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Doctor Rat
As the grant-supported, knowledgeable survivor of the most refined scientific experiments, Doctor Rat, Ph.D., dedicates himself to defending mankind against the worldwide rebellions, uprisings, and insurgencies of his fellow animals.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
97 people are currently reading
1662 people want to read
About the author
William Kotzwinkle
81 books256 followersWilliam Kotzwinkle is a two-time recipient of the National Magazine Award for Fiction, a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Prix Litteraire des Bouquinistes des Quais de Paris, the PETA Award for Children's Books, and a Book Critics Circle award nominee. His work has been translated into dozens of languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews
January 10, 2020
This book defies easy description by the plain simple fact that it transcends itself, over and over.
I mean, it starts out with Doctor Rat, a grant-subsidized scientist performing experiments on other animals in a way that seems like a diatribe against animal experimentation, but along with his poetry and his singing, he goes well beyond that kind of tale by out-doing the sheer evil of the Nazi scientists in WWII, becoming an anti-revolutionary bastion, and out Darth Vadering Darth Vader.
Did I laugh my head off at the point where he had his commentaries about human musicians pulling a David Attenborough on the whales while they waxed rhapsodic about how smart they were? Yes!
But when we get to a full revolution (remember, this book came out in 1977) of the animals versus the humans, with Doctor in his finest, most horrific mode, this book becomes a full world-war as tragic, scary, and bats**t insane as any of the best war documentaries. It's bloody, full of truly terrible biological warfare, and when whole battalions of elephants get... hey! Well... no spoilers... it's... brilliant. Disgusting. And amazing.
This satire goes WELL beyond its humble beginnings and skewers everything it touches.
Oh, and it makes a good case to stop castrating rats. Just imagine... if this one rat had not been castrated, then so much tragedy could have been avoided...
I mean, it starts out with Doctor Rat, a grant-subsidized scientist performing experiments on other animals in a way that seems like a diatribe against animal experimentation, but along with his poetry and his singing, he goes well beyond that kind of tale by out-doing the sheer evil of the Nazi scientists in WWII, becoming an anti-revolutionary bastion, and out Darth Vadering Darth Vader.
Did I laugh my head off at the point where he had his commentaries about human musicians pulling a David Attenborough on the whales while they waxed rhapsodic about how smart they were? Yes!
But when we get to a full revolution (remember, this book came out in 1977) of the animals versus the humans, with Doctor in his finest, most horrific mode, this book becomes a full world-war as tragic, scary, and bats**t insane as any of the best war documentaries. It's bloody, full of truly terrible biological warfare, and when whole battalions of elephants get... hey! Well... no spoilers... it's... brilliant. Disgusting. And amazing.
This satire goes WELL beyond its humble beginnings and skewers everything it touches.
Oh, and it makes a good case to stop castrating rats. Just imagine... if this one rat had not been castrated, then so much tragedy could have been avoided...
October 1, 2016
This book has good gripping at the start with mad Doctor Rat as central character, then it has strong ending.
This book had been in my blind spot when I was actively searching good fantasy/science fiction books at my college period. My awareness about the existing of this book was due to GR review of a friend.
This book reminds me of some other great books: the crying voice of anti-animal experimentation are strong at the beginning, reminds me of anti-war message of Johnny Got His Gun; the switching POV at each chapter reminds me of Stand on Zanzibar creating rich atmosphere of the world.
As from other reviews that I've read, I also want to emphasize to read at least until half book before you judge this book. At first half, the plot of this book is not clear, and at almost 50% of the book there is a clue about the author's message.
This book had been in my blind spot when I was actively searching good fantasy/science fiction books at my college period. My awareness about the existing of this book was due to GR review of a friend.
This book reminds me of some other great books: the crying voice of anti-animal experimentation are strong at the beginning, reminds me of anti-war message of Johnny Got His Gun; the switching POV at each chapter reminds me of Stand on Zanzibar creating rich atmosphere of the world.
As from other reviews that I've read, I also want to emphasize to read at least until half book before you judge this book. At first half, the plot of this book is not clear, and at almost 50% of the book there is a clue about the author's message.
May 23, 2016
Started out as a joke, then a horror story, then some philosophical mumbo jumbo, followed by a trance, then chaos, and finally, debris. The randomness, the flaws and the madness contained within these pages made for a love-hate reading experience.
It's not entirely enjoyable; there were boring inanities, there were cringe-worthy episodes and there were also moments of absolute beauty.
From the get-go, it seemed a pretty straightforward satire on animal testing. It might even be a little preachy to some.
But past the first half of the book (and along the way I contemplated on discontinuing the read because of the seemingly haphazard plot and writing), a bigger, deceptively hopeful but ultimately stark picture emerges.
I'm glad I plodded on when the narrative got gratingly repetitive (I think it's purposefully written that way, because it's cray cray Doctor Rat, after all). The story may be taken at face value, but it could also be an allegory to oppression, delusion and doomed naivety on a bigger scale.
Sadly, this is too scary and too layered to ever be adapted into anything else that's more accessible. As a statement the author couldn't have made his stance better than this.
Everybody hurts.
It's not entirely enjoyable; there were boring inanities, there were cringe-worthy episodes and there were also moments of absolute beauty.
From the get-go, it seemed a pretty straightforward satire on animal testing. It might even be a little preachy to some.
But past the first half of the book (and along the way I contemplated on discontinuing the read because of the seemingly haphazard plot and writing), a bigger, deceptively hopeful but ultimately stark picture emerges.
I'm glad I plodded on when the narrative got gratingly repetitive (I think it's purposefully written that way, because it's cray cray Doctor Rat, after all). The story may be taken at face value, but it could also be an allegory to oppression, delusion and doomed naivety on a bigger scale.
Sadly, this is too scary and too layered to ever be adapted into anything else that's more accessible. As a statement the author couldn't have made his stance better than this.
