Rotters

Audiobook - Joey Crouch's mother dies so he has to move from Chicago to rural Iowa to live with his estranged, alcoholic father. His father refuses to feed Joey or give him money for food, despite having a giant safe full of jewels and cash. Joey has to sleep on the floor in a corner of the kitchen. Everyone at school bullies Joey, including his teachers and the principal. Then he finds out his abusive dad is a grave-robber in some kind of association of grave robbers, and Joey decides to become a grave robber too.

I'm not sure there are words for how bad this was. Regardless of the stupid, unbelievable, and nonsensical plot, this book is sexist, racist, and homophobic. The antagonist is a physically- and mentally-disabled drug addict, show more who yet seems to be magically better at his job than all the other grave robbers. There is necrophilia and cannibalism. (And not in an interesting, "this happens in real life so we can't ignore it" kind of way; it was clearly just there for shock value and to make the story seem "scarier" than it was.) I am not one to be squeamish in any way, but all of the violence and gore and decomposition in the book was gratuitous and nonobjective. None of the characters were at all believable - Joey is a straight-A student who skips classes several times a week, a bully teacher is put in his place by a student acting like a know-it-all, Joey quits the school band because the cool guy bully (who is hooking up with a girl in the band) tells him it's not cool, a preacher tries to get grave robbers to stop grave robbing by helping them grave rob, etc. And to cap it all off, one of the nameless female sex objects says at the very beginning of the book that a social worker would be visiting Joey's father to make sure he took good care of Joey. This never happened and was never mentioned again, and if it had, the entirety of the book would not have happened. The author tries to make grave-robbers a "thing" by linking them to real people and groups like Leonardo DaVinci, Resurrectionists (people who dug up bodies for use in scientific experiments in the 1600s) and Incorruptibles (Catholic/Orthodox saints whose bodies supposedly never decompose). What do those have to do with digging up coffins to steal the valuable objects inside? Absolutely nothing. This book is all shock-value and no real value. And it's long as hell. Not at all recommended. show less

I really, truly wanted to like Rotters.

I think the largest reason that I held on till the end- apart from the fact that I bought it and felt compelled to- was that the writing was pretty damn fantastic. And upon perusing other people's reviews- positive and negative- that seemed to be the consensus.

Where this really fell apart is the plot. It goes all over the place, starting conflicts but only occasionally finishing them. I also feel that this was much too long, I could have gone without the whole (bizarre) ending with Boggs somehow being resurrected from a car crash and the hurricane and everything. The other big problem is the theme. The message. The point. What exactly was the point of all of it? Yes, there are moments of insight show more about materialism, death, and inheritance, but none of these themes were ever developed.

Back to the good. Many scenes were delightfully macabre, but what really makes these grisly bits shine is the believability. It's somewhat frightening the extent to which the author details the methods and mechanics of digging up corpses, and it makes you wonder- where exactly did Mr. Kraus get this information? It seems far too realistic to be entirely fiction. Surely, surely some of it must be true?

Harnett and Joey were both very interesting and dynamic characters, each having their moments of tenderness and, well, borderline psychopathy. Joey's ruthlessness in his revenge and his quickness to take part in Boggs' utter insanity make you wonder if this madness has been in him all along, and how different is he, really, from the absolute mental patient Antiochus Boggs?

Speaking of Antiochus "Baby" Boggs, can we talk about him for a second? I thought he was crazy when we first met him, with the introduction of the Rotters Book and his attack on Harnett at the diner, but then he goes straight-up IN-FUCKING-SANE! I had no empathy for him whatsoever, though it seemed, at points, that the author wanted me to take some sort of pity on him. No! Not after what he did to Joey's mother! And certainly not after he goes totally batshit crazy and starts mutilating himself. A few of his notable actions: he rips his own eyeball out, sews the brim of his hat to his ears, sticks a knife in between his ribs, and indulges in a cocktail of hard drugs daily. Yeah, not a fan of him. show less

I am amazed by this book. I am also grossed out, absorbed, heartbroken, intrigued, sorrowful, uplifted, horrified and above all completely and totally entertained. I guess I didn't read the blurb for this one before I picked it out because for some reason I thought erroneously that this book was about zombies. I couldn't have been more wrong but I am glad I misunderstood because I am not sure I would have chosen to read this book about grave robbers.

Yet "Rotters" is a book that will not leave me for a long time. Perhaps many years from now I will be contemplating my own demise and remember this book. Because this book was so dark and so different from the other books I've read, I think it will be remembered.

On the surface "Rotters" show more appears to be a disgusting story of people who dig up graves in the night and rob the bodies of jewelry and antiques to be sold on the black market. The stench of decaying corpses cling to these people and showers can't even remove the scent. There should be nothing redeemable about these vile people. Right? Maybe. Maybe not.

Daniel Kraus makes human these Diggers. As with most any human, there is both good and bad in them.

