la cosa acabará mal y precisamente es para mí el punt...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Ginny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Quando ci si rapporta ad un bestseller, in genere lo si fa con un atteggiamento scettico e un po’ snobistico, nonché preparati a rimanere delusi, almeno nella maggior parte dei casi.
“Firmino” per me non è stato una delusione, in quanto non ha la pretesa di essere un capolavoro, tuttavia possiede una sua innegabile dignità e suscita molta simpatia.
Questo bizzarro topo, sprovvisto di ogni avvenenza fisica perfino in base ai canoni estetici dei ratti, si nutre di parole ma è condannato al silenzi...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Aries rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzo

Spesso leggere quello che molti considerano il libro del momento può essere rischioso: l'aspettativa cresce a tal punto che difficilmente si riesce ad eguagliarla coi fatti.Purtroppo, per quanto mi riguarda questo è uno di quei casi.Pubblicizzato in quarta di copertina come il libro da leggere se leggere è il vostro destino, come la storia che avrebbe riempito il cuore di ogni lettore facendo sì che si riconoscesse nel protagonista, per quanto mi riguarda non si è assolutamente rivelato tale.Fir...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Arwen56 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzi

Ed eccomi qui, infine, a parlare del “topastro”. Da quando Sadako l’ha chiamato così, non riesco a definirlo in altro modo. :-)

... ’azzo ce ne frega a noi se tu parli o no del “topastro”, direte voi. Ellosò che non ve ne frega niente, ma si fa tanto per dire, no? E’ un inizio come un altro. Da qualche parte bisogna pur partire.

Ordunque … a me il “topastro” non è sembrato né un capolavoro, né una schifezza. A me il “topastro” è sembrata una biografia, quella dell’autore. “Firmin c’est moi” dicono...more Ed eccomi qui, infine, a parlare del “topastro”. Da quando Sadako l’ha chiamato così, non riesco a definirlo in altro modo. :-)

... ’azzo ce ne frega a noi se tu parli o no del “topastro”, direte voi. Ellosò che non ve ne frega niente, ma si fa tanto per dire, no? E’ un inizio come un altro. Da qualche parte bisogna pur partire.

Ordunque … a me il “topastro” non è sembrato né un capolavoro, né una schifezza. A me il “topastro” è sembrata una biografia, quella dell’autore. “Firmin c’est moi” dicono a chiare lettere le parole di questo libro, ma non in senso traslato, come per Flaubert, bensì in senso pratico ed effettivo. Norman e Jerry sono, a mio avviso, le due persone che è stato, nella vita, lo stesso autore. Sono state le due facce che Firmino/Sam Savage, ossia la parte intima e personalissima di ciascun uomo che osserva persino se stesso dal “ballatoio”, ha visto interagire col mondo esterno. Si fa presto a dire “io sono sempre me stesso”, “io sono sempre ciò che vedete”. In realtà, anche la persona più schietta del mondo si trova, talvolta, a svolgere ruoli od a comportarsi in modi che non esprimono esattamente il proprio “io”. Ecco … Firmino è un “es” che guarda agire due suoi “ego”. A fare da “super ego” abbiamo la vita “di pirsuna pirsunalmente”, come direbbe Catarella.

Tutto qui.

Non è una favola, non è una grande metafora, non è un libro simbolico e non c’entrano una beata mazza i lettori e gli amanti della lettura in genere, come tenta di contrabbandare la quarta di copertina. Il “topastro” è un uomo e la sua personale esperienza della vita. Può interessare oppure no. Dipende dai gusti. La scrittura non è male. Nulla di originale, ma neppure di biasimevole. Nel complesso, a me pare di sentire una voce sincera, che tenta di raccontare di sé. Si può aver voglia di ascoltarlo, ma anche no.

Tra cent’anni ci si ricorderà di questo romanzo in quanto tale? Probabilmente no. Ritengo più verosimile che verrà letto per capire la mentalità degli uomini di questo secolo, esattamente come io, ora, leggo certe testimonianze dell’ottocento, benché prive di altri meriti letterari.