Everybody hurts.
November 2, 2010
It was a long time ago, but this book really worked for me at the time. A combination of the lunatics taking over the asylum and Stockholm Syndrome, Doctor Rat is convinced that all of the experiments and vivsection taking place in his lab is for the good of mankind and that all of the rats should be grateful for their chance to contribute. All of the experiments are carefully monitored by Doctor Rat to make sure that just enough healthy young animals are put to death in order to justify the enormous research grants used to keep the lab open. Doctor Rat is, of course, only a rat - even if he has been in the lab longer than any of the others.
A battle cry for the anti-vivisection movements and animal liberationists worldwide. This book certainly gave me one more reason to stop eating meat.
A battle cry for the anti-vivisection movements and animal liberationists worldwide. This book certainly gave me one more reason to stop eating meat.
January 20, 2014
I was really looking forward to reading this book. It won the World Fantasy award and a science fiction novel that took on animal rights as a subject could be bold and provocative reading.
However, I was extremely disappointed. The book rests on a single joke, that the scientists are subjecting the animals to brutal experiments and Dr. Rat is trying to justify them to the suffering animals.
Even though the book is not long it is far too long for this single joke to sustain it. I was hoping for a complex exploration of the subject with competing points of view. I do not think this novel will convince anybody to think of animal rights in anyway differently.
However, I was extremely disappointed. The book rests on a single joke, that the scientists are subjecting the animals to brutal experiments and Dr. Rat is trying to justify them to the suffering animals.
Even though the book is not long it is far too long for this single joke to sustain it. I was hoping for a complex exploration of the subject with competing points of view. I do not think this novel will convince anybody to think of animal rights in anyway differently.
January 28, 2019
Imposible no reflexionar y sentir empatía por el dolor que provocamos a millones de seres cada día.
Muy bueno.
Muy bueno.
July 18, 2022
A Gruesome Satirical Diatribe Against Animal Experimentation and Scientific Madness
This is certainly an unusual and uncomfortable satiric fable. A maniacally gleeful mad scientist named Doctor Rat (and he is indeed a rat, though hyper intelligent) gushes with glee at the endless series of cruel and vicious tortures of lab animals that he and the scientific establishment (including all those hard-working post-docs and assistants) to castrate, boil, pierce, crush, starve, and poison rats, rabbits, chimps, orangutans, mice, dogs, and cats. If you love animals, as I do, it's a profoundly unpleasant experience. And while it is overtly over-the-top to deliver its satirical message with a sledge-hammer, it really goes for the shock value to horrify the reader about the inhumanity of animal experiments in the name of humanity's benefit.
The story then transitions to a very different tone as we are told from various other animal perspectives of a revolt by the entire Animal Kingdom against man, with graphic and doomed results. It's a poignant and painful story with real tragic depth, and really makes you think that this ecological message written back in 1977 sadly went unheard as we have continued to destroy the animal and natural world and are now finally reaping what we've sowed.
This is certainly an unusual and uncomfortable satiric fable. A maniacally gleeful mad scientist named Doctor Rat (and he is indeed a rat, though hyper intelligent) gushes with glee at the endless series of cruel and vicious tortures of lab animals that he and the scientific establishment (including all those hard-working post-docs and assistants) to castrate, boil, pierce, crush, starve, and poison rats, rabbits, chimps, orangutans, mice, dogs, and cats. If you love animals, as I do, it's a profoundly unpleasant experience. And while it is overtly over-the-top to deliver its satirical message with a sledge-hammer, it really goes for the shock value to horrify the reader about the inhumanity of animal experiments in the name of humanity's benefit.
The story then transitions to a very different tone as we are told from various other animal perspectives of a revolt by the entire Animal Kingdom against man, with graphic and doomed results. It's a poignant and painful story with real tragic depth, and really makes you think that this ecological message written back in 1977 sadly went unheard as we have continued to destroy the animal and natural world and are now finally reaping what we've sowed.
September 10, 2008
An interesting book. Not so much a novel as a manifesto for respecting other life and recognizing that we have not been given "dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (Genesis 1:26 [NKJV]). If you're someone who believes that, you'll loathe the book and, at best, dismiss it as an hysterical rant from an environmental extremist. If you're a "reasonable person," you'll accept that a lot of what we do to our fellow creatures is cruel and unnecessary and you might be motivated to contribute a few bucks to the local Humane Society. If you're a card-carrying PETA member, you'll wish the animals had won in the end.
As someone who falls toward the PETA end of the "reasonable person" spectrum, I was appalled at the mindless and senseless cruelty inflicted on feeling and conscious animals, recounted so clinically by the mad Doctor Rat. The worst of the mindless and evil tortures we inflict on animals may be a thing of the past but we still cause untold suffering to untold numbers of animals for dubious reasons. Maybe Buddhists are right and all that bad karma is finally coming back to bite us in the a**.
The book reminded me of Vonnegut's Galapagos, where humanity is wiped out except for a handful of people and one seeing-eye dog whose natural instincts have been warped and suppressed by Man's arrogance. The conceit of that novel is that the human brain is too large for its own good, and we are much better off when these survivors evolve into a seal-like species, still smart but no longer "intelligent."
Doctor Rat also reminded me of Ted Reynold's short story "Can These Bones Live," one of the finest stories I've read in my 30+ years of reading. In this story, a race with the power to resurrect the dead wander the universe looking for a species worthy of resurrection. Eventually they come across an Earth where humanity has gone extinct and resurrect a housewife to ask her, "Why does Man deserve to live?" She lives out a second lifetime trying to justify humankind only to realize at the end that it's not a race's achievements in art, science, etc. that make it worthy of existence but why and to what end it exists.
A final author dredged from the memory bank by this book is Olaf Stapledon. In Last and First Men, intelligence is the goal of evolution but Man (at least the First Men -- us) is not its final or best expression.
