Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - Robert C O'Brien
First published 1971.
I remember reading this book in my later years of primary school and quite enjoying it. I also remember it had a fairly melancholic tone to it for a children's book. Having re-read it now I can confirm that both of those sentiments still hold true. The fact that the author of this book also wrote Z For Zachariah, a classic Young Adult novel that I also remember enjoying as a youth and that also has a melancholic tone, is not a surprise.
Mrs Frisby is a mother of four children, one of whom is sick. She is a widow, her husband having died a year earlier. She is also a field-mouse. O'Brien anthropomorphizes all of the animals in this book to some degree and never really explains to what extent this is the case. The animals are all 'normal' animals (with the exception of the rats and some particular mice, as I will explain), yet they also carry things, have homes with (to some degree) furniture, and even sit down on chairs. In terms of the titular 'rats of NIMH', this makes sense. Mrs Frisby, seeking to find a way of saving the life of her sick son, is put in contact with these rats, who, it turns out, are escaped lab rats with greatly increased intelligence and life-span. So for them to have furniture makes sense, as they are somewhat 'advanced.' Yet Mrs Frisby also has some of these elements, and although her late husband has had some connection with the rats, she herself is never suggested to have been anything more than an ordinary rodent.
So that is all very strange.
The story itself takes a few chapters to really get going, but the chapters are fairly short, more 'scenes' than full chapters, and so if the reader takes a few at a time this is not a drawback. Once the plot has revealed itself there are a few twists and turns along the way, including encounters with cats, owls, farmers, and even scientists hoping to recapture the missing rats.
There is also, as I mentioned, a slightly melancholic feel to the story. The rats are separated from the rest of rat-kind by their genetic mutations and must risk their lives to survive; Mrs Frisby mourns the death of her husband and faces the very real chance that one of her children will die; and by the end of the novel at least one main character may in fact have sacrificed their life to save other characters.
The book also leaves a number of plot-threads dangling that could allow for a sequel.
A book I have a soft spot for.
Completed with Elise, 9 October 2020.
(Elise Books)
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