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threegoodrats's review against another edition
5.0
Read for the second time. It's still one of my favorites. My review is here.
p. 33 "If there is one thing a literary education is good for it is to fill you with a sense of doom."
p. 63 "I understood now that he needed the big wire basket on the front of his bicycle just to cart around his enormous despair..."
p. 122 "I always think everything is going to last forever, but nothing ever does."
p. 138 "A rat's life is short and painful, painful but quickly over, and yet it feels long while it lasts."
p. 33 "If there is one thing a literary education is good for it is to fill you with a sense of doom."
p. 63 "I understood now that he needed the big wire basket on the front of his bicycle just to cart around his enormous despair..."
p. 122 "I always think everything is going to last forever, but nothing ever does."
p. 138 "A rat's life is short and painful, painful but quickly over, and yet it feels long while it lasts."
onyxisalive's review against another edition
3.0
This book had a very interesting premise.
In regards to the writing it was solid. The book is told from the perspective of future Firmin and there are some points when the book become very immersed in the present, but whenever we come back to future Firmin it never feel jarring. However, there are lots of references to book in here randomly in passages - I understand this is Firmin's memoir and he is a literary rat, but it happens so much it gets a little annoying. Also, the lists in here (whenever they appear) are so long it is extremely excessive.
This book is quite sad. Seeing Firmin's isolation from his own kind and his inevitable failure to be apart of human society despite his desire to do so was very sad.
Seeing his one sided relationships with humans was interesting and, despite knowing where they were going, it was quite sad to read.
I think that Firmin as a character is a little hard to connect to on account of some of his more dodgy behaviours, but he did feel consistent and me feeling sorry for him did make it easy to follow him along.
While this book did make me feel sorry for him, I never felt really sad or heart warmed by any of this as it felt like outside of loneliness the emotional aspects of this book could have been a little more developed - however, this definitely does suffer due to him not being likeable.
<spoiler.Seeing the decay of the neighbourhood was cool.
It took me ages to realise that Norman and Shine were the same person.
All in all, a very interesting premise - it did feel a little long at some points it was quite good and I believe it was worth the read.
The cover was cool and the rat decals on the pages were fun.
In regards to the writing it was solid. The book is told from the perspective of future Firmin and there are some points when the book become very immersed in the present, but whenever we come back to future Firmin it never feel jarring. However, there are lots of references to book in here randomly in passages - I understand this is Firmin's memoir and he is a literary rat, but it happens so much it gets a little annoying. Also, the lists in here (whenever they appear) are so long it is extremely excessive.
This book is quite sad. Seeing Firmin's isolation
Seeing his one sided relationships with humans was interesting and, despite knowing where they were going, it was quite sad to read.
I think that Firmin as a character is a little hard to connect to on account of
While this book did make me feel sorry for him, I never felt really sad or heart warmed by any of this as it felt like outside of loneliness the emotional aspects of this book could have been a little more developed - however, this definitely does suffer due to him not being likeable.
<spoiler.Seeing the decay of the neighbourhood was cool.
It took me ages to realise that Norman and Shine were the same person.
All in all, a very interesting premise - it did feel a little long at some points it was quite good and I believe it was worth the read.
The cover was cool and the rat decals on the pages were fun.
hunziker's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
mesiosteu's review
3.0
فکر نمی‌کنم خواننده‌ی خوبی برای این کتاب باشم. مال من نبود و چندان که انتظار داشتم هم پیش نرفت؛ شاید هم من پرتوقع بودم. با این وجود برخی از بریده‌هایی رو که خوشایند یا جالب بودند رو این‌جا می‌نویسم.
از این لحاظ شبیه کتاب بود—می‌شد از ورای آن به دنیاهایی نگاه کرد که مال خودت نبودند.
- صفحه ۳۹
در ظاهر همان خود خوش‌خوی قدیمم بودم و چه کسی می‌توانست بفهمد که دارم قلبی شکسته را پنهان می‌کنم؟
- صفحه ۷۶
عشق یک‌طرفه بد است اما عشقی که اصلا قابلیت دوطرفه شدن نداشته باشد واقعا میتواند آدم را داغان کند.
- صفحه ۷۶
صمیمیت بسیار سبب دلسردی عظیم میشود.
- صفحه ۹۶
جری همیشه می‌گفت آدم اگر دلش نخواهد زندگی‌اش را دوباره زندگی کند یعنی آن را هدر داده است.
- صفحه ۱۸۳
از این لحاظ شبیه کتاب بود—می‌شد از ورای آن به دنیاهایی نگاه کرد که مال خودت نبودند.
