Rats Saw God

My mom found this book in a box of her old stuff after a move. She told me to read it, and I did. And then I read it again. And again. And again. I've read Rats Saw God probably 30 times now. It's such an excellent book, I was surprised to realize that it's not on any of my summer reading lists or recommended books lists. I love the wit and irony that the main character, Steve, uses in describing his life and generation. His family and friends are realistically flawed, 3-dimensional characters. As someone who was born in but missed out on much of the 90's, I don't find the pop culture references dating but rather interesting, like vague allusions that I could recognize but still be new to. I made my boyfriend borrow this book a week ago, and, like me, he read it in a day and loved it. He even wanted to borrow it again and reread it. I would and have recommended this book to any teen who feels outcast, to find a kindred spirit in Steve.

I was assigned this novel for a master's class in teaching the adolescent learner. Thomas writes from the true perspective of a teenager in search of a meaning in his life when things seem hopeless and lost. Steve York displays all the characteristics of a high schooler looking for his identity. Although he protrays himself as a cynic and misfit, York represents all teenagers who simply seek acceptance and a place to fit in. York experiences the highs and lows, including his first love and the battle of appeasing a disappointed father.Through writing, York finds that meaning and is able to mend fences and realize that only you can truly choose the right path for yourself. Steve eventually does that, makes up with his father and uses his intellect for construction and not destruction.This is a solid YA novel that many teenagers should be able to associate with.

The way that this book is written, you can't really say that you are going to stop "at the end of this chapter." There are no actual chapters. Taking place in two different years- one of which is the present time of the book, and one the essay that the main character is writing- it goes back and forth, sometimes with as little as two paragraphs in a section.The book is mainly about Steve York, a San Diego senior in high school, who is failing, bummed out about life, and at the beginning he has a constant high. It goes back and forth between him in the present, and him as a sophomore student in Houston, Texas, who is popular at school, and is liked by everyone, who has a great girlfriend, and a lot of close friends- the only bad thing about his life, is that he lives with his father, Alan York, who is a world famous astronaut. Steve almost always calls his father "the astronaut".A no-nonsense counselor, Mr. Demouy, tells him that if he writes a hundred page paper on the topic of his choice, that he can graduate from high school, and get his missing English credit. Through out the book, Demouy and Steve become close. The book takes place in two different times and places, the late eighties, in Houston, Texas, and about nineteen ninety, in San Diego, California. In Texas, Steve lives in a suburb, in a large house, that has boxes that were never unpacked scattered through out it. And in San Diego, he lives with his mother- who is never home, for she travels with her husband (a pilot) almost all the time- and his sister, who turns out to be a major part of the story. Steve hates it at his dad's house, and doesn't care- mainly because he is (or was) high all the time- about where he lives in San Diego.I loved this book, but it isn't for everyone. With the many sexual and drug innuendos, some people wouldn't be able to handle it. The book goes by quite fast, I read it in two days, and I'm not the best of readers. It is definitely written for teenagers in mind, although some adults may like it. I learned many lessons from the book. One of which is that for two people to truly have a connection, words don't have to be a major thing in their relationship. As Steve finds out, a person who you might say a few words to on an occasional basis, and who your conversations never last more than a few sentences, may have one of the biggest connections to you out of any one in the world. Sometimes words aren't needed to have a connection. The author developed the plot very well, although not in the most conventional of ways. The characters were also developed very well. I felt as though I truly knew Steve and his family. The situation is something that could definitely happen in the real world. The book mixes humor, romance, life learned lessons, and serious subject matter all into one big web that somehow all fits together perfectly. I highly recommend every one to read it.

What has caused the descent of Steve York, verbally gifted high school student, once a straight A student, now an apathetic drug user?A few months before graduation, Steve's guidance counselor intervenes, arranging for Steve to complete a failing English credit by composing a 100 page story. Steve decides to write about his sophomore and junior year of high school, when he became involved with a group of non-conformists and formed the Grace Order of Dadaists (GOD) club. Also during that time, Steve met his first love and experienced the worst kind of heartbreak. As Steve relates the sometimes wonderful, sometimes painful story of those years, he alternates with commentary on his senior year in San Diego: his academic recovery, fueled in part by a new love interest, and his reconciliation of long time tension with his father, a famous astronaut.The novel's structure highlights the downward trajectory of Steve's Houston years, contrasted with the upward swing of his year in San Diego. Thomas tells Steve's story with a mix of clever humor, engrossing early-90s trivia, and non-sentimental, realistic teenage emotions. Highly recommended.

In this latest novel, Rob Thomas presents an authentic portrait of high school life in America. Essentially structured as an autobiographical account of the life of one young self-proclaimed iconoclast, this book deals with typical episodes in the life of a high schooler in modern times; homecoming floats, semiformal dances, Pearl Jam concerts. But more importantly- it delves into the psyche of teenagers and the varying approaches to these events. From the stereotypical rite of passage types who go to football games on Friday nights and drink at parties afterwards to the self-proclaimed nonconformists whose dogmatic insistence on "standing out" borders on hypocrisy, the author employs poignant characters that the reader identifies with closely and a vivid first person narrator to paint realistic portrait of the social infrastructure of the American high school. Thomas has a powerful contemporary voice that today's youth will relate to and which other teen authors often lack; his obvious familiarity with the modern American teenager (stemming from five years as a high school journalism teacher) manifests itself in authentic depictions of the ubiquitous social intricacies found in high schools across the country. From the "low-maintenance Marcia Brady trend girls" and their "long, straight, center-parted hair, poufy, midriff-baring tops, bell-bottom jeans with ragged hems and cork-soled clogs" to the reaction over the death of demigod Kurt Cobain and his "It's better to burn out than fade away philosophy," this book captures the essence of a generation. Also of note, Thomas' protagonist, Steve, a young man with potential but harboring the anarchistic slacker mentality of modern youth, strikes a chord with readers through candid narration of clashes with his famous astronaut father, the anxieties of relationships and the irritating nature of many facets of high school. Definitely one of the best young adult books to come out in years- realistic, captivating and complete- this is an exceptional read.