RATS SAW GOD

by Rob Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1996

Driven by a rigid, controlling father and a broken heart, an overachiever tries drug-induced alienation but can't quite bring it off in this funny, high-energy debut. Given a choice between summer school and producing a hundred typewritten pages on any subject, high school senior Steve York taps out, a few pages at a time (and in a different typeface from the rest of the narrative), an account of his triumphant, traumatic junior year, from the high of falling in love with Dub, a classmate, to the low of finding her with a teacher late one night. In between, Thomas fills this--and a parallel plotline in which Steve straightens himself out in the course of his final semester--with subplots and set pieces: the rise and fall of the school's Dadaist club; dates, buying condoms, and fumbling through first sex; the thawing of Steve's relationship with his astronaut father. Readers will take heart from the way Steve grows past his rebellion as they laugh at the plethora of comic situations and sharply set up, well-executed punchlines.

Pub Date: June 1, 1996

ISBN: 1416938974

Page Count: 219

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1996

Categories: CHILDREN'S