Deadeye Dick: A Novel (Paladin Books) (Panther Books)

by Kurt Vonnegut

“The master at his quirky, provocative best.”—Cosmopolitan

Deadeye Dick is Kurt Vonnegut’s funny, chillingly satirical look at the death of innocence. Amid a true Vonnegutian host of horrors—a double murder, a fatal dose of radioactivity, a decapitation, an annihilation of a city by a neutron bomb—Rudy Waltz, aka Deadeye Dick, takes us along on a zany search for absolution and happiness. Here is a tale of crime and punishment that makes us rethink what we believe . . . and who we say we are.

Praise for Deadeye Dick

“A moving fable . . . Vonnegut, sweet cynic and ugly duckling, continues to write gentle swan songs for our uncivil society.”—Playboy 
 
“A brilliantly unconventional novel . . . a must for all Vonnegut fans.”—Worcester Sunday Telegram
 
“Hits the bull’s-eye . . . dolefully celebrates the randomness of life, treating private and public disasters with a kind of reckless whimsy. . . . You don’t read Kurt Vonnegut for meaning exactly. You read him for the sad-funny attitude of mind, the kind of weirdness that can interpret the world’s weirdness.”—USA Today
 
“Vonnegut is beguiling as ever . . . Incredible plot constructions and inventive language continue to leap from his typewriter . . . the humor is natural and inborn; the insight usually purchased by his characters at painfully high cost. Funny how life turns out. Even funnier how Mr. Vonnegut turns life’s insanities into funny, profound sense. That takes a master’s touch. Mr. Vonnegut still has it.”—Kansas City Star
  
“Playful and imaginative . . . On finishing the novel, the kitchen of your mind is a cleaner and more well-lighted place than it was before.”—Houston Chronicle
 
“Endearing and enchanting . . . a wise and charming book . . . very full of life.”—Glamour

• ISBN10: 0385334176
• ISBN13: 9780385334174
• Publish Date: 11 May 1999 (first published 1 January 1981)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780385334174

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.