PS: Un ultima parola vorrei spenderla ancora sulla quarta di copertina nella quale Alessandro Baricco scrive: “Firmino, il topo che Walt Disney avrebbe inventato se solo fosse stato Borges. Se leggere è il vostro piacere e il vostro destino, questo libro è stato scritto per voi”
Ora, come ho già scritto altrove, io credo che Baricco sia una delle voci più originali ed importanti della nostra narrativa contemporanea e ritengo che, lui sì, resterà nella storia della letteratura italiana. Ma ‘sta stronzata poteva pure risparmiarsela. In linea di massima, sono d’accordo che ciascuno di noi debba fare quanto gli sia possibile per mettere a profitto le proprie capacità, dimostrare il proprio valore e farsi pagare, di conseguenza, in denaro sonante. Ma esiste anche una cosiddetta “etica del lavoro”. E questa “etica” impone che non si usi il credito acquisito per rifilare fregature agli altri. E, quella che Baricco tenta di rifilarci, è una fregatura. Non perché il libro sia un schifezza, come ho detto, ma perché non è certo quel che lui intende farci credere. E Baricco lo sa certamente meglio di noi. E’ una questione di onestà.

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Jul 27, 2012 Biblionomicon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dies ist eine traurige Geschichte. Wer also hinter der Ratte 'Firmin', dem Protagonisten des gleichnamigen Romans des promovierten Philosophen, Tischler, Fischer, Drucker und Fahrradmechaniker Sam Savage eine ähnlich niedliche Geschichte vergleichbar mit dem Pixar-Film 'Ratatouille' erwartet, der geht leer aus, denn hier gibt es kein Happy End...

Also es geht um einen Roman, der eine Ratte ins Zentrum der Geschichte stellt und diese aus ihrer ureigenen Perspektive erzählt. Ja, richtig gehört, d...more

Dies ist eine traurige Geschichte. Wer also hinter der Ratte 'Firmin', dem Protagonisten des gleichnamigen Romans des promovierten Philosophen, Tischler, Fischer, Drucker und Fahrradmechaniker Sam Savage eine ähnlich niedliche Geschichte vergleichbar mit dem Pixar-Film 'Ratatouille' erwartet, der geht leer aus, denn hier gibt es kein Happy End...

Also es geht um einen Roman, der eine Ratte ins Zentrum der Geschichte stellt und diese aus ihrer ureigenen Perspektive erzählt. Ja, richtig gehört, die Ratte erzählt uns die Geschichte und es ist kein Märchen für Kinder, sondern vielmehr ein Stück amerikanischer Lokalgeschichte, beginnend in den 1960er Jahren in der Stadt Boston. Firmin wird dort als 13. Junges einer übergewichtigen und alkoholabhängigen Rattenmutter im Keller einer Bostoner Buchhandlung zur Welt gebracht. Aber Firmin ist anders als seine Rattenbrüder und Rattenschwestern. Als letzter im Wurf kommt er stets zu kurz, wenn es darum geht, sich einen Platz an der Mutterbrust in Konkurrenz um die knappe Nahrung zu erkämpfen. Schließlich aber findet er Geschmack an den Seiten der Bücher im Keller der Buchhandlung und mit der Zeit muss er feststellen, dass Buchseiten nicht nur dazu dienen können, seinen Hunger zu stillen, sondern dass er dazu auch noch lesen kann. Sicher, das ist ungewöhnlich für eine Ratte, aber wenn man sich erst einmal damit abgefunden hat, dass es Firmin intellektuell in Sachen Literatur mit jedem Menschen aufnehmen kann und den meisten darin am Ende sogar überlegen ist (Firmin ist nicht nur mit einer Art photografischen Gedächtnis gesegnet, sondern beherrscht auch noch die Kunst, anspruchsvolle Literatur mit atemberaubender Geschwindigkeit zu lesen), dann kann die Geschichte auch funktionieren.

Kein Wunder also, wenn sich Firmin eher als Mensch, denn als Ratte fühlt. Allerdings ist ihm bewusst, dass er eine Ratte ist und dass Ratten bei den Menschen nicht gerade ein hohes Ansehen genießen. Dennoch gelingt es ihm mit der Zeit, sogar eine Art Freund unter den Menschen zu finden: den erfolglosen Schriftsteller und Außenseiter Jerry, bei dem er schließlich auch wohnt, nachdem er seinen Geburtsort, die Buchhandlung verlassen hat. Aber Jerry ist genauso wie Firmin ein ewiger Verlierer. Zwar liebt er seinen kleinen Freund, doch vermag er nicht dessen Genialität zu erkennen und hält ihn eben einfach "nur" für eine Ratte. So muss auch diese ungleiche Freundschaft letztlich tragisch enden. Die Melancholie von Firmins Geschichte wird begleitet von der Schilderung des allmählichen Verfalls des Bostoner Stadtviertels, in dem Firmins alte Buchhandlung liegt. Ebensowenig, wie dessen Untergang verhindert werden kann, sind auch Firmins Träume und sein Streben nach Höherem kläglich zum Scheitern verurteilt.

