A review of Steve Ely's "Ratmen."
Amazingly good stuff. I'd finished Sick City by Tony O'Neill, so of course was worried there'd be nothing else that well-written. But greatly pleased to find my copy of Ely's book.
Which was sent to me by the publisher Geraint Hughes with the message "whadda think of this?" I'd ordered a Ridgwell, and asked if he had anything else that good.
Also mentioned he wasn't aware I lived in the States and shipping charges are outrageous! Told him to thank W Bush for destroying US Postal Service by trying to privatize it, as he'd done to the military.
Whereby all entry level jobs in food service, carpentry, personnel, heavy equipment, and so forth, are now done by private contractors like Bush's friends Halliburton (which Dick Cheney used to run) and Blackwater (run by Betsy Devos' brother).
Anyway, I regress. So Hughes sent me the book ten year ago, and I began reading after finishing the Ridgwell and fearing there'd be nothing that good left to read. But "Ratment" was so excellent, I started reviewing it at The Guardian whilst halfway through the book. (I used to send my reviews as comments in their reader section 'til they got wise to that.) And then all this stuff happened, and I quit reading and writing for lotta years.
So, back to the book. You know all those shows on Netflix, Amazon, HBO, that are 'sposed to be so clever? I betcha Steve Ely could write screen plays 'bout an eco-warrior that'd raise the hair up off the back yer neck down to yer arse. Cuz he writes that good, and seems to know exactly what he's writing about. So if everyone would read the book, we could all discuss it at Sam Jordison's discussion group, and try to figure out what it means.
I asked all these questions a decade ago: who're the rats? Immigrants flooding to Europe, minorities in other parts of the world, anyone who doesn't look like us? Or just filthy little vermin at war with humans for control of the planet, re: Bill Ectric's story 'bout Easter Island. If so, could be a metaphor for the Covidicus wot currently gots us in its grip.
But you see why we need a big discussion group for to input everyone's opinion. And so Hughes gotta re-publish it so everbuddy gots a copy. Anyway, I oughtta say something about the the book. Ely tells a great story - he's good at it. And writing like you're not gonna find elsewhere. The tone, the mood, is quiet deliberate desperation like ticking before it all blows up. One scene I'll mention: the kid on the bus going to work, sees the goth girl fondling her pet rat. She smiles and lets him hold her pet. He drop kicks it down the aisle and into the bus window. And the boss tells him "settling little scores got nothing to do with settling bigger scores."
Yeah, seriously good stuff.
