Rats Saw God

Written 1.27.06: Reader Response to Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas

p.1
I'm really very biased. I give an author 1 chance to hook me. they have to grab me by the first paragraph, or I'm not satisfied. Very few authors can do it in the first sentence. This guy did. I can't wait to read more.

Oh my God! The second paragraph's flipping hilarious! I write like this!

p.4
Connection here to Haddon's book- boy running away to mother without asking.

p.6
"The school's human pumpkin of an attendance secretary."

p.10/11
Last paragraph of the first chapter- I know that I'll be able to relate to this- I've had my heart broken at least twice now. PS- nice frame for the story.

p.13
I have Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance- but I've never read it!

p.12
"Sarah-12 at the time" means he didn't journal it as it happened- he's remembering- like it Great Expectations. don't trust everything!

p.18
-I hate grading with red ink.
-I love the facetious tone. I can certainly relate to it.

p.22
I LOVE this kid!

p.28
See p. 22

p.34
"You're the pope. You tell her." LMAO

p.40
THE NEED TO BE CHALLENEGED

p. 50
"Bed gnomes had replaced my blood with battery acid."

p. 60
"As punishment for spurning her friend, Dub treated me like an immigrant from planet Dickhead." LMAO

p.66
This group of kids is so much like my group of friends in high school.

p.76
"Like a bucketful of fish innards on a shark safari."
-This book is making me realize that I don't write as much as I should.

p.108
HOLY TWISTOLA! His father is as emotionally unavailable as.... and he wants Steve to be his BEST MAN?! WTF?!

p.126
Did Courtney really kill him? My friend Noah was a HUGE Nirvana fan... as huge as one can be in 5th and 6th grade. I remember watching their videos for Heart Shaped Box and Smells like Teen Spirit... and liking their music. It was loud and angry and just made me want to mosh into things- when I was only 10 or 11! Luckily I heard Green Day and punk grabbed me and shook violently.... grunge was really never my thing. Pearl Jam is ok- but the only reason I ever had one of their CDs was because some guy named Tiny gave it to me to get rid of it. I'll have to check the date on that though to see how old I was and if I cared. I don't think I did though. I did hear once their cover of "In the Pines." I love it. It's disturbing. UPDATE- the date on it was april of 1994. I was 11 and still lived in Danville, IL.- don't think I cared.

p.127
He threw the CD into the ocean- he's realizing that his High School phase is passing.

p.131
"I need these 3 hours a day- to write, to screw my head on straight, to drink coffee and pretend I'm in college."

p.150
I love this. just when you think he's going to get all serious, he throws something in there like:
"Okay, the part involving shoe removal would have best been described in a limerick."

and

p.152
"I would finally be allowed to hunt buffalo with the village elders."

p.153
I got him beat. 3. 3 minutes. Just 3.

p.164
I want to be that kind of teacher.

p.184
I know exactly what he's going through. I know how he feels when he says, "If I didn't see Dub tonight I was sure I would die." It seems like the smallest things in relationships can screw everything up- which leads to me screeching around in my car trying to save everything. I hate that... and I never wanna do it again. It's called understanding... which is usually what high school relationships lack.

p.185
HOLY TWISTOLA! didn't see this one coming.

p.193
This really reminds me of SLC Punk!


Final Summation:
Cool. Kickass, even. A short glimpse of a phase in life we all pass through at ludicrous speed. Quite entertaining. Thomas writes like I write. He writes like mikey writes. Love this style. I would use this in my classroom (if I could.) certainly worthy of recommendation.