So traurig die Geschichte am Ende auch ist, so besitzt Firmin doch einen intelligenten, an Woody Allen erinnernden Sinn für Humor, der vom Autor durch beständige Literaturzitate unterfüttert wird. So gerät die tragische Geschichte schließlich zu einer Hymne an die Literatur und an das Lesen an sich, und man bekommt Lust, das ein oder andere der erwähnten Werke einmal wieder aus dem Bücherschrank zu nehmen und darin zu lesen. Persönlich hatte ich mir mehr von dem so viel gelobten Werk erwartet. Die Ratte als Identifikationsfigur eines intellektuellen Außenseiters wird sicher nicht bei jedem funktionieren. Dennoch spricht das Buch bestimmt auch die "Leseratten" unter uns an, so dass man trotz alledem auch ein wenig Vergnügen aus der melancholischen Lektüre ziehen kann.

Fazit: Ein ungewöhnlicher Roman mit zahlreichen literarischen Querverweisen um einen intellektuellen Außenseiter in Gestalt einer Ratte. Bestimmt nichts für jedermann...

Sam Savage
Firmin - Ein Rattenleben
List Taschenbuch (2009)
280 Seiten
8,95 Euro
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Oct 27, 2011 Roberta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008

Arrivederci, zip!

Firmino, ultimo di una cucciolata di tredici ratti (non topi, ratti!), raramente riesce a sgomitare abbastanza da cibarsi, dato che la madre è dotata di "soli" dodici capezzoli e quando rientra ubriaca dalle sue sortite quotidiane non si preoccupa certo della adeguata ripartizione del latte fra i suoi cuccioli.

Costretto a sfamarsi in altro modo, Firmino si rivolge ai libri, di cui c'è grande abbondanza, vista la vicinanza ad un deposito di libri. Il primo approccio è poco ortodo...more

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Oct 26, 2011 Robert Price Rifkin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Firmin was written by a failed novelist, way past his prime and the story of the success of this novel reads like a Hollywood fairy tale. The author was in his late fifties when he gave up on a career as a novelist but came back to write this allegorical story of a literary rat (literally). The book became a sensation in, of all places, Italy, and word of the bookish rat soon travelled across the globe. Firmin became an international bestseller and the quiet Yale-educated Doctor of Philosophy be...more

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Sep 20, 2011 manuti rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Otro best-seller raro como el mes anterior, también "muy alegre". Al igual que al anterior le doy 3 estrellas, y mucho es. Supongo que me pasó igual con ambos libros, esperaba mucho de ellos ya que había leído muy buenas críticas y recomendaciones y luego me supieron a poco. No sé, a lo mejor es que no he sabido ver lo buen libro que es. Creo que la cuestión es que como lector empedernido de ciencia ficción, estas fábulas modernas no me impresionan mucho y una vez que pierdes la capacidad de sor

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May 29, 2011 Al Bità rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A disarming tale given to us via the intellectual musings of a literary rat living in a soon-to-be demolished area of Boston. Firmin is the runt of the litter, and because he is least able to feed himself properly, he is reduced to eating the pages of books. This gives him intelligence, and an ability to read. He ends up considering himself more of a human than a rat, but there is no way he can communicate this: to humans, he is simply vermin. It is interesting that, as a rat, he apparently has...more

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Nov 06, 2010 Bibliophile rated it 5 of 5 stars