The point of all these works is that humans are not "special" or chosen to be the culmination of either Creation or blind evolution. Just ask any evolutionary biologist and they'll [sic] tell you just what a Rube Goldberg contraption is the human body. Considering the damage our species is inflicting on this planet and nearly every species we share it with, consciousness/intelligence does not appear to be a particularly successful survival strategy. We seem to be just intelligent enough to see the precipice but not intelligent enough to stop from going over it -- the tragedy of Stapledon's First Men, who could glimpse the "ultimate" (nirvana, paradise, the godhead, etc.) but could not attain it.
The book itself alternates between the point of view of the eponymous Dr. Rat, a lab rat driven insane by what the Learned Professor has put him through and who has come to identify with his torturers, and the points of view of animals who are participating in a worldwide revolt of the animals. All the animals gather at points around the world and are annihilated by humans in an orgy of bloodshed. All of them except for Dr. Rat (who is, of course, for all intents and purposes human).
It's instructive to read in tandem (as I am) with Bernd Heinrich's The Geese of Beaver Bog, which chronicles the lives of the individuals living around the bog. Heck, living with nine roommates, I could write my own The Cats of the Riverstone Apartment Complex and show that animals are thinking and feeling creatures just as unique as any individual human, and worthy of our respect.
I guess the immediate impression I gleaned from reading Doctor Rat is that humans need to learn to live with the world rather than against it or our long-term future is going to look more like Soylent Green than Star Trek: The Next Generation.
As someone who falls toward the PETA end of the "reasonable person" spectrum, I was appalled at the mindless and senseless cruelty inflicted on feeling and conscious animals, recounted so clinically by the mad Doctor Rat. The worst of the mindless and evil tortures we inflict on animals may be a thing of the past but we still cause untold suffering to untold numbers of animals for dubious reasons. Maybe Buddhists are right and all that bad karma is finally coming back to bite us in the a**.
The book reminded me of Vonnegut's Galapagos, where humanity is wiped out except for a handful of people and one seeing-eye dog whose natural instincts have been warped and suppressed by Man's arrogance. The conceit of that novel is that the human brain is too large for its own good, and we are much better off when these survivors evolve into a seal-like species, still smart but no longer "intelligent."
Doctor Rat also reminded me of Ted Reynold's short story "Can These Bones Live," one of the finest stories I've read in my 30+ years of reading. In this story, a race with the power to resurrect the dead wander the universe looking for a species worthy of resurrection. Eventually they come across an Earth where humanity has gone extinct and resurrect a housewife to ask her, "Why does Man deserve to live?" She lives out a second lifetime trying to justify humankind only to realize at the end that it's not a race's achievements in art, science, etc. that make it worthy of existence but why and to what end it exists.
A final author dredged from the memory bank by this book is Olaf Stapledon. In Last and First Men, intelligence is the goal of evolution but Man (at least the First Men -- us) is not its final or best expression.
The point of all these works is that humans are not "special" or chosen to be the culmination of either Creation or blind evolution. Just ask any evolutionary biologist and they'll [sic] tell you just what a Rube Goldberg contraption is the human body. Considering the damage our species is inflicting on this planet and nearly every species we share it with, consciousness/intelligence does not appear to be a particularly successful survival strategy. We seem to be just intelligent enough to see the precipice but not intelligent enough to stop from going over it -- the tragedy of Stapledon's First Men, who could glimpse the "ultimate" (nirvana, paradise, the godhead, etc.) but could not attain it.
The book itself alternates between the point of view of the eponymous Dr. Rat, a lab rat driven insane by what the Learned Professor has put him through and who has come to identify with his torturers, and the points of view of animals who are participating in a worldwide revolt of the animals. All the animals gather at points around the world and are annihilated by humans in an orgy of bloodshed. All of them except for Dr. Rat (who is, of course, for all intents and purposes human).
It's instructive to read in tandem (as I am) with Bernd Heinrich's The Geese of Beaver Bog, which chronicles the lives of the individuals living around the bog. Heck, living with nine roommates, I could write my own The Cats of the Riverstone Apartment Complex and show that animals are thinking and feeling creatures just as unique as any individual human, and worthy of our respect.
I guess the immediate impression I gleaned from reading Doctor Rat is that humans need to learn to live with the world rather than against it or our long-term future is going to look more like Soylent Green than Star Trek: The Next Generation.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2016
Kotzwinkle ha sido un autor prácticamente desconocido en España, y casi en el mundo, hasta que Navona Editorial lo rescata de ese injusto abandono para abrir su colección Los ineludibles. Y nuevamente es Navona quien apuesta por William Kotzwinkle,esta vez dentro de su colección Navona Ficciones.
Y yo de Navona me fío. ¡Qué queréis que os diga! Así, con el poso más agrio que dulce que el INELUDIBLE naranja dejó dentro de mí, empiezo Doctor Rat y “OH LA LÁ”que exclaman los franceses, me topo sin previo aviso con un cambio de registro, quizá debido a que lo que nos cuenta William en El nadador en el mar secreto son hechos reales, quizá porque la buena critica servida con sarcasmo se digiere mejor. Solamente el autor lo sabe, pero el caso es que me presenta en Doctor Rat un juego rebosante de imaginación para criticar el comportamiento humano.
El cambio de estilo narrativo es tal, que de no ser por el buen hacer de este estadounidense, yo hubiese dudado de ambas obras pertenecieran al mismo autor. ¡Ahora W.K. me presenta una novela en clave de humor! Humor, sí... Con un inteligente manejo de la sátira presenta una crítica extrema de nuestras más crueles formas de torturas a los animales, esas que realizamos bajo la estúpida excusa de la investigación. Y quien dice investigación, ya sabéis de qué hablo, pintalabios y demás, dice zoológicos, perfectos safaris preparados para turistones o animales de compañía como perfecto regalo para nuestros pequeñines.
