Rat Catching

Rating:
Summary: Studies in Rat Catching
Review: I really wish Azon had a picture of the book to display on their website, as it's quite attractive. It's a smallish, hardbound book with black and gold inlay on a deep, red cover with a silhouette of a prancing rat.

As other reviewers have stated, this is not really a book in the normal sense, one that you would sit down with in your reading chair and pour over, but more of a piece of conceptual art. What Mr. Glover has done is take a book originally published around 1896 about a study in rat catching and modify it with edits, artwork, and pictures. Many times the artwork and pictures will obscure some of the text, which can make reading of the book difficult, but it could be that this book really wasn't meant to be read, but just experienced as a visual form of expressionism.

The book ties in with a CD released by Crispin Hellion Glover called 'Big Problem Does Not Equal the Solution. The Solution = Let It Be.' in that he reads passages from the book, with music by Barnes and Barnes.

An interesting book from an interesting artist, but I would be hard pressed to recommend this for everyone. It's not that I don't think people would understand it, even though I don't quite get it myself, but then that's part of the appeal to me. I don't have to understand something to enjoy it. By the way, the copy I got from Amazon has Glover's signature (I'm pretty sure it's his, as it ain't mine) near the front, in gaudy silver paint marker.

Rating:
Summary: Studies in Rat Catching
Review: I really wish Azon had a picture of the book to display on their website, as it's quite attractive. It's a smallish, hardbound book with black and gold inlay on a deep, red cover with a silhouette of a prancing rat.

As other reviewers have stated, this is not really a book in the normal sense, one that you would sit down with in your reading chair and pour over, but more of a piece of conceptual art. What Mr. Glover has done is take a book originally published around 1896 about a study in rat catching and modify it with edits, artwork, and pictures. Many times the artwork and pictures will obscure some of the text, which can make reading of the book difficult, but it could be that this book really wasn't meant to be read, but just experienced as a visual form of expressionism.

The book ties in with a CD released by Crispin Hellion Glover called 'Big Problem Does Not Equal the Solution. The Solution = Let It Be.' in that he reads passages from the book, with music by Barnes and Barnes.

An interesting book from an interesting artist, but I would be hard pressed to recommend this for everyone. It's not that I don't think people would understand it, even though I don't quite get it myself, but then that's part of the appeal to me. I don't have to understand something to enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: INSANE.
Review: Let me put it this way- after reading all the reviews here, reviews on Crispin fan sites and other places, those do not do this book justice. They make it sound like it's a very artistic and "out there" book. No. This book is crazier than anything you could ever imagine. In fact, I use the term "book" very loosely here. And don't think I'm trying to insult Mr. Glover here, as I worship that guy and everything he does (even his current 23 year old girlfriend is fine with me). But this isn't like any regular, or even abnormal book. I'm tempted to just scan a few pages and let you see for yourself to try and understand what's going on here. A few people say it's about studies of rat catching, as the title suggests, but it only truely is for the first couple of pages. Then it goes off into...oh you'll see for yourself. Pictures of plague victims, old sketches of disected animals (usually skinned), pictures of dead chickens, piglets lined up dead on the ground, pictures showing a platypus' baby and how small it is in the human hand, and much more.

In all honesty, I doubt this book could've ever been published if it weren't printed by his family. Again, I'm not insulting him, but who would pick this thing up? This is a bad comparison, but if you've seen the secret Kid A and Amnesiac booklets from Radiohead's albums, then that's about 1/19 of what to expect here. Insane pictures joining text about the Sand-Pit Man and how terrible he is don't make any sense, not to me anyway. But as the previous reviewer stated, that's part of why I love the book. There isn't a whole lot to "get". In fact, if you do "get" this book in the first read, email me and let me know. Because after a few more, I'm still not even sure I got a message if there was one. But who cares? The book is enjoyable. There isn't a whole lot of text. There are a few pages comprised of text with bits edited here and there, but the majority of the book is drawings as I mentioned above. A lot of them are pretty depressing. One in particular is found near the end: A Little Child Shall Lead Them. Just looking at it for a second makes me feel cold and distant...and here it's not even supposed to be sad. It's a very happy, inspiring picture. Maybe it's just because it was after the other darker pictures.

Finally, you can see the beauty of Rat Catching on Amazon. Well, the cover anyway. And I'm pretty sure the ones you can order here are signed by Mr. Glover as well (what with it saying "signed" in the product info and all). You can finish the book fairly quickly in one sitting since 2/3 of it are pictures. And I'm sure if you're a Crispin fan [and why wouldn't you be if you're looking up his books?] you'll love the ending. I actually laughed when it was over at the chaos of it all. Be sure to pick this up with his album since it has selected readings from it. Oh Crispin, how I love you.

Edit: Correction. I just got What It Is And How It Is Done in the mail today (11-13-2004) and it's the single most screwed up thing in the world. I know I just said that about Rat Catching here, but really, Rat Catching is a connect-the-dots book compared to this thing. Get it if you ever see it on eBay. Amazon doesn't carry it or have it listed unfortunately.

Rating:
Summary: Crispin Glover is a Beat genuis!
Review: Rat Catching isn't exactly a normal book, as in one you pull off the shelf for a page to page read. What Crispin has done is a very William Burroughs-like cut and paste method, taking an old book from the 1800s and re-doing it his own way. This includes cutting out words, adding new ones, inserting odd photos and text captions, and illustrations and.. umm, blots. It isn't easy to describe. It's unusual, it's creative. It's almost like Andy Warhol's influence slipped in to give Crispin some spark. If you enjoy seeing Crispin in his offbeat movie roles and his music album, you should think about this one for your shelf.

Rating:
Summary: I Must Be Missing Something
Review: This has to be one of the strangest concepts and executions I have ever born witness to. Actor Crispin Glover, best known as George McFly from Back To the Future, takes a book written in the late 1800's about catching vermin and randomly inserts several sketches and ink blots, as well as changing the text when he doesn't like the way things are going, before releasing this thin "book" under his own name. Long known as an eccentric(check out some of his recordings,)this certainly comes close to broaching the line of full blown insanity. Interesting only as a curious example of "outsider art," Rat Catching is best approached cautiously, and preferably while intoxicated.

Rating:
Summary: Silly silly
Review: This is an excellant book by the genius Crispin Glover..... His mother actually runs the publishing company, volcanic eruptions, that also sells these books for $25, and for an additional $2 shipping, you can get these books signed by mister glover himself... i really do not know why people would buy from amazon when they could get their very own signed copy of three of mister glovers wonderful books. members.aol.com/vlcncrptns/VolcanicEruptions

Rating:
Summary: More important than the bible....
Review: This is more than a book. It's as if God Himself decided to reach-down from above and create a tome of enlightenment, one illustrated-page at a time. BRILLIANT. Buy two copies and leave one in yr local hotel's dresser-drawer. You'll be glad you did.