Firmin mi-a placut. Mult de tot.
E, aparent, conceput ca un roman simplu, si inca de la primele randuri, pare a te tine in transa, pentru ca povestea personajului principal e realmente captivanta. Firmin nu e un individ ca oricare altul, e un sobolan [imaginat, insa, de mine, ca un soricel, deoarece am refuzat vehement sa mi-l schitez in minte ca fiind gri inchis /negricios, cu o coada de o lungime dezgustatoare, cu niste falci neiertatoare, si cu niste ochi rosii, alaturi de o privire nebuna]. N...more
Firmin mi-a placut. Mult de tot.
E, aparent, conceput ca un roman simplu, si inca de la primele randuri, pare a te tine in transa, pentru ca povestea personajului principal e realmente captivanta. Firmin nu e un individ ca oricare altul, e un sobolan [imaginat, insa, de mine, ca un soricel, deoarece am refuzat vehement sa mi-l schitez in minte ca fiind gri inchis /negricios, cu o coada de o lungime dezgustatoare, cu niste falci neiertatoare, si cu niste ochi rosii, alaturi de o privire nebuna]. Nu, el trebuie sa fie un dragalas, chiar daca cei de la toate editurile din lume au decis sa ilustreze, pe coperta, imaginea unui soarece cel putin rahitic, depresiv si aproape sinucigas [dupa felul in care arata, cel putin].

Firmin s-a nascut in subsolul unei librarii, care, mai tarziu, a devenit domiciliul lui permanent, dupa ce s-a separat de mama sobolanca [putin cam alcoolica] si de ceilalti 12 frati ai lui. Cum nici unul dintre ei nu parea sa fie inzestrat cu spiritul sau personalitatea de care e capabil Firmin, acesta ramane, pana la urma, singurul care decide sa nu paraseasca Pembroke Books, delectandu-se, pentru majoritatea vietii sale, cu lecturile grozave descoperite in rafturi. Problema e ca, inca din frageda copilarie, Firmin descopera ca-i plac paginile de carte sub forma de gustari, sa le rontaie, sa le simta gustul placut si invechit, sa le transforme in bile lipicioase pe care sa si le ataseze de cerul gurii. Nu mult dupa inceperea acestei activitati, insa, descopera ca poate citi, ei si, uite asa, renunta la obiceiul de a le manca, pentru a se delecta cu povestile lor magnifice. Citeste de toate: Byron, Keats, Verlaine, dar si proza: Joyce, Dostoievski, Stevenson, London si multi, multi altii.

Realele probleme din viata lui Firmin apar atunci cand descopera ca nu e singur in cladire, pentru ca, utilizand un complicat sistem de galerii, proiectat si construit de inaintasii sai, ajunge sa poata privi camera centrala a librariei printr-o gaura in tavan, situata chiar deasupra biroului vanzatorului. Norman Shine e numele acestui individ, care-i pica cu tronc soricelului, si-l considera, intr-un mod, de altfel, destul de eronat, ca fiind prima persoana pe care a iubit-o vreodata. Wrong! Pentru o perioada destul de lunga, Firmin poarta doar dialoguri imaginare cu Shine, schitandu-si, in minte, posibile discutii surprinzator de interesante sau burgheze intre el insusi si librar. Intr-o zi, insa, descopera niste grauncioare colorate, delicioase si irezistibile, pe care le consuma incantat. Urmarea e ca timp de doua zile sta intr-o agonie dificila de descris. Si da, v-ati gandit bine, grauncioarele alea erau otrava de sobolan, asa cum afla chiar el, plimbandu-se, ulterior, prin biblioteca si descoperind cutia originala a momelii.

Scarbit de personalitatea vicioasa si diavolesca a personajului cu care isi imparte domiciliu, Firmin se decide sa vada lumea. Pana la acest moment, descoperise, in afara de Penbroke Books, doar un cinematograf in care rulau, noaptea tarziu, filme deocheate, si unde putea sa se infrupte, in liniste, din floricele cazute pe jos, Snickers, sau sa culeaga diverse comori, cum ar fi un inel de aur.

Firmin ajunge, dupa ce trece prin mai multe aventuri, sa fie chiar adoptat de un fel de hipiot, Jerry Magoon, foarte de treaba, care mai e si scriitor pe langa faptul ca e alcoolic ocazional, dar care se poarta frumos cu Firmin, ca si cum ar fi un adevarat animal de companie. Ce se intampla in rest, insa, o sa va las sa descoperiti singuri, pentru ca romanul e mult prea incantator pentru a-i diminua din farmec.(less)

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Mar 22, 2010 Sharon Raphael rated it 5 of 5 stars

