Firmin by Sam Savage

What initially drew me to purchase Firmin was the unique shape of the book. I have trouble browsing physical books in a bookstore without buying anything. When my fingers found the large bite mark that was taken out of the side of the trade paperback, I knew I had to buy it. Any company that would publish a book about a rat and then take a bite out of the book as if a rat had been chewing on it, had a good marketing team. Coffee House Press knew what it was doing.

Savage's character, Firmin, is both funny and likable. He has a witty/dry sense of humor as he relates his tale of living in Pembroke Books and eating the pages of the many books. This is how Firmin learns to read. I identified with Firmin from the get go, especially when he told of how he was the odd rat out when it came to nursing as a baby rat. His mother birthed one more rat than she had nipples, which led to Firmin's runt status in the litter.

I won't give away more of the plot, but I will say that although there are illustrations in the book and the bite out of the side were cute, I wouldn't recommend assuming that Firmin is a children's book. There are a lot of very adult topics covered, not the least of which that Firmin finds a good deal of food from the floor of a movie theater that shows porn flicks after the regular crowd of movie goers has left for the day. With that said, Firmin is not an erotica work by any means, but I wouldn't just hand the book to a ten year old.

I give Firmin 3 and a half stars.

What holds me back from giving it a higher rating was the price. The list price I paid was $12.00 for a 165 page book. The other thing holding me back from giving it a higher rating is that Firmin's character is hard to really get into at first. He uses a lot of academic words (because he read/ate all the books in Pembroke Bookstore). Compared to later chapters, the beginning is a little hard to follow if the reader hasn't read all of the books referenced. For a story about a rat, the language could have been toned down a little in the beginning when the reader needs to be hooked.

For images of Firmin, check out:

http://www.amazon.com/Firmin-Sam-Savage/dp/0385342659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239499798&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Firmin-Adventures-Metropolitan-Sam-Savage/dp/1566891817/ref=sr_oe_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239499798&sr=1-1

I was unable to find a website or blog for Sam Savage to include in my sidebar. If you happen to know of one, please either email me at jenredkissed[at]gmail[dot]com or add a comment to this posting.

~Jen