Deadeye Dick (Paladin Books) (Panther Books)

by Kurt Vonnegut

Rudy Waltz hasn't had it easy. After accidentally committing manslaughter at the age of twelve, the traumas life continued to throw at him seemed almost inconsequential.

Now fifty-four, an expat living in Haiti, he's reliving the harrowing moments of his life that have left him in his current disillusioned state. But perhaps his ancestors, among them a father who was an unwitting patron of Adolf Hitler, have predestined him for the mad life he's lead.

In Deadeye Dick Vonnegut expertly probes the ties between generations, and questions the conventional notions of morality.

‘Vonnegut is George Orwell, Dr Caligari and Flash Gordon compounded into one writer … a zany but moral mad scientist’ Time
‘The master at his quirky, provocative best’ Cosmopolitan

• ISBN13: 9780008264321
• Publish Date: 11 July 2019 (first published 1 January 1981)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Fourth Estate Ltd
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 192
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[clementine]

3.5 stars

I can really never complain about Vonnegut's writing - he knew how to turn a phrase. His prose is deceptively simple but so direct and acerbic. Vonnegut's academic background in anthropology comes out clearly in Rudy Waltz's voice: he seems so far removed from humanity (perhaps as a result of his traumatic childhood), not necessarily sub-human but somehow inhuman, and he describes humanity with detachment that is borne of his alienness rather than sociopathy. However, I think the book lacks focus overall. It's enjoyable but definitely not one of my favourite Vonnegut novels (and I've now read 10).

[jamiereadthis]

Even “lesser” Vonnegut (is this lesser Vonnegut? is there such a thing?) is top-shelf, top-notch Vonnegut.

To the as-yet-unborn, to all the innocent wisps of undifferentiated nothingness: Watch out for life.

I have caught life. I have come down with life.

That is my principle objection to life, I think: It is too easy, when alive, to make perfectly horrible mistakes.