Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Rat Man of Paris

3.4/5 ( ratings)

While there are indeed various events and activities in the novel, most of the action takes place in the protagonist’s wandering mind. Etienne Poulsifer is known to most as the “Rat Man of Paris” for his habit of accosting strangers on the street and revealing a live rat hidden under his coat. Almost invariably, the startled or appalled passersby proffer money to dismiss Rat Man, who regards his actions as rituals for “tweaking the race. Helping it evolve.”

On one of his excursions, he meets Sharli Bandol, who is not frightened by his gesture and who invites him to her apartment for a meal. The two are immediately attracted to each other out of their mutual desire to give and receive affection. Their favorite pastime is to park on the runway approach at a nearby airport as the planes roar overhead and discuss anything and everything.

In his mental wanderings, Rat Man takes the reader back to the central events of his life—the Nazi occupation and near-total extermination of his village. While his parents are burned alive, the young Poulsifer hides under floorboards and is later reluctantly adopted by a fellow survivor, Madame R. On the surface, Rat Man appears to be a zombie as a result of these experiences, and often he feels only barely alive, yet he strives...

Language: English

Pages: 180

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Overlook Books

Release: September 01, 1993

ISBN: 0879515023

ISBN 13: 9780879515027

Rat Man of Paris

3.4/5 ( ratings)

While there are indeed various events and activities in the novel, most of the action takes place in the protagonist’s wandering mind. Etienne Poulsifer is known to most as the “Rat Man of Paris” for his habit of accosting strangers on the street and revealing a live rat hidden under his coat. Almost invariably, the startled or appalled passersby proffer money to dismiss Rat Man, who regards his actions as rituals for “tweaking the race. Helping it evolve.”

On one of his excursions, he meets Sharli Bandol, who is not frightened by his gesture and who invites him to her apartment for a meal. The two are immediately attracted to each other out of their mutual desire to give and receive affection. Their favorite pastime is to park on the runway approach at a nearby airport as the planes roar overhead and discuss anything and everything.

In his mental wanderings, Rat Man takes the reader back to the central events of his life—the Nazi occupation and near-total extermination of his village. While his parents are burned alive, the young Poulsifer hides under floorboards and is later reluctantly adopted by a fellow survivor, Madame R. On the surface, Rat Man appears to be a zombie as a result of these experiences, and often he feels only barely alive, yet he strives...

Language: English

Pages: 180

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Overlook Books

Release: September 01, 1993

ISBN: 0879515023

ISBN 13: 9780879515027

More books from Paul West

Ryder

3.6/5 ( ratings)

The Tent of Orange Mist

3.4/5 ( ratings)

The Women of Whitechapel and Jack the Ripper

3.2/5 ( ratings)

The Very Rich Hours of Count von Stauffenberg

Lord Byron's Doctor

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Secret Lives of Words

3.7/5 ( ratings)

Master Class: Scenes from a Fiction Workshop

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Words for a Deaf Daughter and Gala: A Fictional Sequel

4.2/5 ( ratings)

The Place in Flowers Where Pollen Rests

4.3/5 ( ratings)

Knockin' on Dylan's Door: On the Road in 74

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Pearl and the Pumpkin: A Classic Halloween Tale

3.2/5 ( ratings)

Sheer Fiction Volume Two

3.2/5 ( ratings)

Bela Lugosi's White Christmas

3.2/5 ( ratings)

The Shadow Factory

3.2/5 ( ratings)

Byron & the Spoiler's Art

3.2/5 ( ratings)

Sporting with Amaryllis

3.2/5 ( ratings)

The Universe, and Other Fictions

3.2/5 ( ratings)

I'm Expecting to Live Quite Soon

3.2/5 ( ratings)

My Mother's Music: A Memoir

3.2/5 ( ratings)

Tenement of Clay

3.2/5 ( ratings)

Rate this book!

Write a review?