1: Alexander Terekhov - The Rat Killer
When embarking on this book review I am aware that my total inexperience in such tasks could indeed hinder its quality; you should be too. So I guess I require a caveat involving pinches of salt and such.
The Rat Killer
Alexander Terekhov's "The Rat Killer" tells of a tale of two exterminators enlisted to deinfest the banquet hall of a hotel stricken with the peculiar issue of rats raining from above. As the political intrigue of the post-communist reality develops into nightmare the greed, cunning and malice of the humans depicted begin to develop to resemble the behaviour of the large communities of destructive rodents. All the while it is revealed that the rats acquire somewhat human qualities. Terekhov introduces descriptions and explanations of the complex social organisation of rat society, with its dominant and subordinate males, and of the means used to fight rats, up to and including other rats specially trained to kill and disrupt communities. It is clear what the writer's intentions are here and the parallel drawn gains momentum throughout before ringing loud and clear at the story's close.
Terekhov's depiction of the novel's Russian backdrop doesn't entirely engender wishes to visit the "quaint" town of Svetloyar as I come to the conclusion of the work. Despite this, I must say I enjoyed the book; in particular the elaborate factual content pertaining to rat ecology, behaviour and death. There was something fascinating about the various encounters and stories told by the experienced duo, perhaps even a perverted fascination some would say. Each time I put the book down I found myself wishing to complement its words with the visual viscerity of Glen Morgan's 2003 movie "Willard". For me, in those instances the narrator and his mentor took on the strange aloof nature of Crispin Glover's incarnation of Willard. At the risk of sounding controversial, by social standards it seems natural for quiet, subservient and slightly creepy folk to be associated with such a job role so when it comes to our attention that the narrator has an eye for the ladies I was shocked and thrilled in many ways. As an author he teases his reader. Perfect testament to this is the fact that he chooses never to indulge us fully in the main character's luck with women, a luck we realise is ever present but never at the forefront of any narrative. Just as his activities are sneaky, so too are the accounts of them; seeming to have hardly occurred at all. Nevertheless, this is a book of many twists, which Terekhov takes a little too far at times, at least in my opinion. I say this because I was often left asking "where did that come from?"; which is all well and good; but this was often followed by "but what happened to that part of the story?". In all the loose ends rattled me a little as they accumulated throughout.
Knowing little about the Russian literary scene I cannot comment on amazon.com's decree that this is a "novel of a very Russian tradition", but I must say I finish this book feeling culturally enlightened and glad to hear a fresh literary voice. Terekhov's writing is witty and nicely sarcastic, "packed with forceful imagery and the slang of modern Russia" as well described by another reviewer. I particularly enjoyed the "countdown to D-day" introduced from the beginning, tying all the chapters together and serving to setting some sort of target for the story. I also greatly appreciate the art of having chapter titles, so this was a detail not lost on me. In saying this, I must point out that at times the narrative style was nothing but perplexing and found myself feeling completely bogged down in too much "boring" detail. I usually enjoy reading about all the detail the author deems fit to include as long as the narrative style pushes it forward and continually keeps my interest. Here I found myself often hurrying to get through these parts of each chapter, as I soon realised that there would be these areas at least once in each.
My motivations in choosing to read this book were to open my horizons. I wanted to read and write about a book I would generally never have taken the time to read. So if those feelings resonate with you I'd highly recommend it. Also if you take pleasure in reading sarcastic works with historical and political content written in a fresh way once again I'd say "try it". Conversely, if you'd like a nice light read that flows well and seems to have some sort of in your face point (other than to comment on human/animal behaviour), I'd suggest you try elsewhere.
The Rat Killer
Alexander Terekhov's "The Rat Killer" tells of a tale of two exterminators enlisted to deinfest the banquet hall of a hotel stricken with the peculiar issue of rats raining from above. As the political intrigue of the post-communist reality develops into nightmare the greed, cunning and malice of the humans depicted begin to develop to resemble the behaviour of the large communities of destructive rodents. All the while it is revealed that the rats acquire somewhat human qualities. Terekhov introduces descriptions and explanations of the complex social organisation of rat society, with its dominant and subordinate males, and of the means used to fight rats, up to and including other rats specially trained to kill and disrupt communities. It is clear what the writer's intentions are here and the parallel drawn gains momentum throughout before ringing loud and clear at the story's close.
Terekhov's depiction of the novel's Russian backdrop doesn't entirely engender wishes to visit the "quaint" town of Svetloyar as I come to the conclusion of the work. Despite this, I must say I enjoyed the book; in particular the elaborate factual content pertaining to rat ecology, behaviour and death. There was something fascinating about the various encounters and stories told by the experienced duo, perhaps even a perverted fascination some would say. Each time I put the book down I found myself wishing to complement its words with the visual viscerity of Glen Morgan's 2003 movie "Willard". For me, in those instances the narrator and his mentor took on the strange aloof nature of Crispin Glover's incarnation of Willard. At the risk of sounding controversial, by social standards it seems natural for quiet, subservient and slightly creepy folk to be associated with such a job role so when it comes to our attention that the narrator has an eye for the ladies I was shocked and thrilled in many ways. As an author he teases his reader. Perfect testament to this is the fact that he chooses never to indulge us fully in the main character's luck with women, a luck we realise is ever present but never at the forefront of any narrative. Just as his activities are sneaky, so too are the accounts of them; seeming to have hardly occurred at all. Nevertheless, this is a book of many twists, which Terekhov takes a little too far at times, at least in my opinion. I say this because I was often left asking "where did that come from?"; which is all well and good; but this was often followed by "but what happened to that part of the story?". In all the loose ends rattled me a little as they accumulated throughout.
Knowing little about the Russian literary scene I cannot comment on amazon.com's decree that this is a "novel of a very Russian tradition", but I must say I finish this book feeling culturally enlightened and glad to hear a fresh literary voice. Terekhov's writing is witty and nicely sarcastic, "packed with forceful imagery and the slang of modern Russia" as well described by another reviewer. I particularly enjoyed the "countdown to D-day" introduced from the beginning, tying all the chapters together and serving to setting some sort of target for the story. I also greatly appreciate the art of having chapter titles, so this was a detail not lost on me. In saying this, I must point out that at times the narrative style was nothing but perplexing and found myself feeling completely bogged down in too much "boring" detail. I usually enjoy reading about all the detail the author deems fit to include as long as the narrative style pushes it forward and continually keeps my interest. Here I found myself often hurrying to get through these parts of each chapter, as I soon realised that there would be these areas at least once in each.
My motivations in choosing to read this book were to open my horizons. I wanted to read and write about a book I would generally never have taken the time to read. So if those feelings resonate with you I'd highly recommend it. Also if you take pleasure in reading sarcastic works with historical and political content written in a fresh way once again I'd say "try it". Conversely, if you'd like a nice light read that flows well and seems to have some sort of in your face point (other than to comment on human/animal behaviour), I'd suggest you try elsewhere.