Book description
This is a novel told through the voice of a rat. Firmin is born in the
basement of a ramshackle old bookstore but because he is the runt of the
litter, he is forced to compete for food and ends up chewing on the
books that surround him. Firmin soon realizes his source of nourishment
has endowed him with the ability to read and this discovery fills him
with an insatiable hunger for literature and a very unratlike sense of
the world and his place in it. As Firmin navigates the shadowy streets
of his decaying area, looking for understanding, his excitement,
loneliness, fear, and self-consciousness become remarkably human and
undeniably touching. But the days of the bookshop and of the close
community around it are numbered. The area has been marked out for
'urban regeneration' and soon the faded glory of the bookshop, the small
local theatre, the unique shops and small cafes will face the bulldozers
and urban planners. Brilliantly original and richly allegorical, Firmin
is brimming with charm and wistful longing for a world that understands
the redemptive power of literature and treasures its seedy theaters,
one-of-a-kind characters, and cluttered bookshops. A native of South
Carolina now living in Madison, Wisconsin, Sam Savage received his
bachelor and doctoral degrees in Philosophy from Yale University where
he taught briefly. He has worked as a bicycle mechanic, carpenter,
commercial fisherman and letterpress printer. This is his first novel.
