Where to start? I was both fascinated and repulsed by this book! I found myself enthralled, and was constantly amazed at what I learned. I kept wanting to share little tidbits with my family...they were not amused. We had company for dinner last week, and the conversation came around to, as it usually does, what we were reading these days. I mentioned Rats! and immediately everyone was intrigued. Not exactly the best dinner table conversation. One guy had even read Sullivan's other books and couldn't wait to get Rats! next. This led to a discussion of other non-fiction books people were reading. Not being a non-fiction reader myself I was surprised by how much non-fiction people read. I'm glad I am broadening my horizons.
To me, this book, more so than the other two we read so far, best exemplifies the concepts in the article ("Being and Nothingness" SLJ 10/2008) that inspired this blog. I felt the author did an excellent job of modeling, as Aronson says in his article, "...how a book makes an argument from its first page to its last." Aronson also discusses the importance and benefits of introducing non-fiction to students, "...nonfiction books emphasize logic, insightful observations, well-crafted arguments, and a steady flow of provocative ideas." I felt the book does this very well. Sullivan obviously has done a thorough job researching his topic, and throughout the book refers to the research he does in conjunction with his observations. What a concept! :-)
I loved how Sullivan wove history into his topic- the American Revolution and Isaac Sears; the civil right movement and Jesse Grey; workers rights and the union; and even the World Trade Center and 9/11. There are great implications for US History classes. And, to quote Aronson's article one more time- "...nonfiction provides young people with a golden opportunity to develop the kinds of reading and critical-thinking skills that are essential." These skills are essential in all areas of the curriculum!
However, having said all this, I must comment that the reading level of this book was high, it is listed as an adult book. Yet, in spite of that I think it is readable, action-packed, and just gross enough to appeal to the high school crowd. I wonder how much non-fiction is in our curriculum? And how we could perhaps encourage this trend? Personally, I plan to read and book talk more nonfiction. I'll stop here, I am curious to see what you thought...I'll jump back in as the conversations get going.
You know how sometimes when you hear a term it keeps coming up? Prior to reading Rats there was a toy rat in my neighbor's yard that scared me half to death. Riding in the car I heard a story about the rat infested island and how rats can detect poisons so in trying to kill the rats they killed 20% of the birda. On 60 minutes I caught the last few minutes of a story on rats in New York City. It was after these events that I read Rats.
ReplyDeleteFirst let me say that I have no intention of going to NYC or New Mexico in the near future. Second the word nest has taken on a new conotation not the little place where birds live.
As to the book surprisingly I liked it. I lkied the interweaving of history. I am glad that some people go into the study and extermination of rats. I did not know the terrorist connection.
I ,like Kathy, liked that the reseach was well documented unlike Blink that left me wondering about the research.
I am not sure about how students would like or not like the book. Certainly it is too difficult for many of my students. In Global we talk about the Plague coming from the fleas on the rats. I was wondering if Science classes might want to use the book??
Oh good God I hated this book! I wanted to stab myself in the eyes so I would not have to read more!
ReplyDeleteI initially had high hopes for the book, thinking we would learn about the plague and be treated with some interesting facts, but NYC rats? What person takes over a year to stalk some alley in sketchy parts of NYC to watch rats?!
I found the author's stories on rat behavior somewhat interesting, but drawn out, as he seemed to veer off topic and get sidetracked. To me the whole book just seemed repetative and overanalyzed. I am glad that people become exterminators and study rat and insect infestations, but the way this book was written seemed to scream to me that the rat problem was never going to be solved, the rats could not be wiped clean from infested areas, so all we can do is try to fight a losing battle.
I also have to say that, like Cathy, I have no plans on visiting or EVER living in NYC!!
Cherie,
ReplyDeleteThere is always Montana! The state with the lowest (almost no) rat population! :-)
Now that is a study. How does Montana get away with no rats? Sounds like a good place to live. Thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cherie that the rat problem as described in the book seems like it will never go away. However, maybe with green living and better living conditions we can eliminate some of their feeding grounds and then eliminate more of them.
