Ratface - Softcover

Disher, Garry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0207180199 ISBN 13: 9780207180194

Publisher: Angus & Robertson, 1993

Synopsis

Max and Christina live on an isolated farm with their "parents", Slinger and Moaner. It soon becomes apparent the adults are enthralled by a charismatic religious leader, nicknamed Ratface. Garry Disher is the author of "Personal Best", "Personal Best 2" and "The Stencil Man".

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5-7-An isolated mountain farm is the setting for this fast-paced though unlikely story of escape and betrayal. Max and Christine have been raised as siblings as members of the White League. The teens' adoptive parents, derisively called Slinger and Moaner behind their backs, are kindly but ineffectual. Cult matters are directed by a sleazy man they nickname Ratface, who indoctrinates and controls members using a combination of physical isolation, racist propaganda, and electric fences. When a new child, Stefan, is kidnapped and insinuated into their home, Max and Christine conspire to rescue him. Their escape is complicated by their ignorance, fear, and confusion about the outside world, and by their betrayal by almost everyone they encounter. Stefan (who is ill and must be carried most of the way) somehow finds the strength to knock Ratface from the train they're riding (without seriously hurting him apparently) only to find that all is for naught. The "surprise" ending is that Slinger and Moaner have finally concluded that Ratface is, indeed, a bad guy. Readers never really get a sense of the characters in this plot-driven novel. Stereotypes abound, from the newspaper reporter who abandons the kids for her story to the weak, easily dominated "parents." YAs may not object, however, as the story plunges ahead a la Julian Thompson. It is reminiscent, too, of C. Stevermer's River Rats (Harcourt, 1992) in the generally dark mood and quick moving, if unrealistic, action.
Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Readers hoping for another The Bamboo Flute, the Australian author's American debut, will not find it here. In place of the lyricism of that novel, Disher offers up a highly wrought, dystopian tale of two teenagers who escape from the clutches of a supremacist organization. Max and Christina, believing themselves orphaned, live with adoptive parents on a remote farm owned by the cultish White League. When a reporter disturbs the status quo by presenting them with unsettling facts about the cult's revered Leader, as well as the possibility that their real parents might still be alive, a crisis of confidence ensues. The balance is finally tipped when the teens' "uncle"-a fanatical senior League official whom they dub "Ratface"-shows up at the farm with a new child, a seven-year-old boy who has clearly been kidnapped. Max and Christina flee, determined to return their new "brother" to his real parents-and perhaps search for their own. Disher narrowly avoids melodrama and, while the characters, especially the adults, are stereotypical and one-dimensional, his story achieves moments of heart-pounding suspense. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Angus & Robertson
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0207180199
• ISBN 13: 9780207180194
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 212