fawndolyn 's review for:

The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban

4.0

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Much like the animated treasure of my childhood, this book gets dark as fuck, and may need to be reviewed by parents before letting it fall into the hands of children. The brutal smashing scene from the film haunts me to this day, and, while it didn’t happen that way in the book, I found myself repeatedly surprised by the violence and brutality found in the book (very few and far between, but the small segments made BIG impacts).

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recalling the same things from the film - almost all of it sync’d in my memory - until it didn’t. One off-handled mention of a pivotal character’s death had me lost, as the rest of the book no longer matched the film - but it just gave me a new experience with my favourite childhood film.

I was surprised to see how deeply the themes and concepts went in the book; from self-discovery, found-families of all kinds, odd couples, the path of fate and self-fulfilling prophecies, being self-sufficient, asking for help (and being denied), to mental issues like the turmoil of fighting who you are (clutching to sanity), striving to be better, admitting defeat, patience, adhd, dementia, acceptance, suicidal thoughts, even body dysmorphia. And some detailed tips and technicalities of scavenging and intense DIY.

I took a long time to read this book because I found it to be a comfort. I could have easily devoured it in a few days, but I found it more enjoyable as a book on hand to pull out whenever I had a few moments between other things. Reading it felt like a cuddle from a filthy villain I absolutely loved in my childhood ❤️