Tale of One Bad Rat

Like Spiegelman's Maus and Satrapi's Persepolis books, this graphic novel shows how powerful this genre can be in dealing with brutality, in this case with childhood sexual abuse as well as with animal experimentation, social isolation, homelessness, and a horrifying family life. As society and family prey on Helen, the protagonist, she thinks, she reads, she develops her own thoughts and insists on going her own way--and on getting others, including readers, to think differently about their own preconceptions and assumptions as she sheds her abusers. Take the example of rats--far from being reviled at best and something to be experimented on at worst, Helen shows other characters and us, the readers, that they're intelligent, amazing creatures that should be respected and even worshipped, as in Hindu religion. What's especially great about this novel is the way that it mixes an unflinching look at horror and brutality (Helen being abused by her father and rejected by her mother; fantasies of suicide; scenes of sexual predation as she hitchhikes; and much more) with a clear appreciation for the power of art and thinking (as well as the positive example of another assertive individual, Beatrix Potter) to help someone come into her own and leave her abusers behind.

"Once upon a time, there was a very bad rat..." So begins The Tale of One Bad Rat. And though it would seem a classic Beatrix Potter beginning, this tale is not hers, but is actually a graphic novel written and illustrated by British artist Bryan Talbot. For those unfamiliar with the term, graphic novels are essentially thick comic books, often collected from a series of individual comics. It's a format not entirely dissimilar to Beatrix Potter's own, and the similarities with her work do not end there. As in many of Potter's tales, Bad Rat's main character is one of unfortunate circumstance who has to see her way past the wicked foxes and ill-tempered farmers of her life to find her happily ever after. Instead of using an actual rat, though, Talbot introduces us to Helen Potter, a wildly imaginative, homeless teenager, whose only possessions are the Beatrix Potter books she took when she ran away from home and whose only friend is her small nameless pet rat. Helen's world on the streets of 1990s London is not an easy one. She gets by panhandling and through the kindness of her fellow street kids, but is plagued by occasional bursts of her own imagination. Among other things, she sees visions of possible ways to end her life, can see historic versions of her surroundings, can envision people as their animal counterparts and even imagine a giant version of her own pet rat. She views herself as a bad person-a bad rat. This psychologists tell us, is often the case among those who, like Helen, have been damaged by the all too common nightmare of parental abuse. It is the exploration of this important problem that forms the foundation for this story.Like her namesake, Helen's finds pleasure in drawing-whether doodling on her pants or copying Beatrix's illustrations from her books. Helen finds hope in the parallels she sees between her life and Beatrix's. She wishes more than anything else to leave London for the Lake District village of Sawrey, where Beatrix herself lived much of her life. After some unfortunate incidents involving the police, this is exactly what Helen does. Escaping London for the peaceful Sawrey brings her some happiness, but it does not allow her to escape her past. Finally facing that past and her abuser becomes Helen's ultimate quest toward her happy ending.In The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bryan Talbot has created a modern version of a Beatrix Potter story, filled with colorful true to life characters and villains every bit in Mr. McGregor's league. The story also serves as a love letter to the English Lake District and its various villages-a land of lush green mountains that were a passion of Beatrix Potter's for much of her life and served as the setting for many of her tales. He has also created a work about the terribly important issue of sexual abuse-especially considering that government studies estimate that one in three girls will be molested before they're eighteen, and that statistic is based only on the few cases that ar

This is one graphic novel you'd never encounter too frequently in a long time! It is a very illustrative and eye-opening tale about an unhappy English teenager who took her beloved rat and fled the chambers of horror which she would've called "home", which was haunted by her sexually abusive father and her haughty, unloving mother. After a whole series of very scary misadventures with sexual predators and pursuing policemen as well as begging for food and sharing a run-down room with a cocky young boy who leads a helping hand, Helen finally decides to turn around and face her worst enemy - who happens to be her own loving daddy. And, Helen also finds a very powerful inspiration in her most favorite author, Beatrix Potter - who probably had gone through the very same situation in her youth. Very clever storytelling and such beautiful, realistic artwork that truly glitters with a subtle element of fantasy and action adventure, though I found Helen's encounter with her perverted dad a bit too melodramatic and some of the characters depicted in the story are a bit ugly to look at, like the girl's mother, who is wearing too much make-up on her aging face. However, this is the very kind of creation I wish I can find on more and more of the graphic novels and comic books being produced today instead of just superheroes and oversexed young bimbos.

Many people shy away from grahic novels, thinking they are "just comics" or "full of violence and sex" (after all, we also use the word "graphic" in front of the words "violence" and "sex" all the time in movies and television). However, this book is not "just a comic".This graphic novel tells the story of Helen Potter, sexually abused by her father for years, who runs away from home, heading for the home of her favourite childhood author, Beatrix Potter. The book starts with Helen begging on the streets of London, before she heads north to find Hill Top Farm, Beatrix's home. The story of Helen's abuse at the hands of her father, and of the complete lack of feeling and neglect from her mother, is told through flashbacks, and as Helen talks to her pet rat. This is interspersed with Helen's journey north towards the Lake District, which mirrors her journey towards the eventual confrontation with her parents and with her own self.This book is a touching story of hope told in a graphic format that will reach an audience that a more traditonal text-based novel of this ilk might not reach. The illustrations are vivid, yet the characters are also realistically portrayed (none of the gravity-defying female body parts that show up in some graphic novels!). According to the author, this book is also being used in outreach and therapy programs for abused children and teens.This is a valuable book for any library to have.

I really enjoyed this trade paperback. I'm going to buy it for my friend as a Christmas present, because her situation kind of parallels the book... If you're not a Beatrix Potter fan, you will be...