This book is awesome. I loved the majority of it despite a Winston Smith-like fear of rats in real life, and I think it mostly has to do with Sullivan's style. Like Kathy J, I was a big fan of the way he meandered here and there, going back and forth between the rat observation and history. To be honest, when he writes about himself sitting in the alley while normal people do real things, it was a little boring, but he did an excellent job transitioning into that historical and pseudo-scientific stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe Kit Burns rat-fighting chapter was especially wild, and the John DeLory bit about unions (should we put his quote "Unions are not meant to protect the incompetent" in our next BTA newsletter?)was also fascinating. Who knew so much pizzazz was possible with rodents and garbage?
Sullivan's style is a perfect example of paratactic prose. This means that there is no blueprint or A to B flow. Rather, it goes here and there like water, repeating and dancing around various subjects that overlap and connect in many ways. The opposite is hypotactic, which goes from A to B without going off topic. We usually try to get our kids to always write hypotactic essays, and here is a great example of how the opposite can be equally satisfying. The reason I bring this up is because I found a NYTimes article about Obama's inauguration speech that discusses these terms (the speech was deemed paratactic). Here's a link:
http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/barack-obamas-prose-style/
This book would be great for a history class. The bit about the plague- how everyone seems to stupidly miss the fact that rats are the impetus- would be a great lesson. We always look at the past and think "what idiots!", but if we put ourselves in their shoes perhaps we can empathize. Obviously the American Revolution section is also interesting, especially how the plaque that commemorates Golden Hill is now missing. I agree with Cherie that there were some boring parts. Towards the end, Sullivan didn't seem to be telling us anything new. It was still going to look at rats. And yes, the heartwarming Doogie Howser-like conclusion about how we're like rats too and we all live together and struggle and all that is also contrived and cheesy. But, he keeps the majority of the book pretty interesting. I mean, he wrote 250 pages about looking at rats in an alley. That's impressive in its own right.
I have to agree with the last comment Sullivan made at the end of his "Afterward". Which was about the book about rats being thankfully over. I had a hard time reading this book. At first I thought my daughter would enjoy reading this. She found a rat by the dumpster where she works and thought he looked hungry and lonesome so she brought him home with her. She has a tendency to take in any stray animal, rodent, or reptile. However, it just doesn't move fast enough. The history was interesting but I agree with Cherie that it was drawn out and seemed to jump around. It is a good thing that this book was a best seller and hopefully profitable. Otherwise, I can't imagine any reason that his wife would even stay with him. He had to be exposing himself to all sorts of disgusting diseases and his clothes must have picked up the gross odors from sitting in a back alley that was rat infested. It was interesting that nobody tried to beat him up. He was in a bad section of the city at night. The cab driver was afraid of that area and wouldn't pick up anybody there. Sullivan even mentionned a recent innovation in which computers are linking crime to rodent infestation. But apparently most of the people he came in contact with were nice and interested in his project. This would not be a good book for my students to read. It is way too long and slow moving. Possibly, if a student was really interesting in rats and wanted to do a research project on rats this would be good for a reference. Also, there are many surprising facts that my students would be interested in. For instance, at this time there are more rodents infected with the plague in North America than there were in Europe at the time of the Black Death. There was so much bad information about where that plague came from. Christians were burning Jews all over Europe to prevent it. They also blamed Islamic nations and the Islamic people in turn blamed the Christians. Also, the sections about the exterminators was interesting. I had no idea that rats have been so prevalent and difficult to get rid of. Sullivan does document other experts and sources that could be used for more information. He states that he doesn't even like wild or fancy rats but he does compare them to humans. This is strange since he spent the better part of a year keeping a rat journal and sitting is a filthy alley to observe them. The other researcher, Anne, seemed to like them alot and thought they were beautiful. My daughter likes her rat too. Sullivan stated that we are all a little like rats. We come and go, we get beaten down but come back again. Rats get killed, then they multiply and then they get killed again. He sees fear and courage, nature and human nature. I would like to go to New York City and see the tourist attractions but not the back vermin ridden alleys. Montana must have good garbage control. That would also make an interesting research project.
