Ok, this book really sent my emotions whirling, at times leaving me impressed with the unexpectedly good writing, and at other times disgusted with the subject matter, which happened to be grave-robbing, believe it or not. Rotters, by Daniel Kraus, is a grossly dark read, not only because a good deal of the story is spent six-feet under with too-accurately-described corpses, but even the peripheral events left me gagging and cringing.
Filled to the brim with mature topics, I found myself marveling that Rotters passed as a young adult book. Though set in modern times, with all its usual problems of drugs, suicide, bullying, and promiscuity, the author threw in the disjointed and disturbing underworld of grave-robbing, which added a Gothic darkness to the already opaque setting.
I found myself wondering what sort of person this Daniel Kraus is, who can write so vividly and at times eloquently about a world so disconnected from anything modern society would think is normal. That a modern teenager can so easily embrace the life of a grave-robber, with all the side-effects such a life-style entails--the smell of death that lingers, the caked dirt beneath the finger nails, the hooded eyes that have seen too much--well, I found it all just a bit too unbelievable, frankly.
Unless you are a fan of gross descriptions just for the thrill of the impact it has on your psyche, I would leave this one buried, which saddens me, since the author is clearly a talented writer. Sigh, oh well, onward and UPWARD.
~Karina
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