Any author who decides to populate a piece of writing with talking animals is taking a risk.
​
Properly carried out, this approach can provide human readers with valuable insights into the fascinating alternative worlds that exist all around them — in other words, what it might be like to be a dog, or a parakeet, or even an earthworm.
On the other hand, this sort of anthromorphism can come across as nothing more than human characters wearing animal costumes, like guests at a Halloween party.
​
In his short novel “The Rat Reverend Clancy & the Seven Sacraments,” David Carter not only adheres to that middle line, but dances gleefully along it. Using a playful yet perceptive alchemy, he manages to make us pay attention to what the characters have to say while never forgetting what they are (or are not). That’s not easy to accomplish. Moreover, he takes this tale even further, making it a clever examination of religion.
​
By now, there are very few humans on the planet who have not heard of Christianity, or do not at least follow some alternative philosophy involving the worship of a divine entity. But in creating the character of Clancy, a church-dwelling rodent who is inspired to preach the gospel by covertly listening to Sunday services, he raises the intriguing question: How would someone with an evangelical bent introduce Christianity to a worm, or a pigeon, or a vulture? What makes this work is that Clancy himself is new to his faith, which means he has to sort out its various ethical and practical dilemmas before he can convert others. If you look hard enough, you can identify some of the book’s characters as being allegorical, and Clancy’s admiration for the Rev. Silas DeBassompierre — his unwitting landlord — opens the door to an examination of the gospel as preached by well-meaning but flawed human beings.
​
With all that, though, this isn’t really a “Christian” novel.” Authors working that side of the street generally assume a certain amount of knowledge and mutual understanding on the part of the reader, but “The Rat Reverend” strips religion down to its bare bones. In the process, Carter spins an endearing and whimsical story that is suitable for a wide range of age groups and quite relatable to non-Christians without offending the devout. The book is divided into seven chapters, each representing a sacrament, and its humor (the title, for example) flows beneath the surface but is ever present.
​
The final product is a book that any worm, vulture or human might enjoy.”
Darrell Laurant, author of The Kudzu Kid
