Copyright 1997 by Atara. All rights reserved.

Author: Kotzwinkle, William
Title: Doctor Rat
Year: 1977
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN: 0-553-10382-2
Furry Content: rats, dogs, cattle, pigs, sloths, elephants, turtles, others
Rating: 3 (out of 4) paws

The Furry Novel List notes that this book "looks... amazingly
bizarre... should be considered as  marginally furry." It *is* a very
weird book. However, it also *very* furry. The plot is an allegory
of how animals are looked at in our society (or were, at least, in
the 1970's) - as food, as "slaves," and as test subjects. The main
character is a lab rat named Dr. Rat, Ph.D. When the animals of
the world call a meeting, humans become frightened. Masses of
animals flock, herd, stampede, etc, to a single spot on every
continent. In Dr. Rat's lab, chaos reigns. The other lab rats
organize, break out of their cages, destroying experiments, and
forming a rat militia. Dr. Rat does his best to stem the tide of the
newborn rat empire, but he constantly has to hide. He has been
declared a traitor to the cause, and a friend of the humans.   
Dr. Rat ducks from on lab into another, finding more rats
rebelling. Some human societies are mirrored in the different rat
groups: opium-eating Chinese rats, drugged-out rat who don't want
to leave their Pleasure Dome to help Dr. Rat, and a large group of
gay rats that are dressed up in leather and silk and are having a
dance. Meanwhile, on every continent, the animals are gathering
and the humans are panicking.   
This book was pretty amusing at times (Dr. Rat occasionally
references himself with the titles of papers he has written, such as
"Ovaries Grafted Onto the Shoulder Blades of Rats"). However,
the story is also very disturbing in parts. The end of the story is
both funny and horrible (you know, like the scene in Pulp Fiction
where the kid gets his head blown off in the back seat of the car).
If you're squeamish, I wouldn't recommend this book. One big
problem that I had with the book is that the point-of-view switches
many times (from Dr. Rat, to a pig being slaughtered, to a dog
running through the woods, to an elephant waiting to die). In most
of these POVs, the narrative is like a stream-of consciousness. It
can be very difficult to follow... I recommend turning off the radio
and putting the cat outside so that you can concentrate.