I love rats, or at least the domesticated kind. I've had several pet rats over the years, I collect rat-related things, and I even used my love of rats as inspiration for a large research project in college. My coworkers know how much I like rats, and, when one of them found this book in her personal collection, she gave it to me to borrow.
I admit, I've never read anything by Jules Verne before. I've always associated Verne with adventure stories and science fiction, so finding out about this book was a surprise. It's the story of a young man named Ratin and a family composed of a mother (Ratonne), a father (Raton), their daughter (Ratine), her cousin (Raté), the family's cook (Rata), and the family's maid (Ratane). The world they live in includes something that seems very much like reincarnation, without the dying – every being moves up and down a ladder of existence, transforming into higher and lower beings based on aspects of their own lives or on the whims good fairies or evil magicians. On the lowest rung of the ladder of creation are mollusks. Then come fish, birds, quadrupeds, and finally human beings.
