Rotters by Daniel Kraus

Joey is 16 years old, and getting an A in all of his classes is very important for him. At least, that's what the text says in the book, though by his actions, it is very difficult to come to that conclusion. What kind of straight A student practically fails out of and gives up on school? Anyway, his mom dies at the beginning, though that part was kind of confusing, and I was left wondering whether she had actually died and how for a while. He goes off to live with the father who he's never heard of. At school, he is immediately picked on by the other students. These characters, though they don't really deserve to be described as characters, more like names on a page, are extremely superficial. They see Joey's dad, Harnett, as a bad garbage man who hasn't ever picked up anyone's garbage. Joey soon finds out why. Harnett is a grave robber, and is part of a secret society of grave robbers called Diggers. Joey ruins his life when he decides that he wants to be a grave digger too, and the story spirals away.

The story as a whole just didn't make sense. Really, a secret society of grave robbers? And they each have their own special "instrument," a shovel, that they love, and name, and is perfect just for them. That's taking the whole thing a little far. And one of the characters literally falls apart during the book. That does not happen. No one can just pull their eyes out and stab themselves in various places every day and still be able to dig up over 20 graves in a night. Joey starts going insane partway through, and the book becomes very difficult to read. Someone needs to point out to Joey that skeletons don't give advice and that signs from writhing masses of rats are probably bad. Also, I think Kraus made Joey pray to a two-fingered Jesus just to make the book even more bizarre than it already was. Bizarre is not always good, especially when taken too far.

The book is worthy of a 1.7. It was not well written, the plot was ridiculous, and the characters were awful. Kraus seemed to concentrate more on effects, rather than causes and development. It is comparable to a rotten banana; it was mushy and not very appetizing. It was hard to read, much like a rotten banana would be hard to eat.