Review: TO CATCH A RAT
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 20, 2012
Doug, Ellen and their small baby Jeffrey are on vacation at Martha's Vineyard. Doug had not been sure that Ellen would agree to go on their usual two week vacation. Their marriage was on rocky ground at the moment. Shortly after Jeffrey was born, Doug was feeling a little neglected by Ellen, so he had engaged in a small indiscretion. But Ellen had found out and their relationship was strained. Then their first night is when the rat makes its presence known. Doug knows he must kill the rat, if only to prove to Ellen that she can rely on him again.What a wonderful find this short story is, I am not usually a lover of short stories they tend to lack detail and characterisation. But that certainly was not the case here. The writer easily imparts the tension between Ellen and Doug to the reader. Doug had behaved stupidly and he knew it. Ellen seemed determined to make him suffer. I loved the way the author described how Doug was feeling, that Doug had lost his instinct of how to be with Ellen.The rat symbolises more than just a verminous rodent, it becomes the means to Doug of regaining Ellen's trust.