When I bought this book it was titled something like A Rat's Tale but Firmin is the name of the rat so I guess the title changed to name of the narrator of the book who is a Rat named Fermin. I just got it Vermin, Fermin. It does have a funny side but it is also funny sad. I say who when referring to Fermin because this rat learns to read by living in a bookshop in a poor rundown section of NYC. Fermin also becomes quite the philosopher of life. This is a sad story about a world and a few people...more

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Jan 31, 2010 Xirxe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, unterhaltung, fabel-n

Firmin kommt als 13. Rattenjunges in einer Buchhandlung zur Welt, im Vergleich zu seinen Geschwistern körperlich eher zurückgeblieben und wenig durchsetzungsstark. Statt sich mit ihnen ums Fressen zu streiten, frisst er sich im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes durch die Bücher um ihn herum. Und stellt zu seiner eigenen Verwunderung eines Tages fest, dass er lesen kann. Um sich die geistige Nahrung zu erhalten, hält er sich beim Fressen nunmehr an die Ränder und Einbände - und verschlingt zusätzlich den...more

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Dec 22, 2009 Farhan Ghazali rated it 5 of 5 stars

A long time back, maybe a couple of years ago, I had come across this book on the Internet, and since it seemed a promising one, I had added it to my Amazon.com wish list, as is my habit. Lately, I saw it in the local bookstore, remembered that it had been on my wish list for a long time, and decided to give it a chance. And, boy, am I glad that I did ! It is such a lovely, lovely piece of work.

Firmin is the name of a rat who was born in a second-hand bookshop in a seedy and sleazy area of Bost...more A long time back, maybe a couple of years ago, I had come across this book on the Internet, and since it seemed a promising one, I had added it to my Amazon.com wish list, as is my habit. Lately, I saw it in the local bookstore, remembered that it had been on my wish list for a long time, and decided to give it a chance. And, boy, am I glad that I did ! It is such a lovely, lovely piece of work.

Firmin is the name of a rat who was born in a second-hand bookshop in a seedy and sleazy area of Boston in the sixties. Firmin was puny and weak, and he was usually left hungry as his other dozen siblings drank all of their mother's milk.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and Firmin resorted to eating the old books around him which gave him a special power: the ability to read. And then he stopped literally devouring them and started to actually read them. Now the books offered not physical nourishment, but intellectual one. He read everything: from classics to pulp fiction, from religious tomes to erotic texts, from biographies to histories, from philosophy to humour. He just read and read.

Such wide reading contributed to his unusual mental development, but despite his formidable intellect and powerful imagination, he was unable to communicate with his intellectual equals - humans - since he could not talk. He did not have the right vocal cords to speak the humanspeak. As he says in the book, "...loquacious to the point of chatter, I was condemned to silence. The fact is, I had no voice. All the beautiful sentences flying around in my head like butterflies were in fact flying in a cage they could never get out of."

And when the shop owner spotted him, he tried to poison him, and Firmin, who had grown very fond of him over time and felt deeply devoted to him - constantly observing him from his secret cracks and holes - could not stand this treachery, and lost what little faith he had had in the world to begin with.

No matter how much Firmin read, he could never make sense of the seeming randomness and futility of life. Attention-starved, spurned by his own kind as being a freak and loathed by the humans whose companionship and respect he sought, Firmin led a life utterly alone - socially as well as intellectually. He lived his life as an outcast, a fine mind forever trapped in a repulsive body. All the beautiful words and thoughts he had in his mind, he could never share with anyone.

He was a hopeless romantic, a venomless cynic, and an endearing dreamer; he sometimes imagined himself as Fred Astaire, dancing and singing with the most beautiful women, he sometimes fantasized that he was a war hero, or a great writer or poet, a human being dressed in tuxedoes and hats and gloves, discussing great ideas with other humans. But that never happened, of course. He lived and died alone. His genius was both a blessing and a curse. And, symoblically, he dies in the very nest he was born in. Despite his shining intelligence and sparkling wit, despite all his escapist flights of fancy, he lived and died a rat.

It is obvious that the story is an allegory; it is not really about a rat who could read, but about any human being who has felt like a misfit in this world, a pariah, with only his runaway imagination as his friend; unable to find someone who would understand him and see him for what he really is, beyond the physical looks and beyond his societal standing.

