There are certain books I don't mind re-reading. There are some books I read over and over again. This is second time I have read God Bless You, Mr Rosewater. I enjoyed it so much that I intend to read it again someday, if I live long enough, oxalá.
It is 1965, and Eliot Rosewater, the heir to the Rosewater family fortune, suddenly finds himself with an income of $10,000 per day, including Sundays. That's about $250,000 per day in today's money. It's a lot of money.
Faced with this enviable problem, Eliot hits the booze, abandons his childless marriage and goes on a road trip across America before winding up in the unremarkable mid-west town of Rosewater. Here Eliot rents a moldy office-come-bed-sit with a telephone, and here he can sip booze all day while he answers the phone. And who would want to phone Eliot Rosewater? The poor of Rosewater, of course, because word has got out that Eliot is giving his money away to the least in the community.
And there has to be consequences to this kind of behaviour, but you will have to read the book to find our what they are.
I really like this book. I think it is my favourite Vonnegut novel (but I haven't read them all yet). There is the trademark Vonnegut style of plain language telling rather than showing the story. There is the irony, the grim humour and the deep insights into human nature, a nature that Vonnegut reveals as oh-so-flawed and yet deserving of dignity and respect.
And, of course, God Bless You Mr Rosewater marks the debut of Kilgore Trout, the down-at-heel sci-fi writer (who is possibly Vonnegut's alter ego.) I like Kilgore Trout. A lot. As did Eliot Rosewater.
God Bless You, Mr Rosewater was first published in 1965. I read the Rosetta Books e-book edition, which I thoroughly recommend. Review.
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