At the forefront of this story is a boy named Joey who was raised by his mother and never knew his father. After her untimely death, Joey learns of his father and is sent to live with him. The house is a shack and disgusting to boot. The man how lives there, the man who is Joey's father, Harnett is even more so.

This is the point where the story sucked me in and made me really feel for Joey. He has just lost him mother who meant the world to him. His father is gruff and dirty. He has no bed to call his own and sleeps on the kitchen floor of the filthy home. He smells, everything smells. Because he is scrawny, pimply face, and smells, he is immediately the main target for bullying at school. He has no friends. His old best friend won't take his calls. He hasn't a dime to his name. Holy crud, I felt sorry for this boy. I wanted to grab him right out of the pages and mother him.

Then he and his father start to communicate. He finds out that his dad may not really be a garbage man at all.

And I can't tell you a single other thing about the plot of this book because you really need to experience it all for yourself. I will say it is icky and gross. I know more than I ever needed to know about human decomposition. Yet every page is riveting. The relationships are believably and truly do make the book as wonderful as it is.

I find it hard to believe that this book is marketing to the YA genre. It read as adult in so many ways. There is vulger language on ocassion but no sex...but graphic things are done with the deceased. Other things are tiptoed around, hinted at, shocking. On the other hand, "Rotters" is a coming of age story, not unlike "The Outsiders" in some ways, although this one is graphic and macabre. Teens will relate to the bullying and the desire for revenge. The language is easy to understand and probably for the YA reading level. Its also a beautiful and descriptive language. Its that wonderful writing ability that makes the grapic scenes so grapahic. You can see in your mind exactly what the characters are seeing, and that is often quite unpleasant. Athough high school classes would probably never touch a finger on this one, what discussion it would bring about in a classroom setting. I would love to be involved in one and hear what others think...what they take away from this book.

Why not five stars? There is a turning point in the book which almost lost me. Things at school reach a climax and Harnett and Joey go away on a 'job' where many other diggers are. While important to the story, I felt a little bit of disconnect and lost a little interest. The story does come back up and the ending moves along rapidly and is very exciting and the resolution is fit for the book. Then there is almost a long epilouge and at that point I wanted to know more....Joey supposedly resolves a lot of things but I wish it was more clear how he 'came back to himself'.

Still maybe this is best decided for yourself. If you think you can stomach it, I highly encourage you to read this one. show less

Wow. Kraus is a brave soul to bring up death in such a direct and visceral way. Great story about a literal descent into an underworld. I would certainly have given more stars, except that some of the protagonist's behavior was a little unpredictable without much explanation. It struck me as somewhat deus ex machina territory, rather than believable.

This was not my book. First off, the writing was good, great scene building, interesting premise, solid stuff. But... I hated the main character. Hated him so much I was glad he got beat up. Not because I felt he deserved it but because I saw it coming a mile away and have no sympathy when he didn't. It was like a bad horror movie. "Don't go in the locker room alone idiot. The jerkwad who's been making your life hell is going to jump you and kick your ass."
So that was the real problem, with all the positives I normally enjoy, dark, gruesome plot, outsiders living on the fringes of society, I just didn't relate or feel any sympathy with the main character. I tried to get to the end. I really did. But halfway was all I could do.

I can’t say that I really liked Rotters by Daniel Kraus, but once I was pulled into the main character’s head, I was locked in for the duration. This is a nasty, grim and dark story about a sixteen year old boy, Joey Crouch, who loses his single parent Mom in an accident and is shipped off to live with his unknown father. His father is so damaged that he barely seems human. Joey eventually discovers that his father robs graves for a living and it isn’t too long before Joey has joined him in this gruesome night-time occupation.

During the day, Joey attends his new high school. He becomes the one boy who is picked on by students and staff alike, with special attention coming from the school hero (and bully) who resents the attention show more his girlfriend gives to Joey. Nicknamed “Crotch” his school days are days of living hell, his nights are even worse.

Joey has a keen sense of observation and the author doesn’t hesitate to use this to supply graphic descriptions on the condition of the dead during the process of applying their macabre trade. Although the writing is stylistic, atmospheric and descriptive, there were times when I struggled with the story as it seemed to drag. It took a lot of reading before the plot advanced. There was an abundance of information about grave robbing, it’s history and purpose as well as our society’s burial rites. Nevertheless, Rotters is a very creative and original story and if you are in the mood for something creepy and disturbing this book could well fit the bill. show less

Well, here's a book that's not going to be for every one. It's a book about grave robbing and there's language (bad), adult situations, and violence.

And it's rather brilliant. The tone that Daniel Krauss has chosen fits the situations perfectly. I felt the pain and anguish of the characters, and even understood the ones I didn't like --although I'm not sure that that's a good thing.

A delightful, macabre story. Funny and sad. Sweet and icky.

Again, this ain't going to be for everyone, but I really liked it. And it definitely needs to be made into a movie with Nicolas Cage.

Pam T~
showing my dark side