ReplyDeleteA former Boston resident who has seen more than her share of rodents, I approached this text apprehensively and my reluctance was never overcome. It certainly didn’t help matters much that I began the book just before a trip to New York City and finished immediately upon returning! Preconceptions and circumstances notwithstanding, I still haven’t got much to say about _Rats_. It is not a book that I have brought up in conversation nor is it likely to become one of my go-to’s. I honestly can’t name a chapter that gave me pause.
ReplyDeleteBasically, I find myself ranking the first three of our four summer reads as follows: _Blink_ was the most intriguing in terms of content by far but just mediocre in form. _Streets_ was interesting enough but too poorly written for me to consider it a useful or significant text. _Rats_ is definitely the best piece of writing but that was simply insufficient to capture my interest in its bizarre and repulsive subject matter. Unfortunately, none of these will quite make the cut if what we’re meant to consider is which texts will be best for exposing our students to non-fiction.
I am optimistic that _Wonderland_ will be worth sharing with our kids because I really do want to make more room in the curriculum for non-fiction. However, while I have very much enjoyed doing the reading and participating in this blog, I have yet to be convinced that this form of non-fiction is the way to reach our students. With the exception of some memoirs, my experiences with full-length non-fiction have been disappointing. As best I’m left thinking, as Andrew stated about this piece, "I mean, he wrote 250 pages about looking at rats in an alley. That's impressive," but mostly I’m underwhelmed by variably impressive texts all of which fail to be important in some way. Until I’ve read more full-length pieces that challenge my opinion, I’ll be happy giving my students a selection of articles, speeches and essays from significant sources because those are the pieces of non-fiction that have most interested, informed, and inspired me.
Once I got past the itchy feeling I got from reading and thinking about rats, I actually enjoyed reading this book. It took me awhile to get through some of the chapters, but I thought the connections the author made to the history of the city were really cool. I also found what he had to say about what was happening in the city after September 11th interesting (even if it was mostly focused on rats). I also think that Kathy J. is right, we might be able to convince some of our better readers to check out this book -- the rat fighting and the plague would probably draw the interest of some students. (By the way, was anyone else as happy as I was when the author decided not to discuss rats mating???) I really like the idea of having students look at history in a different way and this is a great example.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I was also impressed at the amount of friends the author had who were more than willing to go on rat excursions with him! I won't be doing that any time soon. I also have to admit that I found it kind of amusing that exterminators have conventions and exterminator celebrities, although its just like going to a teaching workshop and seeing Harry Wong, I guess. Anyway, I definitely feel a little less comfortable knowing that rats are pretty much everywhere, but I also learned alot from this book.
I enjoyed the book, but I too found it time consuming to get through certain chapters. I feel that students that are avid readers may enjoy this text, some of my students may not. I really liked the history connection. This book reminded me of the text we used in 6th grade, The Rats of NIMH. It told us a story through the eyes of the rats, however that was more fictional.
ReplyDeleteAfter having connections in NYC, I know rats are everywhere. Like Tricia, I am glad I am not interacting with them on a day to day basis.
Sorry it took me a little to post, I had to get this through inter library loan. First of all, I think I need to wash my hands and cleanse my whole body as I feel SO GROSSED OUT! (And yes Tricia, I was glad he didn't mention the mating!). Some of the chapters were hard to get through Cherie so I can see how you would feel. The reading level was a bit high for my students but I think some of the higher level readers at BHS would enjoy it. Overall the book kept my interest but skeeved me out. I have never been to NYC and always have wanted to go, but I think I might change my mind. I hate squirrels in Western NY so imagine if I saw rats?! haha. I cannot imagine being Sullivan and sitting out waiting for rats! I felt a few of his stories were lacking because they were second hand but overall this was the best one yet. I do read a lot of non-fiction, but this was one of a kind!
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