¿Qué pasaría si ratas, monos, elefantes o leones dijesen NUNCA MÁS? En este punto de la reseña el sarcasmo del autor, al más puro estilo Orwell, como bien nos indica su editor, Pere Sureda, en la contraportada del libro, toma la palabra. Y esta astuta sátira guía a nuestro pequeño protagonista, el Doctor Rat,que desde las primeras páginas tiene más de humano que de rata, por el caos generado dentro de SU laboratorio tras el comienzo de la rebelión. Y es ahí, en SU terreno donde el Doctor nos muestra su total crueldad y su extraño concepto del deber, oponiéndose a toda rebelión(¿os suena?) y justificando, sin remordimiento alguno (¿os suena?) todas y cada una de las torturas (¿¿Os suena??)
Sí, desgraciadamente a todos nos suena y mucho… Nuestra historia está llena de seres despiadados que se creyeron (se creen) superiores y cometieron (cometen) horribles magnicidios.
Y yo de Navona me fío. ¡Qué queréis que os diga! Así, con el poso más agrio que dulce que el INELUDIBLE naranja dejó dentro de mí, empiezo Doctor Rat y “OH LA LÁ”que exclaman los franceses, me topo sin previo aviso con un cambio de registro, quizá debido a que lo que nos cuenta William en El nadador en el mar secreto son hechos reales, quizá porque la buena critica servida con sarcasmo se digiere mejor. Solamente el autor lo sabe, pero el caso es que me presenta en Doctor Rat un juego rebosante de imaginación para criticar el comportamiento humano.
El cambio de estilo narrativo es tal, que de no ser por el buen hacer de este estadounidense, yo hubiese dudado de ambas obras pertenecieran al mismo autor. ¡Ahora W.K. me presenta una novela en clave de humor! Humor, sí... Con un inteligente manejo de la sátira presenta una crítica extrema de nuestras más crueles formas de torturas a los animales, esas que realizamos bajo la estúpida excusa de la investigación. Y quien dice investigación, ya sabéis de qué hablo, pintalabios y demás, dice zoológicos, perfectos safaris preparados para turistones o animales de compañía como perfecto regalo para nuestros pequeñines.
¿Qué pasaría si ratas, monos, elefantes o leones dijesen NUNCA MÁS? En este punto de la reseña el sarcasmo del autor, al más puro estilo Orwell, como bien nos indica su editor, Pere Sureda, en la contraportada del libro, toma la palabra. Y esta astuta sátira guía a nuestro pequeño protagonista, el Doctor Rat,que desde las primeras páginas tiene más de humano que de rata, por el caos generado dentro de SU laboratorio tras el comienzo de la rebelión. Y es ahí, en SU terreno donde el Doctor nos muestra su total crueldad y su extraño concepto del deber, oponiéndose a toda rebelión(¿os suena?) y justificando, sin remordimiento alguno (¿os suena?) todas y cada una de las torturas (¿¿Os suena??)
Sí, desgraciadamente a todos nos suena y mucho… Nuestra historia está llena de seres despiadados que se creyeron (se creen) superiores y cometieron (cometen) horribles magnicidios.
April 20, 2009
A book that helped me learn to recognize people who are apologists for horrific acts.
April 26, 2018
Before I begin, I'd like to share few facts about me. I love animals. Probably more than humans. I've been vegetarian for twenty years, more than half of my life. I can easily enjoy epic battles and stories, in which human suffer and die. But if you hurt a dog or a cat a rage ignites in me. I can't help it.
This book contains extensive and visceral scenes of animal experimentation and it pulls no punches. Whole species are destroyed. Despite using grotesque aesthetic and containing hilarious moments, it was a difficult book for me.
Kotzwinkle's imaginative fable features Doctor Rat, friend to man and foe to all other species. Doctor Rat is an insane lab rat who revels in the despair and brutality of animal experiments. He's even composing songs in honor of gruesome experiments.
When animals start to prepare rebellion, Doc wants to squash it.
There's plenty of shifting perspectives in the book. The plot revolves around Doc Rat fighting against the rebellion, but we see parts of the plot told through the eyes of other animals and species. The ones near the end of the novel are heart-breaking and lyrical. Sentimental? Probably yes.
Obviously, there are oversimplifications and shortcuts in this book. Animals are beautiful, humans cruel and sadistic. The balance is off and the perspective is strongly biased. But it does deliver a message that can be interpreted in many ways.
Is it a life-changing book? I don't know. I've made plenty of adjustments to my life years ago and I do my best to minimize my negative impact on the environment. I guess, I still can improve in certain areas.
It's definitely a book that got more than one visceral reaction from me. It's devastating and powerfully written. It's a book that made me want to shout "To hell with Pacifism!" and build a bomb or, even better, hack a Death Star and wipe out all laboratories that experiment with animals from the face of the earth.
It's a brutal and maniacal satire. It's terrifying, heart-wrenching, grotesque and sad. Usually, I plow through books like Duracell bunny on speed, but in this case, I had to make frequent pauses because it was a bit too much for me.
This book contains extensive and visceral scenes of animal experimentation and it pulls no punches. Whole species are destroyed. Despite using grotesque aesthetic and containing hilarious moments, it was a difficult book for me.
Kotzwinkle's imaginative fable features Doctor Rat, friend to man and foe to all other species. Doctor Rat is an insane lab rat who revels in the despair and brutality of animal experiments. He's even composing songs in honor of gruesome experiments.
When animals start to prepare rebellion, Doc wants to squash it.
There's plenty of shifting perspectives in the book. The plot revolves around Doc Rat fighting against the rebellion, but we see parts of the plot told through the eyes of other animals and species. The ones near the end of the novel are heart-breaking and lyrical. Sentimental? Probably yes.
