Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #328335 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Amazon.com Review
In his third book, Robert Sullivan leaves the wilds of the (Meadowlands and the rough whaling waters of the Pacific Northwest to take up rat-watching in the alleys of New York City. Sullivan learned to appreciate the rodents during nocturnal stakeouts; a night-vision scope helped him observe rats without scaring them. As in his previous books, Sullivan uses pointillist details rather than broad portraiture to paint his subject, and the details in Rats are devilish. There are plenty of facts in the book to make your skin crawl, such as a description of the greasy skids rats leave on the paths they frequent, and a list of garbage items they prefer to eat. But Sullivan's style is often less that of a nature writer than a historian. In personable, essayish chapters, New York's history is revealed to be particularly ratty, with tall tales about the rodents' disgusting accomplishments going back to the city's founding. Although many people have never seen a rat outside a pet store, Sullivan reminds us that they are our constant neighbors, staring out from dim corners and messy crevices with beady eyes and twitching whiskers. --Adam Fisher

From Publishers Weekly
In this excellent narrative, Sullivan uses the brown rat as the vehicle for a labyrinthine history of the Big Apple. After pointing out a host of facts about rats that are sure to make you start itching ("if you are in New York... you are within close proximity to one or more rats having sex"), Sullivan quickly focuses in on the rat's seemingly inexhaustible number of connections to mankind. Observing a group of rats in a New York City alley, just blocks from a preâ€"September 11 World Trade Center, leads Sullivan into a timeless world that has more twists than Manhattan's rat-friendly underbelly. Conversations and field studies with "pest control technicians" spirit him back to 1960s Harlem, when rat infestations played a part in the Civil Rights movement and the creation of tenants' organizations. Researching the names of the streets and landmarks near the rats' homes, Sullivan is led even deeper into the city's history till he is back to the 19th century, when the real gangs of New York were the packs of rats that overran the city's bustling docks. Like any true New Yorker, Sullivan is able to convey simultaneously the feelings of disgust and awe that most city dwellers have for the scurrying masses that live among them. These feelings, coupled with his ability to literally and figuratively insert himself into the company of his hairy neighbors, help to personalize the myriad of topicsâ€"urban renewal, labor strikes, congressional bills, disease control, September 11-that rats have nosed their way into over the years. This book is a must pickup for every city dweller, even if you'll feel like you need to wash your hands when you put it down.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–Sullivan's narration reads like a monologue by a charming and witty party guest, albeit his topic is the city rat. No fact is too minute or detail too obscure. In his research, the author consulted many "rat experts," including a New York exterminator who shared the lower Manhattan alley that became the location for his observations. Tales of rats' run-ins with humans include a particularly disturbing one about a woman who was "attacked" by the rodents near his observation place. One chapter is dedicated to the Irish immigrant who hosted rat fights in his bar in the 1840s. Each of these tales is filled with digressions–the history of some of the buildings in the alley, the founding of the SPCA. The greatest digression occurs with regard to the World Trade Center catastrophe. Because Sullivan's alley was so close to the scene, his observations were necessarily interrupted, and when he returned, of course things had changed. But so singular is his vision that even this disaster is put into a rat context–how exterminators were on the job, how the subject of rats was unmentionable in discussions about disaster cleanup, even though his observations showed that rats were plentiful. This creative writer has taken on a seemingly unappealing subject and turned it into a top-notch page-turner.–Jamie Watson, Harford County Public Library, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

A Gift
This was a requested book on a wish list. The reciepient was pleased, although I don't know why! Thanks for being so fast with your shipping.

I just finished reading Rats ten minutes ago...
and I love this book!
I don't know where the other reviews are coming from!
I thought it was written cleverly and it was an entertaining read from page one.
Absolutely recommend it to anyone!
I live in Chicago and have yet to see a rat but I'm on the lookout now!
Really, read this book.
It will change the way you see rats forever!

Remarkably observations on a touchy subject!
Robert Sullivan has done a wonderful job revealing the secret life of these remarkably adaptive rodents as they go about their nightly forays.

A resident of the West Village for a time, they became so familiar to me, scurrying away as I walked my dog, that they became invisible. But when
I married and got a Weimaraner for an engagement present, my new husband dreamed of the pup lying between us with a long, skinny, hairless tail.

His dream...wasn't. Arriving at the apartment (a 4th floor front walkup),
he heard sounds of a terrible fight - dogs growling and barking, furniture crashing. It took a long time to open three locks. And when he walked in, my big dog had an opossum-sized rat in his mouth, nicely dispatched.

So yes - for the city dweller, this is a humorous and practical glimpse into the lives of rat colonies within the city. It'll help you get over any fears you have, and is undoubtedly, a very good read.

May Lattanzio
Freelance Writer/Poet/Photographer
Author: Waltz on the Wild Side - An Animal Lover's Journal
Contributor: Least Loved Beasts of the Really Wild West: A Tribute
Amazon Shorts Author
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