Rotters in The Under-Hyped Readathon!

Jul 11, 2012 Sue Moro rated it really liked it

A very dark, disturbing, yet compelling YA fiction read.

I found myself instantly drawn to the story of high school straight A student Joey Crouch. He's been living a pretty happy life in Chicago with his mom, and he enjoys playing his trumpet. Suddenly his whole world is torn apart by the tragic death of his mother in a traffic accident at the start of the book.
Joey is sent to live with his father, a man he's never known, who lives an isolated life out in the country.

In this new town, Joey's

A very dark, disturbing, yet compelling YA fiction read.

I found myself instantly drawn to the story of high school straight A student Joey Crouch. He's been living a pretty happy life in Chicago with his mom, and he enjoys playing his trumpet. Suddenly his whole world is torn apart by the tragic death of his mother in a traffic accident at the start of the book.
Joey is sent to live with his father, a man he's never known, who lives an isolated life out in the country.

In this new town, Joey's father, Ken Harnett, is referred to as the garbage man because of the smell emanating from him. The students at his new school discover he is Harnett's son, and relentless bullying begins. At home, his father disappears for days at a time leaving little to no food in the house. Joey, starving and desperate, is caught by a teacher breaking into a locker at school. The teacher decides to teach him a lesson by making everyday in class a living hell for Joey. The boy has no one to turn to.

Wanting to know where his father disappears to, Joey decides to follow him and soon discovers that his father is in fact, not a garbage man but rather a grave robber! At first Joey is shocked and disgusted, but as the bullying and isolation at school continues, he slowly becomes drawn into Harnett's secret world of Diggers as his only lifeline.

The title of the book, Rotters, refers to the bodies the Diggers unearth. The author describes the Rotters in nausea inducing detail. As Joey begins to accompany his father on digs, we come to learn of other Diggers and the rules by which they live and co-exist. A strange bond develops between Joey and his father.

The writing style is very compelling. As much as I found the nature of grave digging abhorrent, I had to know where the story would go next.

The characters presented all had depth, and Joey, the main protagonist, goes through many developmental, emotional, and shocking changes.

I listened to Rotters on cd. Excellently read by Kirby Heyborne, the characters came to life in the midst of all that death. Each characters voice had a character all it's own. (On an odd note, I thought Ken Harnett sounded a lot like Clint Eastwood! ). I'm not sure I would have enjoyed this story as much had I read the book rather than listen to it.

I recommend this book to readers who are not squeamish. ...more

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