Review- Mrs Frisby and the rats of NIMH

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Revisiting something that one enjoyed as a child is, of course, filled with risk. I remember reading this book when I was around ten years old and and finding it extraordinarily exciting and vivid. It seemed very long those days too, such that I thought that I might never finish it. The book seems much shorter now- I read it in two days, in fact, but no less skillful written.

Mrs Frisby and the rats of Nimh tells the story of the eponymous field mouse, who tries to save her son, Timothy, who has pneumonia, and therefore cannot move to their summer home without risking aggravating his illness. However, if the mice do not move, their winter home, which rests in a farmer's field, will be broken up by the plough and they will all be killed. To find help, Mrs Frisby first turns to a wise owl, then to a group of super intelligent rats, who might be connected to her in another way.

The device of intelligent animals trying to understand human motivations and not quite succeeding, is a tried and tested one, and is put to good effect here, both to explain something about human civilization, and as satire. At one point, one of the rats expresses surprise when discovering that rats are despised because they spread disease. After all, he reasons, they don't spread as many as human do themselves. The rats are depicted sympathetically, observing the mistakes humans have made, and trying to avoid them when creating their own civilization.

The point in which the rats describe how they came to be intelligent is thrillingly told, as evocative now as when I first read the book all those years ago. There's real skill in creating characters and settings that are so well told, using simple language that both children and adults can appreciate. The author uses the descriptions of the senses beautifully to describe the many locations in which the book takes place, from stinking sewers to bright, ascetic laboratories.

One thing does occur when re-reading the book, is that the rats seem too anthropomorphized. It always seems a missed opportunity when authors make a fantasy civilization too similar to the human one. For example, it doesn't seem likely that there would be marriage in a society of mice and rats, given their sexual habits. Also, a much smaller animal would probably categorize nature in a different way. Equating civilization with human traits may demonstrate a lack of imagination.

However, putting that criticism aside, this is a book that should be read by readers of all ages, truly, a book that would be mis-labelled if described as a 'children's book'.



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