Deeply moving, ruefully funny, heart-breakingly cynical, highly original and incisively metaphorical, this is an unforgettable tale of loneliness and underachievement and helplessness in the face of immutable circumstances. Liberally sprinkled with wise truisms, this is a novel which brilliantly uses a non-human protagonist to open a window to the human condition. My highest rating for this staggering work of genius. (less)

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Nov 11, 2009 Conta-me Histórias rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literatura-estrangeira, romance

Firmin é uma história encantadora.

O patinho feio da família, é como se pode descrever a personagem. É o 13.º filho de uma ratazana gorda e com hábitos alcoólicos. Como a mãe só tem 12 tetas, Firmin fica sempre para o fim das refeições, mamando apenas os restos do leite que os seus irmãos, bem mais robustos, deixaram. Mas até aí, Fírmin vê uma vantagem - apesar de ter de se contentar com restos que apenas enganam a fome que sente, já não mama leite com teor alcoólico.

Para se alimentar Firmin come...more

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Nov 03, 2009 Lindsay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adultfiction, literaryfiction

Beautiful, tragic, and wildly creative. Firmin is a rat who is born on a shredded copy of Finnigan's Wake in the basement of a bookshop, and consequently falls in love with literature. Stuck in a sea of rats too simpleminded to understand his intellectual depths and humans he cannot communicate with, he struggles to find happiness.

This book made me laugh, cry, and think. But mostly, it spoke to my soul. I would recommend it to anyone who has ever found solace within the pages of a book.

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May 09, 2009 Paula rated it 4 of 5 stars

A História de Firmin, o nosso rato, começa assim:

"Sempre imaginei que a história da minha vida, se e quando a escrevesse, teria uma primeira frase grandiosa; uma coisa grandiosa como "Lolita, luz da minha vida, fogo da minha virilidade", de Nabokov; ou, caso eu não tivesse queda para o lírico, então uma coisa epopeica como "Todas as famílias felizes são iguais, mas as famílias infelizes são cada uma à sua maneira", de Tolstoi. São palavras que as pessoas não esquecem, mesmo que já não se lembrem...more A História de Firmin, o nosso rato, começa assim:

"Sempre imaginei que a história da minha vida, se e quando a escrevesse, teria uma primeira frase grandiosa; uma coisa grandiosa como "Lolita, luz da minha vida, fogo da minha virilidade", de Nabokov; ou, caso eu não tivesse queda para o lírico, então uma coisa epopeica como "Todas as famílias felizes são iguais, mas as famílias infelizes são cada uma à sua maneira", de Tolstoi. São palavras que as pessoas não esquecem, mesmo que já não se lembrem do resto dos livros. No que diz respeito a primeiras frases, porém, a melhor, na minha opinião, é sem dúvida a que inicia "O Bom selvagem" de Ford Madox Ford: "Esta é a história mais triste que alguma vez ouvi." Já a li dezenas de vezes e continua a deixar-me de rastos. Ford Madox Ford era dos grandes."

Firmin é um rato que nasce numa livraria, a sua mãe, alcoólica, para além dele teve mais doze filhos.
Firmin era o mais fraco e, por ser o mais fraco, nunca conseguiu alimentar-se bem, pois a sua mãe só tinha doze mamilos, o que lhe valeu, pois livrou-se do alcoolismo.
Para sobreviver Firmin encontra um sabor especial nos livros, descrevendo-os como “doce, amargo, agridoce, raçoso, salgado, picante”.E de tanto devorar livros, aprende a ler, alargando o seu conhecimento nas diversas áreas, nomeadamente: história, medicina, música…
A Princípio, Firmin roía páginas inteiras, mas quando o gosto pela leitura fala mais alto, passa a roer somente as margens brancas dos livros e arrepende-se de ter destruído algumas obras.
Durante toda a história, o personagem fala-nos de clássicos e faz referência aos mesmos quando estes “encaixam” nos acontecimentos da sua vida.
Firmin é um rato solitário, considera-se diferente dos outros ratos. Ele quer amar, quer entender os humanos e considera-se, por vezes, humano. É, sobretudo, um rato romântico, imagina ser Ferd Asteire, dança com Ginger Rogers nos seus sonhos, e à noite olha as estrelas e divaga…
Uma história MAGNÍFICA!!(less)

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May 03, 2009 Jason rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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title link	preview: Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/349164.Firmin?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1173974199l/349164.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/349164.Firmin?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage[/url]

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