User:Lauradallago

Book Review The Mouse That Roared In recent years there have been many satires written revolving around the war on terror. If you are in love with combining history with humor then I have a suggestion for you. I think that you should read The Mouse That Roared by Leonard Wibberley. The author does a wonderful job of uniquely combining the world’s history and humor in a satisfying feel good story of a rising country. While I have read many different satires this action packed humorous novel is a must read for all readers, from comedy lovers to history buffs. What draws me to this novel specifically is the message that Wibberley wishes to leave the reader with and his humorous ways of hinting at it. Wibberley chooses to poke fun at warfare and specifically at the arms race that took place during the cold war. He satirizes the big, powerful nations of this world by having a tiny country attack, fight win a war with the United States. Wibberley cleverly names the novel The Mouse That Roared making the title of the book entirely satirical. The novel allows the reader sink deep onto the lives of citizens of the small European country, the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. The book begins with thrusting the reader into the economic problems of the small nation and their plans to help restore the economy. Wibberley wants the reader to sympathize for the nation who is misplaced in the modern world. The Duchess, who is head of the nation, quickly realizes that the only way for the Duchy of Grand Fenwick to stay economically stable is to go at war with a strong nation. The reader is lead to believe that the Duchy is doomed to lose a war with a stronger and significantly bigger nation. The interesting thing is that the Duchy plans on losing the war, and then using money given to them to rebuild their country to help boost the economy. The plan is in fact ingenious, and had no reason not to work. As Wibberley starts the satire, the Duchy defeats the United States. Wibberley uses many of the elements of satire in his book however the most evident element is irony. The entire book is ironic from the beginning to the end. The Duchy of Grand Fenwick attacking the United States and successfully defeating them is extremely ironic. Wibberley puts the reader through many different examples of irony throughout the book. When I first read the book I found myself shocked by each passing page I read. I believe that there are two targets of Wibberley’s satire. The first target is patriotism. Wibberley believes that patriotism is overrated. He thinks that humans should be patriotic to mankind instead of a specific country. In the book Wibberley writes “….He turned and walked back towards the Castle of Grand Fenwick.” At this point in the book Dr. Kokintz was given the opportunity to leave the country of grand Fenwick and go back to his homeland America. Dr. Kokintz decides not to return home at that moment because of the talk he had just encountered with Mr. Bascomb. Dr. Kokintz got in a quarrel over patriotism of a country verse mankind. Mr. Bascomb believes that all countries should be treated equally and that the bigger countries should not get the bigger benefits. He believes that all humans should care about what is happening to other human, no matter what their nationality. Wibberley focuses on this target of his satire through many events in the book. The reader notices this target when Wibberley writes about Tully’s philosophy on government systems, Dr. Kokintz’s argument in the forest, and Dr. Kokintz’s choice to stay in the Duchy of Grand Fenwick. I enjoyed this book because the other target of satire is warfare. Wibberley mocks both Middle Ages warfare and modern day warfare. Wibberley believes that today’s wars and weapons have been blown way out of proportion and he feels the arms race must stop. He satirizes the arms race previously held with the former USSR with the Q bomb. The Q bomb is a bomb that was developed by the United States that can wipe out an entire continent. Wibberley questions the need for powerful weapons of mass destruction or so called peace weapons. I really enjoyed reading this exhilarating satire about a small country with a lot hope. The book was amusing and interesting. The author clearly hammers home with his beliefs on patriotism and the warfare in today’s society. I loved this book and would highly recommend it as a terrific, humorous, yet meaningful story.