Hesse is no black humorist. Black humorists' holy wanderers find nothing but junk and lies and idiocy wherever they go. A chewing-gum wrapper or a used condom is often the best they can do for a Holy Grail.
Deadeye Dick is perhaps the blackest and least humorous of Vonnegut's novels that I have read so far. In it we find junk and lies and idiocy. One stray bullet alters, possibly for the worst, the lives of a clutch of people in the fictitious Midland City, Ohio.
The protagonist Rudy Waltz narrates the story. He tells the tale of the decline in the fortunes of his family members. Along the way we are shown the collateral damage done to those that come into contact with them. No-one, except the Haitian cook and voodoo master, seems to come away unscathed.
The satire is dark, unrelenting and almost unbearable because of the absence of clowns - Deadeye Dick, lamentably, is a Tralfamidorian-free zone. Reading this book is certainly an experience, but a harrowing one. Admire the craftmanship, by all means, but be prepared for the essential horror that is life, as told by Kurt Vonnegut.
Midland City is the setting of another Vonnegut novel, Breakfast of Champions
Midland City is the setting of another Vonnegut novel, Breakfast of Champions
