[LM_NET] SEC: Book Club reading Rats Saw God?

[Elizabeth Fox <keokuk@CASCO.NET>]

OK - I just finished Thomas' "Rats Saw God" last night.  I'm not sure that I
would recommend it to a book club, not because it's got a sex scene in it
(fairly detailed, too) but because I am not sure that many kids would
actually like it. The main character is the son of a famous astronaut and a
smart kid whose girlfriend dumps him for his creative writing teacher, after
which he goes into a tailspin of drugging and partying.   A HS guidance
counselor tells him he can't graduate unless he passes English, and gives
him the alternative of turning in, basically, a novel.   So the book is
written - basically a diary of a 17 y.o. that goes back and forth between
past and present.  

In the end, it's predictable - the perspective he gets from writing his
story heals his wounds and helps him succeed, just in time to get accepted
to Harvard.  

It'd be an engaging story for boys who might see themselves reflected in the
main character.  However, the copy I had was really  hard to read -
something about the printing in the different fonts, I think.  I have no
idea what the finer font was they used in this edition - it looks like a
tinier, finer, and fancier version of Times New Roman, and the serifs make
it hard to read.  

I enjoyed it, but not as much as Perks of being a Wallflower, which is a
little tamer and funnier, and a bit more 'real.'  RSG wasn't very funny, and
there's some irony I think would be lost on many of the kids, unless they
understood more about art.   Ironically, we had a group much like this in my
HS back in the 70's...and we WERE into Max Ernst, et al.

I'm still searching for the perfect book for our club - I'd like to have the
character development that Perks has, the excitement/romance of Twilight,
and the global interest of A Girl Called Disaster....what a tall order!

All in all, though, RSG isn't a bad book, just not one I think our book club
would be into.  
Happy Holidays,
Liz

Elizabeth Fox, Media Assistant
Newport High School, Newport, OR
keokuk@casco.net (pm)
Liz.fox@lincoln.k12.or.us (schooldays only)

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