Mike Nelson's Death Rat! - Michael J. Nelson
There was something compelling about it, something elemental—a man facing death, facing nature without technology to rescue him. And also life from death, the inescapable theme of birth, and, holding it all together, the notion that God's universe, even in the modern age, still had the ability to surprise. His blessings weren't always neat and tidy. Now and again it came down to a lone, dying man crawling into the chest cavity of a deceased ruminant.
(Re-review) I first reviewed this book three years ago and named it the funniest book I'd read in 2005. When we were visiting a friend last weekend I saw she had it and (despite having two library books with me) decided to pick it up again. It's still funny, although at least some of the humor relies on not knowing where it's going to go. King Leo, however, retains all his ridiculous humor even the second time around and I found myself laughing out loud at those passages.
It's still a pretty good satire about the book industry and the tactics authors and publishers use to sell their books, and there's a little bit of "Waking Ned Devine" thrown in there, too. I hadn't remembered exactly how the ending went and it was a little disappointingly banal after such a wild romp of a book, but overall I'd say it's still worth a read if you need a few laughs.
Fed to jonathan's brain | May 12, 2008
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