- صفحه ۳۹
در ظاهر همان خود خوش‌خوی قدیمم بودم و چه کسی می‌توانست بفهمد که دارم قلبی شکسته را پنهان می‌کنم؟
- صفحه ۷۶
عشق یک‌طرفه بد است اما عشقی که اصلا قابلیت دوطرفه شدن نداشته باشد واقعا میتواند آدم را داغان کند.
- صفحه ۷۶
صمیمیت بسیار سبب دلسردی عظیم میشود.
- صفحه ۹۶
جری همیشه می‌گفت آدم اگر دلش نخواهد زندگی‌اش را دوباره زندگی کند یعنی آن را هدر داده است.
- صفحه ۱۸۳
kerlissss's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
saracox's review against another edition
2.0
I expected more from this books. If you have a rat that when he eats books becomes really intelligent and gains the ability to read, I expect more from that rat. However, he just did rat things, questioned life, lived in a book store and then an author's house. I mean, I know rats do not have vocal chords and therefore cannot talk, but what not communicate through a typewriter or soemthing. I feel more could have happened in this story and I was waiting for it to happen, so the ending was rather anticlimatic for me.
countess_athena's review against another edition
5.0
اکثر انسان ها موش ها رو موجودات چندشی می دانند که عادت دارند هر چی دم دستشون میاد رو می جون. اما چی میشه اگه یک روز متوجه بشید موشی که در زیر زمین خانه تان زندگی میکنه کتاب هاتون رو میخونه؟ درسته می خونه نه اینکه بجودشون.
فرمین، موش داستان ما در زیر زمین یک کتاب فروشی به دنیا آمد و در همانجا هم بزرگ شد، ابتدا برای فرار از گرسنگی کتاب ها رو میخورد ولی کم کم متوجه شد که میتواند آن ها رو بخواند، و این باعث شد تا به کتاب ها علاقه مند شود و حتی وقتی خانواده اش کتاب فروشی رو ترک کردند او باز همانجا بماند.
البته که علاقه مندی های او فقط به کتاب ختم نمیشود. او برای خودش یک شخصیت انسانی با افکار و ایده آل های انسانی قائل است، به سینما می رود، عاشق بازیکری به اسم جینجر میشود و سعی میکند از روی کتاب مربوط به ناشنوایان زبان اشاره رو برای ارتباط با انسانها یاد بگیرد.
هر چقدر که طول کتاب لذت بخش بود، و تصاویر بامزه ای داشت اما اواخرش خیلی غم انگیز بود.
فرمین، موش داستان ما در زیر زمین یک کتاب فروشی به دنیا آمد و در همانجا هم بزرگ شد، ابتدا برای فرار از گرسنگی کتاب ها رو میخورد ولی کم کم متوجه شد که میتواند آن ها رو بخواند، و این باعث شد تا به کتاب ها علاقه مند شود و حتی وقتی خانواده اش کتاب فروشی رو ترک کردند او باز همانجا بماند.
البته که علاقه مندی های او فقط به کتاب ختم نمیشود. او برای خودش یک شخصیت انسانی با افکار و ایده آل های انسانی قائل است، به سینما می رود، عاشق بازیکری به اسم جینجر میشود و سعی میکند از روی کتاب مربوط به ناشنوایان زبان اشاره رو برای ارتباط با انسانها یاد بگیرد.
هر چقدر که طول کتاب لذت بخش بود، و تصاویر بامزه ای داشت اما اواخرش خیلی غم انگیز بود.
dimples0508's review against another edition
5.0
A letter I wrote to Sam Savage but couldn't figure out where to send it.
To Sam Savage,
I was walking through the aisles of my local library branch with no idea of what book I wanted to read. I bided my time because it was the afternoon and that meant that my house was hot and humid and the library was not. I skimmed the aisles of stacks of rows of books and plucked them one by one off the shelves. I took in title upon title and tried to guess what a cover art had to do with the descriptions. You can imagine what a long task this was, but it is summer and a girl like me needed a hidden book to praise. I felt the pressure to get going as my sister came to stand at my side and I pulled out a book to which I had never reacted so unexpectedly before. That book was yours; that book was Firmin.
Upon feeling the jagged edges in it's design and seeing the cover, I gasped, thinking the book was falling apart in my hands. I took a step back and took a better look at it and my sister and I laughed and ignored the signs to be quiet. I read the back, read the front, and tucked the book into the crook of my arm.
