Deadeye Dick

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Dead Eye Dick
by: Kurt Vonnegut
ISBN: 0-440-11765-8
Publisher: Laurel (1982)

OVERVIEW:
Dead Eye Dick is a 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, a.k.a. Deadeye Dick, takes us along on a zany search for absolution and happiness. The book is a tale of crime and punishment that makes us rethink what we believe, and who we say we are.

PRO'S

One of Vonnegut's best works
Very easy to read and can be read in afternoon at only 240 pages that breeze by very quickly
Very stylistic novel that uses satire to look at the human condition of identity
The book is fictional but draws on history to place the novel in the real world

CONS

Like much of Vonnegut's writing, sometimes more depth would be a welcome addition to the book. Much is conveyed implicitly rather than explicitly.
Cooking recipes pop up throughout the book-many times with no seeming rhyme or reason

HIGHLIGHTS:

Rudy Waltz shooting and killing the pregnant women at the age of twelve in an accident with a fire arm shooting her between the eyes while she was vacuuming the floor.
The screenplay written by Rudy Waltz intertwined into the narrative of the book.

NOTABLE QUOTES:

"To the as-yet-unborn, to all innocent wisps of undifferentiated nothingness: Watch out for life. I have caught life. I have come down with life. I was a wisp of undifferentiated nothingness, and then a little peephole opened quite suddenly." (1)

"That is my principal objection to life, I think: It is too easy, when alive, to make perfectly horrible mistakes." (6)

"Pharmacists have no business being in the food business. Leave the food business to those who know and love it." (37)

"EGREGIOUS. Most people think that word means terrible or unheard of or unforgivable. It has a much more interesting story than that to tell. It means 'outside the heard.' Imagine that-thousands of people, outside the heard." (134)

"Human beings always treat blizzards as though they were the end of the world. They're like birds when the sun goes down. Birds think the sun is never going to come up again. Sometime, just listen to the birds when the sun goes down." (157)

"People can sure get mad at each other. They are liable to do anything." (187)

"The planet itself was breaking down. It was going to blow itself up sooner or later anyway, if it didn't poison itself first. In a manner of speaking, it was already eating Drano." (197)

"You want to know something? We are still in the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages-they haven't ended yet." (240)

My Rating(1-10): 8.0 - I found this book to be an excellent and very enjoyable work. It is one of the finest books published by Kurt Vonnegut, and it is reminiscent in style to all of his other books. With that said, my main gripe of the book is the same as with other works by Vonnegut-it lacks depth. Of course, that does little to mar the excellent narrative as told only as Vonnegut can.

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@Theaetetus,

Haven't read this one. Vonnegut was a genius. Cat's Cradle is phenomenal.

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@Theaetetus,

I find most of Vonnegut's work to be outstanding. In some of his later works he became very experimental. Bluebird is written as an autobiography of the main character, and Timequake which is semi-autobiographical blending a novel he was not happy with anecdotes about his life.

Both Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Fife are two of the best novels of the 20th Century.

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@Theaetetus,

Theaetetus;73529 wrote:

Both Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are two of the best novels of the 20th Century.

Completely agree. Of the 5 or 6 I've read, those are my two favorite. I like Cat's Cradle better because it's more subtle than Slaughterhouse Five, but they're both tremendous.

If you want to see the unlikely hybrid of Vonnegut meets James Joyce, you've got to read Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. A lot of the postmodern wackiness and irony of Vonnegut, but with the utter virtuosity of Joyce.

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@Theaetetus,

Gravity's Rainbow is on my to read list, but I probably won't get around to it this summer since I don't have it in my library, which I have been digging into. I do have Vineland by Pynchon, but I have heard it is not exactly the best book to start with when reading his work.

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@Theaetetus,

I've read Gravity's Rainbow two or three times. It's not an easy read -- it's like launching into Ulysses. But it's hilarious, brilliant, and completely different than anything else. You might pick up a companion book to it by Steven Weisenberger (something like that) that explains many of the references, I used that the first time I read it.

I've got Mason and Dixon on my shelf. I read the first couple hundred pages but just didn't have time to finish it at the time -- it's easier than Gravity's Rainbow and it's a lot of fun (he writes in archaic English for the entire book).

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@Theaetetus,

Theaetetus;73529 wrote:

I find most of Vonnegut's work to be outstanding. In some of his later works he became very experimental. Bluebird is written as an autobiography of the main character, and Timequake which is semi-autobiographical blending a novel he was not happy with anecdotes about his life.

Both Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Fife are two of the best novels of the 20th Century.

I'm soor sorry; n, T t2 Replay Mess. :bigsmile:

Luv Time Quackes; better than Earth-Shaky's Fundation. Laughing

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@Pepijn Sweep,

:bigsmile:I liked the boox. i love fantansy; terry Pratchett is super.
I read half/half Dutch/English. Some Spanish, Mallorci if needed.
French only cuisine and cooking words.
Marz-i-Pan

Time/is not a constant.
Boeddha was on the right way...

True spirit "beats" any-things
Lord Kelvin ?

Yours, Pepijn Sweep
Laughing

:a-thought:

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@Theaetetus,

i've read a few vonnegut books, and while they are all pretty good, they all become tedious after a bit (for me). deadeye dick is right along with the rest, interesting story, nicely told, overall a good book with some bright highlights, but tedious after the first half or so. i actually think hocus pocus is my favorite vonnegut book.

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@harlequin phil,

I agree that Vonnegut can, at times, get rather tedious. I did not enjoy Breakfast of Champions much, and I struggled to get through Hocus Pocus and Timequake. But when Vonnegut was on his game, as he was through much of Deadeye Dick, I think he was one of the great American writers.

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oh

The only Deadeye Dick I know was gunned down in the Malamute Saloon. A long time ago.

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Deadeye Dick

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