Skip to main content

story identification - Looking for surrealist/ridicule book about a boy with a wingsuit


I've been looking for the name of that book for a time now, I remember it to be quite funny. Here is what I remember about it:




  • I read it in French.

  • I remember that it was a book for kids (from 8 to 12 years old I think)

  • It was read to me when I was little by my mother (so I read it between 2005-2010)

  • The main protagonist was a boy who lived in some kind of sewer system or underground, he goes to the surface at the start of the book.

  • I think he had a family member living with him, possibly his grandpa.

  • There is a city on the surface, I think the boy went there to scavenge/steal supplies or other stuff.

  • He used some kind of handmade wingsuit to hover from roof to roof. I don't remember if he could properly fly with it.

  • I remember that cheese was seen as a very valuable ressource.

  • There was a ridicule/surrealist feel to the story.

  • There were water cows. Actual cows that lived in the water. Not manatees.


  • There were walking cheese roulette which were hunted, I think there is a hunting scene at the start of the book. I think that the boy witnessing the scene put him into trouble. This would also explain why cheese was so valuable

  • I think there was some kind of cult/scientist which created a large abominations using cheese.

  • I remember that the main character spends some time with talking pirate rats.

  • The talking pirate rats own a laundry business on a ship.

  • The rat's captain is elected democratically each year or so.

  • I think the protagonist and the rats overthrow the cult at some point but one of the rats falls into a pool of cheese which makes him grow into some kind of severely obese rat, like really big.

  • To save the obese thing, they huddle him onto their boats and then, using some kind of tool, they pump the fat/flesh/cheese out of the rat and send it into ladies's butts. (They also launched some kind of operation to make big butts popular.)



Answer



This is the first volume of the Ratbridge chronicles by Alan Snow, entitled Here be monsters! (2005, published in France in 2008). French and original covers:




From Goodreads:



Welcome to Ratbridge. But beware—for there is skulduggery afoot. Young Arthur has fallen foul of the appalling outlaw, Snatcher, and is trapped alone in the town with every way home sealed.


Meanwhile Snatcher and his men are working tirelessly in secret on a fiendish and dastardly plan to take over—and destroy—the entire town. With the help of Willbury Nibble, QC; some friendly boxtrolls and cabbageheads; Marjorie the frustrated inventor; and the rats and pirates from the Ratbridge Nautical Laundry, can Arthur thwart Snatcher’s evil plans—and find his way home?



You read that in French, so this review might be of interest. Here are some key points and their rough translation:



Bon-Papa vit au milieu de ces créatures, dans un sous-terrain aménagé. Il a pris sous sa protection le jeune Arthur qui remonte régulièrement à la surface pour trouver de la nourriture.


Pops lives with these creatures, in a refitted underground. He's taken young Arthur under his protection, and the latter often comes up to the surface to scavenge for food.




Fits the "family member" you were describing.



Le jeune Arthur parvient à s'échapper mais la bande de Grapnard lui dérobe la machine qui lui permet de voler [...]


Young Arthur manages to escape, but Grapnard's crew steals his flying machine [...]



Fits the wingsuit.



Vous croiserez ainsi dans ce livre une vache marine d'eau douce, des fromages sur pattes, des rats pirates devenus gérants d'une laverie automatique [...]


In this book, you will encounter a freshwater cow, pawed cheese, pirates rats turned managers of a laundry shop [...]




If you're interested in how I found it, I searched for "roman vache eau rat fromage" ("novel cow water rat cheese") in Google, and this review came up in the results.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir

the lord of the rings - Why is Gimli allowed to travel to Valinor?

Gimli was allowed to go to Valinor despite not being a ring bearer. Is this explained in detail or just with the one line "for his love for Galadriel"? Answer There's not much detail about this aside from what's said in Appendix A to Return of the King: We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Glóin's son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But it is said that Gimli went also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and it may be that she, being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him. More cannot be said of this matter. And Appendix B: Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf . And when that sh

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l

What is the etymology of Doctor Who?

I recently decided to watch Doctor Who, and started viewing the 2005 version. I have the first two episodes from the first season, and I can't help but wonder what is the etymology of the name "Doctor Who"? And why does the protagonist call himself "the Doctor" (or is it "the doctor")? Answer In the very first episode of Doctor Who (way back in 1963), the Doctor has a granddaughter going by the name "Susan Foreman", and the junkyard where the TARDIS is has the sign "I.M. Foreman". Barbara, who becomes one of the Doctor's companions, calls him "Doctor Foreman" (probably assuming that is his name given his relationship to Susan), and Ian (another early companion) does the same in the second episode, to which the Doctor says: Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about? "Foreman" is most likely selected as a convenient surname for Susan to use because it happened to be on display near where the TARDIS landed.