I checked the books out, went home, and Firmin was the one I carried in my bag the next day to work. I cracked it open, it amazes me how many books at my library are never used and abused. Have all of the adults in my town grown out of reading? I began the book not knowing what to expect. I closed the book everyday not knowing what to anticipate in the next paragraph. I finished your book in a few short days and realized that it would weigh heavily on my mind if I didn't find a way to write to you and tell you this: Thank you for writing this book.
You see, I don't often find books I enjoy, I don't often find authors with a thought process as grand as yours. You taught me so much and Firmin is a great book about those who love books, those who love those people who love books, those who write them, those who sell them! All in a condensed black book of 164 pages.
It brings a tear to my eye when I think about it because books and the worlds they contain can be insignificant in it's binding- but sometimes, a book can mean the world to somebody. Books were Firmin's world and if it weren't for his discovery of them, he would have been just another rat scurrying in an alleyway. There's all this meaning I took from his rodent life! You took a cranny in a bookshop, a lonely rat nest, a dust bowl, and gave it life. It has flourished in this book and I am glad I picked it up.
Can I tell you that one of my favorite aspects of your book was when you would describe the entirety of other books? Can I tell you that I think it is interesting the realness that came along with this book- your research- the life you have lived? I don't think there could be a more perfect union.
I just wanted you to know how I felt about this book. I will be a vagrant and place this book with the cover facing out so that others will see it and know that I want them to read it. I want this book to have finger stains, and a cracked spine. I want this book to learn the grooves on the hands of others and I want others to read the life of Firmin. Contrary to what Firmin said about his piano during the wrecking of his home: "I imagined it giving forth a last tiny sound of its own, and no one would hear it." I want all my friends to hear about this.
To Sam Savage,
I was walking through the aisles of my local library branch with no idea of what book I wanted to read. I bided my time because it was the afternoon and that meant that my house was hot and humid and the library was not. I skimmed the aisles of stacks of rows of books and plucked them one by one off the shelves. I took in title upon title and tried to guess what a cover art had to do with the descriptions. You can imagine what a long task this was, but it is summer and a girl like me needed a hidden book to praise. I felt the pressure to get going as my sister came to stand at my side and I pulled out a book to which I had never reacted so unexpectedly before. That book was yours; that book was Firmin.
Upon feeling the jagged edges in it's design and seeing the cover, I gasped, thinking the book was falling apart in my hands. I took a step back and took a better look at it and my sister and I laughed and ignored the signs to be quiet. I read the back, read the front, and tucked the book into the crook of my arm.
I checked the books out, went home, and Firmin was the one I carried in my bag the next day to work. I cracked it open, it amazes me how many books at my library are never used and abused. Have all of the adults in my town grown out of reading? I began the book not knowing what to expect. I closed the book everyday not knowing what to anticipate in the next paragraph. I finished your book in a few short days and realized that it would weigh heavily on my mind if I didn't find a way to write to you and tell you this: Thank you for writing this book.
You see, I don't often find books I enjoy, I don't often find authors with a thought process as grand as yours. You taught me so much and Firmin is a great book about those who love books, those who love those people who love books, those who write them, those who sell them! All in a condensed black book of 164 pages.
It brings a tear to my eye when I think about it because books and the worlds they contain can be insignificant in it's binding- but sometimes, a book can mean the world to somebody. Books were Firmin's world and if it weren't for his discovery of them, he would have been just another rat scurrying in an alleyway. There's all this meaning I took from his rodent life! You took a cranny in a bookshop, a lonely rat nest, a dust bowl, and gave it life. It has flourished in this book and I am glad I picked it up.
Can I tell you that one of my favorite aspects of your book was when you would describe the entirety of other books? Can I tell you that I think it is interesting the realness that came along with this book- your research- the life you have lived? I don't think there could be a more perfect union.
I just wanted you to know how I felt about this book. I will be a vagrant and place this book with the cover facing out so that others will see it and know that I want them to read it. I want this book to have finger stains, and a cracked spine. I want this book to learn the grooves on the hands of others and I want others to read the life of Firmin. Contrary to what Firmin said about his piano during the wrecking of his home: "I imagined it giving forth a last tiny sound of its own, and no one would hear it." I want all my friends to hear about this.
mary_sh's review against another edition
5.0
La vita e le avventure divertenti e dolcissime di un ratto bibliofilo ed esistenzialista, Firmino è come molti di noi vittima del "mai una gioia". Questo libro è un connubio di tenerezza e auto-riflessione.
rita_araujo's review against another edition
4.0
#HOTSUMMERREADING
- 1 livro com uma temática divertida - 4.º desafio superado.
- 1 livro com uma temática divertida - 4.º desafio superado.