Obviously, there are oversimplifications and shortcuts in this book. Animals are beautiful, humans cruel and sadistic. The balance is off and the perspective is strongly biased. But it does deliver a message that can be interpreted in many ways.
Is it a life-changing book? I don't know. I've made plenty of adjustments to my life years ago and I do my best to minimize my negative impact on the environment. I guess, I still can improve in certain areas.
It's definitely a book that got more than one visceral reaction from me. It's devastating and powerfully written. It's a book that made me want to shout "To hell with Pacifism!" and build a bomb or, even better, hack a Death Star and wipe out all laboratories that experiment with animals from the face of the earth.
It's a brutal and maniacal satire. It's terrifying, heart-wrenching, grotesque and sad. Usually, I plow through books like Duracell bunny on speed, but in this case, I had to make frequent pauses because it was a bit too much for me.
June 30, 2023
Call me shallow, but I do judge a book by its cover.
I was irresistibly drawn to this one, and man it didn't disappoint.
What a wild, weird ride this little book was! so grotesque and over the top and yet deadly serious at its core. 'Doctor Rat' is the perfect product of its time (1976) and feels therefore like a breath of fresh air in these dreary days of enforced political correctness in which *saying* the right words matters more than *doing* the right things, the concept of equality consisting in orthodoxy rather than orthopraxis. It's a tale whose moral message is conveyed through a mix of all-too-real horrors and slapstick satire, both of which are bound to elicit strong feelings among today's readers, so beware - this is far from being a safe place for the squeamish. You'll find yourself broken-hearted while laughing out loud. There's lots of fun in Treblinka, whispers Doctor Rat.
'Doctor Rat' is many things. It's an entertaining tale about nature and the ways man desecrates it; a metaphor open to many and diverse interpretations; a ferocious satire and a visionary's dream. It works on both plans - the form as well as the contents. It makes you think without telling you how to do it, let alone why. And it doesn't need to take itself too seriously, which is always a good sign as far as honesty goes.
And yes, this cover is gorgeous.
I was irresistibly drawn to this one, and man it didn't disappoint.
What a wild, weird ride this little book was! so grotesque and over the top and yet deadly serious at its core. 'Doctor Rat' is the perfect product of its time (1976) and feels therefore like a breath of fresh air in these dreary days of enforced political correctness in which *saying* the right words matters more than *doing* the right things, the concept of equality consisting in orthodoxy rather than orthopraxis. It's a tale whose moral message is conveyed through a mix of all-too-real horrors and slapstick satire, both of which are bound to elicit strong feelings among today's readers, so beware - this is far from being a safe place for the squeamish. You'll find yourself broken-hearted while laughing out loud. There's lots of fun in Treblinka, whispers Doctor Rat.
'Doctor Rat' is many things. It's an entertaining tale about nature and the ways man desecrates it; a metaphor open to many and diverse interpretations; a ferocious satire and a visionary's dream. It works on both plans - the form as well as the contents. It makes you think without telling you how to do it, let alone why. And it doesn't need to take itself too seriously, which is always a good sign as far as honesty goes.
And yes, this cover is gorgeous.
May 26, 2008
A view of animal research from the point of view of Dr. Rat, PhD. It is satirical, and funny, but also a troubling look at the world where humans think everything and everyone else is subordinate to them. This book is a neglected and ignored masterpiece.
March 20, 2016
It's really hard for me to review this book because it's not what I call an enjoyable read, but it's a necessary read. The premise of the story is that there is a laboratory which is using animals for research and that research is being described from the viewpoint of one of the rats involved in the research. It's bone chilling. It's funny - in a sadistic satirical way. But it's not an easy or comfortable read at all. The prose is almost musical in its quality, and the visual images that the author constructs are vivid and believable. But if you're an animal lover, it'll give you nightmares.
June 1, 2013
Doctor Rat is a laboratory rodent who suffers from a type of Stockholm syndrome: he not only identifies only with the researchers performing experiments upon him and his fellows: he watches and recounts each vivisection with utter glee.
The copyright on this book is 1971, a few years prior to the 1975 publication of Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation, which is often credited with launching the animal rights movement. Yet the seeds of the modern movement sprouted earlier and can be seen in this book: while the main focal point of this story is a laboratory, the author breaks away from this scene with increasing frequency to recount an animal uprising in other captive situations as well as the wild.
Vivisection is a graphic subject and this is a bloody and gruesome book. I had to take breaks from all of the ugliness periodically. In all fairness, the author has clearly done his research on actual animal experiments and is simply recounting similar procedures. The Vietnam War was raging during this book’s release and many animal experiments were conducted in the name of better military defense and soldier psychology. Atrocities of both warfare and vivisection blend into one in the voice of the sociopathic Dr. Rat. Prior to the strengthening of the animal rights cause, it was considerably easier to gain access to descriptions of vivisection procedures. After all, this was the era in which Harry Harlow was boasting in major magazines about driving infant monkeys insane in “pits of despair.”
Speaking of magazines, I was truly astonished to read that portions of Dr. Rat were previously published in “Redbook” magazine. It is stunning to ponder that the magazine I’ve only known for giving middle-aged women sex and makeup tips once published a gruesome discussion of animal labs and slaughterhouses, with an unabashed animal liberation viewpoint. Could you imagine such a thing happening today?
While Dr. Rat is not written with the grace and finesse of the similarly – themed Plague Dogs, and it starts faltering toward the middle when it becomes too grand in scope, it remains an important contribution to animal rights and anti-vivisection literature. Few people, even professed animal lovers, wish to consider vivisection, and legislation and cultural changes have succeeded in keeping the vast majority of it hidden entirely from public view.
In other surprising news, the author of Dr. Rat went on to pen the successful and gassy children’s series, Walter the Farting Dog. Who knew?
