spoilers-spoilers-spoilers-spoilers-spoilers-spoilers
Shiny golden sticker is VERY deserved.
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I've been trying to find a copy of this book to read for nearly five months. Each time I walked into Barnes and Noble I would check the children's section, look for it amongst the other Newbery Award winners, and leave disappointed.
AND THEN ONE DAY...
I walked five feet to the right, looked at the other O's in the children's section, and found it. One copy. One last copy.
So I took this book, practically hopping out of my shoes with excitement, I made a beeline for the checkout counter, and I bought that book and I read it. And it was good. Very good. Better than I expected it to be.
The reason I wanted to read this book, and the reason I was so adamant about finding it, was because I had recently watched the Don Bluth film adaptation and a friend of mine had told me that the movie was based off a novel. Surprised--though, in hindsight, I'm not entirely sure why--by this, I set out to find, read, and conquer said novel. And, as previously, stated, the search was a long and arduous one from which I did emerge victorious (if not slightly confused as to why my beloved Barnes and Noble didn't stock more copies for other people to discover).
I've been trying to find a copy of this book to read for nearly five months. Each time I walked into Barnes and Noble I would check the children's section, look for it amongst the other Newbery Award winners, and leave disappointed.
AND THEN ONE DAY...
I walked five feet to the right, looked at the other O's in the children's section, and found it. One copy. One last copy.
So I took this book, practically hopping out of my shoes with excitement, I made a beeline for the checkout counter, and I bought that book and I read it. And it was good. Very good. Better than I expected it to be.
The reason I wanted to read this book, and the reason I was so adamant about finding it, was because I had recently watched the Don Bluth film adaptation and a friend of mine had told me that the movie was based off a novel. Surprised--though, in hindsight, I'm not entirely sure why--by this, I set out to find, read, and conquer said novel. And, as previously, stated, the search was a long and arduous one from which I did emerge victorious (if not slightly confused as to why my beloved Barnes and Noble didn't stock more copies for other people to discover).
This book blindsided me.
Not because it wasn't as good as my five-month-long search wanted it to be--it was, believe me--but because I didn't expect a children's book to be such a thorough mix of lighthearted banter and dark, serious undertones. Yes, maybe that was a weird thing for me to not expect, since I have read other children's novels (to clarify, "children's" translates roughly into "books written for kids between the ages of eight and twelve") and was, when I finished them, surprised again by the mixture of witty banter and dark, serious undertones. Perhaps it was even stranger that I didn't suspect it, because I had already seen the movie. I knew what was going to happen. I knew how, to be frank, creepy the story was.
Maybe I thought that the darker side of the movie was simple director's interpretation? I don't know where my thought process was coming from. But it was derailed rather quickly.
Maybe I thought that the darker side of the movie was simple director's interpretation? I don't know where my thought process was coming from. But it was derailed rather quickly.
But I appreciate this book for it's ability to take a subject that one would automatically categorize as lighthearted and discuss some truly serious things with it. A book about mice and rats living on a quaint little farm? Insert underlying themes about the devotion of a mother, the curelty of animal testing. Ask if it's right to commit immoral acts in order to maintain a flourishing civilization. Toss in a little sacrifice for the greater good. Like Watership Down and Felidae, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH tackles themes and issues far beyond the scope of its characters. And maybe, by doing that, it makes its point all the better.
The book isn't entirely about Mrs. Frisby. There's actually a large chunk set aside not for the mother trying to take care of her ailing child, but for the rats of NIMH themselves. While Mrs. Frisby's problem is one taken care of rather quickly and without a sweat (as opposed to how, in the movie, it was something of a traumatic ordeal involving bloodshed and near-drowning), the rats have a backstory and a future much more complex. Not only do they have to deal with the physical problem of avoiding the scientists from the Nation Institute of Mental Health, but they must deal with the moral conflict that rises within them when they grow intelligent enough to thrive in a civilized, clean manner. They don't want to become a society dependent on stealing from humans. They have developed a conscious and morals, and they struggle to appease the angels on their shoulders.
The rats are what really make the book interesting, at least in my opinion. Their lives tangle other characters into one huge domino-effect spiderweb, and it's through them that Mrs. Frisby becomes an intriguing character at all. They make the story more than the two-dimensional plot line I was expecting.
The book isn't entirely about Mrs. Frisby. There's actually a large chunk set aside not for the mother trying to take care of her ailing child, but for the rats of NIMH themselves. While Mrs. Frisby's problem is one taken care of rather quickly and without a sweat (as opposed to how, in the movie, it was something of a traumatic ordeal involving bloodshed and near-drowning), the rats have a backstory and a future much more complex. Not only do they have to deal with the physical problem of avoiding the scientists from the Nation Institute of Mental Health, but they must deal with the moral conflict that rises within them when they grow intelligent enough to thrive in a civilized, clean manner. They don't want to become a society dependent on stealing from humans. They have developed a conscious and morals, and they struggle to appease the angels on their shoulders.
The rats are what really make the book interesting, at least in my opinion. Their lives tangle other characters into one huge domino-effect spiderweb, and it's through them that Mrs. Frisby becomes an intriguing character at all. They make the story more than the two-dimensional plot line I was expecting.
Now, as for the movie...
I never expected the movie to be a perfect adaptation of the book. I never expect that. Wanting that is bound only to lead to disappointment, as there are certain things that a movie simply must add or subtract to translate nicely from written form.
But I do usually expect the movie to be good. And, maybe because I watched it before I read the book, I felt Don Bluth's The Secret of NIMH reflected everything about the original source material that made it good. And though it did add things that don't make a whole lot of sense now that I've read the novel (-cough- the magic pendant?), they were necessary and slipped into the plot as gracefully as I imagine they could be. People absolutely against reading the book: go watch the movie. I won't hate you for it or anything.
I promise.
But I do usually expect the movie to be good. And, maybe because I watched it before I read the book, I felt Don Bluth's The Secret of NIMH reflected everything about the original source material that made it good. And though it did add things that don't make a whole lot of sense now that I've read the novel (-cough- the magic pendant?), they were necessary and slipped into the plot as gracefully as I imagine they could be. People absolutely against reading the book: go watch the movie. I won't hate you for it or anything.
I promise.
Here: an excerpt.
"I have lived in this tree, in this same hollow," the owl said, "for more years than anyone can remember. But now, when the wind blows hard in winter and rocks the forest, I sit here in the dark and from deep down in the bole, down near the roots, I hear a new sound. It is the sound of strands of wood creaking in the cold and snapping one by one. The limbs are falling; the tree is old, and it is dying. Yet I cannot bring myself, after so many years, to leave, to find a new home and move into it, perhaps to fight for it. I, too, have grown old. One of these days, one of these years, the tree will fall, and when it does, if I am still alive, I will fall with it."