Rats Saw God

Thomas, Rob. Rats Saw God. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Annotation: 18 year old Steve York is not going to graduate. He has mastered the SATS, but doesn’t care enough about himself to finish his work to graduate. If he can complete a 100 page paper over the summer and retell how he got to where he is throughout his high school career, the guidance counselor will pass him.


Justification for nomination: Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas is a story filled with controversial themes. He seemed to have lived two lives in his 18 years. One in Houston with his astronaut father, who he does not respect, but he does well in school, has a girlfriend, and is part of a school club that pushes all the limits. He lives here through his sophomore year. He then moves to San Diego with his mother and sister in his senior year after he loses his girlfriend. alienates his friends, starts smoking pot, and is flunking out of school. A high school guidance counselor makes him a deal. If he can write a 100 page paper telling how he got to the place is at today, he will graduate. The unique structure of the book allows the reader to watch Steve’s character develop in opposite directions. He starts out failing in his relationships and school as a senior, but by the use of flashbacks, the reader sees how his life fell apart. It is like this is a book within a book. The structure sets up a series of contrasts between Steve’s life in California and his life in Texas; both have the same elements, a parent, a girlfriend, school setting, supportive faculty member, and friends, but Steve is not the same person. The back and forth travel between the present and the past highlights the cause and effects of his action and the consequences that follow. The flashbacks are written like a report so you can clearly distinguish between the now and the before. It is told in limited 1st person point of view present tense, almost an autobiography, when he speaks of the present. It is told in limited 1st person point of view past tense when he is in a flashback so he is able to use the benefit of hindsight throughout the story. The secondary elements in the narrative deals with the character development and maturation of the additional characters, like Dub, Doug, the astronaut, his sister, etc. The characters are realistic, strong, and honest. Teen readers will be able to relate the characters as well as the strong themes. The themes represented are family, friends and enemies, challenges, triumphs, love, losing virginity, drug and alcohol use, and romance. This book also makes the censored list because of its themes of sex, losing virginity, teacher and student affair, and drugs.

Genre: Coming of age/challenged/edgy/search for identity