The copyright on this book is 1971, a few years prior to the 1975 publication of Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation, which is often credited with launching the animal rights movement. Yet the seeds of the modern movement sprouted earlier and can be seen in this book: while the main focal point of this story is a laboratory, the author breaks away from this scene with increasing frequency to recount an animal uprising in other captive situations as well as the wild.
Vivisection is a graphic subject and this is a bloody and gruesome book. I had to take breaks from all of the ugliness periodically. In all fairness, the author has clearly done his research on actual animal experiments and is simply recounting similar procedures. The Vietnam War was raging during this book’s release and many animal experiments were conducted in the name of better military defense and soldier psychology. Atrocities of both warfare and vivisection blend into one in the voice of the sociopathic Dr. Rat. Prior to the strengthening of the animal rights cause, it was considerably easier to gain access to descriptions of vivisection procedures. After all, this was the era in which Harry Harlow was boasting in major magazines about driving infant monkeys insane in “pits of despair.”
Speaking of magazines, I was truly astonished to read that portions of Dr. Rat were previously published in “Redbook” magazine. It is stunning to ponder that the magazine I’ve only known for giving middle-aged women sex and makeup tips once published a gruesome discussion of animal labs and slaughterhouses, with an unabashed animal liberation viewpoint. Could you imagine such a thing happening today?
While Dr. Rat is not written with the grace and finesse of the similarly – themed Plague Dogs, and it starts faltering toward the middle when it becomes too grand in scope, it remains an important contribution to animal rights and anti-vivisection literature. Few people, even professed animal lovers, wish to consider vivisection, and legislation and cultural changes have succeeded in keeping the vast majority of it hidden entirely from public view.
In other surprising news, the author of Dr. Rat went on to pen the successful and gassy children’s series, Walter the Farting Dog. Who knew?
July 5, 2015
A good read, but also horrifying. I'd put this squarely in the horror genre.
Sadly, much of this book reads as more fact than fiction. See Ten worst laboratories that do animal testing including John Hopkins and Columbia University mentioned in this book and American Anti-Vivisection Society to see how animals including dogs, cats, rabbits, chimpanzees and mice and rats are used in labs. Also Google Journal of Toxiocology, Journal of Pain and LD50.
On a bright note, a search for "John Hopkins University animal experimentation" pulls up the university's Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) founded in 1981.
At the same time, it's lovely the way the author boldly, deftly and artfully inhabits the minds of a variety of animal characters including a rat, dog, tortoise, elephant, rhino and sloth. A recommended read: There's hope in empathy and art.
Quoteable: "That the purpose of our lives is to celebrate the grandeur of the cosmos."
Paris well with:
The Awareness, by Gene Stone
The Plague Dogs, by Richard Adams
Exodus 2022, by Kenneth G. Bennett
See also, Nonewanimallab.com
And this editorial, In Our View/University of Washington: Animal lab a step backward
And this one, UW animal lab represents archaic, abusive practice
Sadly, much of this book reads as more fact than fiction. See Ten worst laboratories that do animal testing including John Hopkins and Columbia University mentioned in this book and American Anti-Vivisection Society to see how animals including dogs, cats, rabbits, chimpanzees and mice and rats are used in labs. Also Google Journal of Toxiocology, Journal of Pain and LD50.
On a bright note, a search for "John Hopkins University animal experimentation" pulls up the university's Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) founded in 1981.
At the same time, it's lovely the way the author boldly, deftly and artfully inhabits the minds of a variety of animal characters including a rat, dog, tortoise, elephant, rhino and sloth. A recommended read: There's hope in empathy and art.
Quoteable: "That the purpose of our lives is to celebrate the grandeur of the cosmos."
Paris well with:
The Awareness, by Gene Stone
The Plague Dogs, by Richard Adams
Exodus 2022, by Kenneth G. Bennett
See also, Nonewanimallab.com
And this editorial, In Our View/University of Washington: Animal lab a step backward
And this one, UW animal lab represents archaic, abusive practice
July 25, 2008
I read this when I was a kid and it blew a great number of my circuits. Doctor Rat is a Quisling rat in a laboratory full of animals undergoing senseless experiments, often depicted quite graphically. This episodic novel eschews stridency for a very dark satire that gets under the skin. All of the lab-animals are anthropomorphicized, like a Disney film created by sick maniacs on datura. Makes The Secret of NIMH look like Pollyanna.
September 11, 2014
Surprisingly good. From its description, I was picturing something much much different. But it's actually beautiful...and very sad. The animal voices the author describes are exactly how I would imagine animals thinking. And Dr. Rat, poor demented Dr. Rat, suffering from insanity and most assuredly some sort of Stockholm Syndrome. Blazed through this book. Gave me alot to think about.
April 19, 2015
I comfort my fellow rats where I can. It requires psychological understanding, of course. And having been driven insane, I hold the necessary degree in psychology.
April 18, 2009
A darkly humorous take on the use of animals in human research. Seen from the eyes of a lab rat, you have a bizarre and disorientating angle on the world. Taking to lead other animals in a revolution to make the world theirs once again, Doctor Rat is a political statement on the way we treat our planet and its inhabitants. A novel to question your views and moral standing on the ethics of animal testing. You will laugh and smirk at some of the writing, but there will always be that underlining notion of cruelty to others. I hope more people get to read this novel.
March 20, 2008
This book made me squirm when I first read it many years ago. But I've learned to appreciate the bizarre humor of it over time. It teaches you a lot about the world we live in (and the creatures we live among).
January 17, 2015
Subtle, it ain't. While 'Doctor Rat' is inventive and often darkly funny, I grew tired both of being hit in the face with Kotzwinkle's message, and of his jumpy, verbose, stream of consciousness style.
April 7, 2025
Reading Doctor Rat for the second time has only cemented it as a madcap masterpiece in my eyes-- a brilliant and scathing satire on the mindset of fascism and nationalism, through the lens of a deranged Nazi -coded rat.
