Sam Savage (1940–2019)

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 show more zusätzlich den Inhalt mit den Augen in großen Mengen. Durch all das Wissen das er auf diese Art und Weise ansammelt, fühlt er sich den Menschen immer mehr verbunden und wünscht sich nichts sehnlicher als von ihnen als einer der ihren anerkannt zu werden. Firmin versucht mit dem Buchhändler in Kontakt zu treten, doch all seine Bemühungen scheitern: Zeichensprache, Schreibmaschine, Blickkontakt (Computer gab es noch nicht). Als er in einer gefährlichen Situation von einem anderen Menschen gerettet und 'adoptiert' wird, hat Firmin zwar den gewünschten direkten Kontakt, doch die Anerkennung als Wesensgleicher bleibt ihm weiterhin versagt. Er arrangiert sich mit der Situation, spielt das putzige Haustier und erträumt sich seine Welt...
Zu Beginn ist man verwundert: Der Sprachstil ist für eine Ratte doch sehr gewählt, wenn nicht sogar gelegentlich etwas geschraubt. Doch bald wird einem bewusst, wieviel Firmin in seinem doch recht kurzen Leben bereits gelesen hat. Und dass er mit diesem Wissen und der sich angeeigneten Bildung so manchen Menschen weit übertrifft. Dennoch: Eine Ratte ist eine Ratte ist eine Ratte.
Eine moderne Fabel die mit etwas Nachdenken klar macht, wie wenig äußere Attribute doch etwas über das aussagen, was dahinter steckt. Und das alles ohne moralischen Zeigefinger. Lesenswert! show less

Imagine a sign above this review, GOODBYE ZIPPER.

Is this a cult classic? If not, why ever not?! Think Charlotte's Web for the "Adult Section." A book for book-lovers, for daydreamers, for the lusty and lonely who feel estranged from the world or even from themselves.

Firmin, a "lowlife" rat, is born in a used bookstore in Boston in the early 1960s. He goes from hungrily munching books for sustenance to hungrily reading them for another kind of sustenance. The wide-range of books he reads show more ignites his emotions and intelligence, but not surprisingly they also make him deeply unhappy with his rat lot in life. Because of all he's read, especially books by the "Big Ones" as Firmin calls major novelists, he craves connection into the human world around him, a mostly doomed desire.

In spite of the recurring disgusting aspects of rats (no need to elaborate on rodent infestations here), one feels tenderly toward clever, sad, and unique Firmin. Literary-ness infiltrates his life view. For example, he often gives fleeting moments a proposed book title, like "Lost in the World: Epistemology and Terror" and "Milk and Madness". Also, as he observes select humans, he imagines succinct signs over them much like signs over doors or over bookshop book sections, like "FREAK" and "UNNATURAL GENIUS." His growing and continual imagination become more elaborate, blending and softening life's harsh experiences. All become his (our) real experiences.

This book was a whim for me, somewhat outside my norm. But author Sam Savage walked a fantasy tight-rope so perfectly that I never waivered. He believably gave a rat the ability to read and to think. Yet the world remained very real, a world with which his protagonist -- a reading, thinking rat that never stops being a rat -- must navigate.

Yep, four stars. I really liked this book. show less

A smartly written, beautifully original novel about a rat living in the basement of a second-hand bookshop who, as a baby, munches on some pages of Finnegan's Wake and discovers that he can read. Don’t imagine this is a cutesy story about an anthropomorphised animal – Firmin the rat is cynical, caustic, witty, bitter, romantic, tragic, and comic, as is the novel. Firm himself declares:

"The only literature I cannot abide is rat literature, including mouse literature. I despise show more good-natured old Ratty in 'The Wind in the Willows.' I piss down the throats of Mickey Mouse and Stuart Little. Affable, shuffling, cute, they stick in my craw like fish bones." show less

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 show more to nearby buildings.
Firmin is born like any other being, naked and unknowing. His exploration of his surroundings and his attachment to things of familiarity ring true of the way we grow. His awareness of his own psyche is often humorous. His inability to converse with humans, an enormous obstacle to him, is poignant. His false belief that he has a connection with other beings is heartbreaking. All along, Firmin never stops trying.
This is a book I will re-read whenever I feel I’m getting too caught up in day-to-day chores. It will remind me to keep reaching out, no matter what the consequences. show less