The contrast between the sickly, claustrophobic, chaotic and gruesome chapters narrated by our eponymous rodent and those beautifully narrated by animals describing their lives, their passions, their fears and joys... is incredibly done and not only highlights the cruelty of animal experimentation through its use of exaggeratedly vile descriptions, but really gets to the core of how fascist sympathizers operate.
Dr. Rat is a literal incel, being castrated, obsesses about female fertility rates, has twinges of a latent, yet self-hating form of homosexuality, and talks in the manner of being in a death-cult centered around an inhumane martyrdom fantasy-- his rhetoric is indistinguishable from not only many Nazis and neo-nazis, but many garden-variety alt-right and religious pundits and influencers. (Particularly the likes of Steven Crowder, Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro, Jesse Waters, Tucker Carlson, et al).
The contrast between the sickly, claustrophobic, chaotic and gruesome chapters narrated by our eponymous rodent and those beautifully narrated by animals describing their lives, their passions, their fears and joys... is incredibly done and not only highlights the cruelty of animal experimentation through its use of exaggeratedly vile descriptions, but really gets to the core of how fascist sympathizers operate.
Dr. Rat is a literal incel, being castrated, obsesses about female fertility rates, has twinges of a latent, yet self-hating form of homosexuality, and talks in the manner of being in a death-cult centered around an inhumane martyrdom fantasy-- his rhetoric is indistinguishable from not only many Nazis and neo-nazis, but many garden-variety alt-right and religious pundits and influencers. (Particularly the likes of Steven Crowder, Matt Walsh, Ben Shapiro, Jesse Waters, Tucker Carlson, et al).
June 6, 2019
Necesitaba digerirlo un poco antes de comentar, creo que aún estoy en ello.
El libro me ha parecido maravilloso, lleno de humor negro y sensibilidad, aunque parezca una combinación rara, y William Kotzwinkle me parece casi un visionario. Pero lo he pasado tan mal leyéndolo, y me ha dejado un poso tan triste en el cuerpo, que no sé si lo recomendaría a nadie con sensibilidad hacia los animales (o, lo que es casi lo mismo, hacia el sufrimiento ajeno).
El libro me ha parecido maravilloso, lleno de humor negro y sensibilidad, aunque parezca una combinación rara, y William Kotzwinkle me parece casi un visionario. Pero lo he pasado tan mal leyéndolo, y me ha dejado un poso tan triste en el cuerpo, que no sé si lo recomendaría a nadie con sensibilidad hacia los animales (o, lo que es casi lo mismo, hacia el sufrimiento ajeno).
January 30, 2024
es war schon gut aber hat sich für mich sooo gezogen dass ich nicht mehr als 3 sterne geben kann
October 21, 2009
Animal Farm for the Vietnam War era, told from many different animals' points of view. Dr. Rat, a mentally unbalanced but eloquent lab rat who fancies himself a scientific expert, acts as an apologist for mankind's worst acts against animals--vivisection, experimentation, hunting, and slaughter--by preaching that humans are animals' superiors, that animals don't have souls, that animals have a moral duty to serve humanity as both food and grist for scientific experimentation, and ultimately that Death is the only Freedom for animals.
The novel works best when exploring the viewpoints of individual animals around the world as they build toward a global gathering and when using the actions of Dr. Rat and the other animals in the laboratory as broad metaphors for revolution, communism, Nazi-style authoritarianism, brainwashing, mass communication, human slavery, scientific detachment, and warfare.
It stumbles, however, in much of its personification of the animals as the author often tries to have it both ways--making animals too much like humans in his attempt to show we are all animals (or all one energy/soul, as the animals seem to believe) or trying to distance them from humans through their vocabularies and observations while still ascribing too many human characteristics or actions to animals that one would not realistically expect of them. This is easy to overlook, though, as the novel reads more like cautionary parable than doomsday prophecy.
The only real bright light in this comical but dark book was a tangential story about a music conductor who manages to briefly communicate with whales. The bit about the whalesong in return was absolutely beautiful and ultimately tragic.
Some of the book's elements, particularly cultural references, appear dated now and certain abhorrent practices in the book have either been curtailed or heavily protested since the 1970s. Still, I could see this book being enjoyed today by animal lovers of all kinds--so long as they can get past some of the painstakingly vivid descriptions of torture and slaughter that befall many of the animals.
The novel works best when exploring the viewpoints of individual animals around the world as they build toward a global gathering and when using the actions of Dr. Rat and the other animals in the laboratory as broad metaphors for revolution, communism, Nazi-style authoritarianism, brainwashing, mass communication, human slavery, scientific detachment, and warfare.
It stumbles, however, in much of its personification of the animals as the author often tries to have it both ways--making animals too much like humans in his attempt to show we are all animals (or all one energy/soul, as the animals seem to believe) or trying to distance them from humans through their vocabularies and observations while still ascribing too many human characteristics or actions to animals that one would not realistically expect of them. This is easy to overlook, though, as the novel reads more like cautionary parable than doomsday prophecy.
The only real bright light in this comical but dark book was a tangential story about a music conductor who manages to briefly communicate with whales. The bit about the whalesong in return was absolutely beautiful and ultimately tragic.
Some of the book's elements, particularly cultural references, appear dated now and certain abhorrent practices in the book have either been curtailed or heavily protested since the 1970s. Still, I could see this book being enjoyed today by animal lovers of all kinds--so long as they can get past some of the painstakingly vivid descriptions of torture and slaughter that befall many of the animals.
November 20, 2012
The low ratings for this book on Amazon -- most of them from folks who evidently missed the point -- erodes my faith in humanity. This book is a true treasure. (Oddly, it seems that another edition of this book has separate and much higher ratings.)
I think it's the combination of humor and vivisection that throws people off. Even today, one rarely sees expressed any viewpoint on animal research other than "second holocaust" or "sacred scientific obligation". It takes an admittedly twisted wit to see the dark humor in this material, but that's part of why I have such an enduring fondness for the book. It's also why reviews such as "pure PETA propaganda" seem so thick-headed; few organizations are as humorless as PETA.
The book IS funny, as well as being sad, uplifting, and lyrical. And just to be clear, it's hardly a blanket condemnation of animal research. Part of the humor and the absurdity of the story derive from the fact that the procedures described are so patently pointless (e.g., "Please see my paper 'Braining a Rat: Roof of Cranium Removed and Cerebral Hemispheres Scooped Out with a Spoon'" - from memory, so probably not word-for-word accurate). Presumably, there may be room in this universe for legitimate scientific research on animals - the issue just isn't addressed.
In any event, there's a lot more to this book than vivisectionist humor. A parallel plot line, told through short stories about various animals, involves a gathering of all the world's animals. Some are about the gathering and some are just freestanding animal stories, but pretty much every one of them is a gem.
I put Doctor Rat in something of the same category as Richard Adams' (also-excellent) Watership Down. They're both animal-centric stories in which the animal characters experience gritty hardships, death, and internal strife. Both books are relieved by moments of transcendent grace and humanity that are all the sweeter for the surrounding misery.
I think it's the combination of humor and vivisection that throws people off. Even today, one rarely sees expressed any viewpoint on animal research other than "second holocaust" or "sacred scientific obligation". It takes an admittedly twisted wit to see the dark humor in this material, but that's part of why I have such an enduring fondness for the book. It's also why reviews such as "pure PETA propaganda" seem so thick-headed; few organizations are as humorless as PETA.
The book IS funny, as well as being sad, uplifting, and lyrical. And just to be clear, it's hardly a blanket condemnation of animal research. Part of the humor and the absurdity of the story derive from the fact that the procedures described are so patently pointless (e.g., "Please see my paper 'Braining a Rat: Roof of Cranium Removed and Cerebral Hemispheres Scooped Out with a Spoon'" - from memory, so probably not word-for-word accurate). Presumably, there may be room in this universe for legitimate scientific research on animals - the issue just isn't addressed.
In any event, there's a lot more to this book than vivisectionist humor. A parallel plot line, told through short stories about various animals, involves a gathering of all the world's animals. Some are about the gathering and some are just freestanding animal stories, but pretty much every one of them is a gem.
I put Doctor Rat in something of the same category as Richard Adams' (also-excellent) Watership Down. They're both animal-centric stories in which the animal characters experience gritty hardships, death, and internal strife. Both books are relieved by moments of transcendent grace and humanity that are all the sweeter for the surrounding misery.
July 25, 2011
An allegorical account of animal rebellion which is distrubing on multiple levels. It is an account of an uprising told, for the most part, from the perspective of a lab rat whose self-acclaimed lofty position casts his allegiance to the ruling species and its causes.
On one level there are obvious symbolic parallels to the Nazi death camps and other situations where absolute control is exercised by one group over another without any sort of accountability. But more disturbing are the descriptions of actual experimental practices which, whether we want to think about it or not, are probably going on in laboratories every day.
Enveloping this factual-to-symbolic continuum, the author alludes to the existence of a greater something - an undefined yet pervasive awareness shared by all in the animal kingdom - oh..., except the species that believes itself the master of all others, which appears to be oblivous to that something.
On one level there are obvious symbolic parallels to the Nazi death camps and other situations where absolute control is exercised by one group over another without any sort of accountability. But more disturbing are the descriptions of actual experimental practices which, whether we want to think about it or not, are probably going on in laboratories every day.
Enveloping this factual-to-symbolic continuum, the author alludes to the existence of a greater something - an undefined yet pervasive awareness shared by all in the animal kingdom - oh..., except the species that believes itself the master of all others, which appears to be oblivous to that something.
March 7, 2022
❤️4 de corazones ❤️
Doctor Rat narra la historia del Dr. Rat El Gran Profesor Chiflado: una rata de laboratorio que hace experimentos en sus congéneres y que, de alguna manera, se supone
superior a ellos.
Tristemente (para él) dentro del laboratorio se ha iniciado la Revolución de las Ratas, que buscan a toda costa la venganza contra el ser humano y todos sus acólitos.
Intercalado con este primer planteamiento, están una serie de estampas sobre la vida de los animales salvajes y la comunión que tratan de crear.
Como novela, tiene una hechura muy interesante: una sátira agria (amarga, a veces) de la ingerencia del ser humano dentro del Mundo, la ceguera (voluntaria) al sufrimiento animal, la guerra bacteriológica, el capitalismo salvaje....
Un libro muy recomendable que, debo decir, contiene descripciones quizá un pelín demasiado sádicas y pueden no ser para todos.
Y ya está.
Doctor Rat narra la historia del Dr. Rat El Gran Profesor Chiflado: una rata de laboratorio que hace experimentos en sus congéneres y que, de alguna manera, se supone
superior a ellos.
Tristemente (para él) dentro del laboratorio se ha iniciado la Revolución de las Ratas, que buscan a toda costa la venganza contra el ser humano y todos sus acólitos.
Intercalado con este primer planteamiento, están una serie de estampas sobre la vida de los animales salvajes y la comunión que tratan de crear.
Como novela, tiene una hechura muy interesante: una sátira agria (amarga, a veces) de la ingerencia del ser humano dentro del Mundo, la ceguera (voluntaria) al sufrimiento animal, la guerra bacteriológica, el capitalismo salvaje....
Un libro muy recomendable que, debo decir, contiene descripciones quizá un pelín demasiado sádicas y pueden no ser para todos.
Y ya está.
July 27, 2014
Maybe more like a 1.5. It started interesting, but then the premise got a bit old. And the ending was kind of ridiculous. Also, I thought there was going to be a serious argument for humanity, and was very disappointed to find it was only "It's for science! We have to to get grants!" by someone who is self-declared to be insane.
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