Deadeye Dick [Mass Market Paperback]

Kurt Vonnegut (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1985

A funny, chillingly satirical look at the death of innocence. Rudy Waltz, a.k.a. Deadeye Dick, takes readers on a zany search for absolution and happiness in this tale of crime and punishment that makes us rethink what we believe and who we say we are. "Vonnegut is . . . a zany but moral mad scientist."--Time. Reissue.

Editorial Reviews

Review

 
“A moving fable . . . Vonnegut, sweet cynic and ugly duckling, continues to write gentle swan songs for our uncivil society.”—Playboy 
 
“The master at his quirky, provocative best.”—Cosmopolitan
 
“Vonnegut is George Orwell, Dr. Caligari and Flash Gordon compounded into one writer . . . a zany but moral mad scientist.”—Time --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Kurt Vonnegut was a master of contemporary American literature. His black humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America's attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him as "a true artist" with Cat's Cradle in 1963. He was, as Graham Greene declared, "one of the best living American writers.” Mr. Vonnegut passed away in April 2007. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dell (October 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440117658
• ISBN-13: 978-0440117650
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #394,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922. He studied at the universities of Chicago and Tennessee and later began to write short stories for magazines. His first novel, Player Piano, was published in 1951 and since then he has written many novels, among them: The Sirens of Titan (1959), Mother Night (1961), Cat's Cradle (1963), God Bless You Mr Rosewater (1964), Welcome to the Monkey House; a collection of short stories (1968), Breakfast of Champions (1973), Slapstick, or Lonesome No More (1976), Jailbird (1979), Deadeye Dick (1982), Galapagos (1985), Bluebeard (1988) and Hocus Pocus (1990). During the Second World War he was held prisoner in Germany and was present at the bombing of Dresden, an experience which provided the setting for his most famous work to date, Slaughterhouse Five (1969). He has also published a volume of autobiography entitled Palm Sunday (1981) and a collection of essays and speeches, Fates Worse Than Death (1991).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Symbolic musings on the life of an unforgettable character, April 27, 2003

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deadeye Dick: A Novel (Paperback)

Deadeye Dick is a novel only Kurt Vonnegut could have written - quirky, strange, thought-provoking, and a little bit depressing. The story of Deadeye Dick and his family is not a happy one. Rudy Waltz acquires his unusual nickname at the age of twelve by accidentally killing a woman in his hometown, but the whole story starts well before Rudy was even born. His father was supposedly a promising artist, or at least his own mother thought so, but he and his painting tutor did little more than travel around getting drunk and carousing with women of ill repute; after the tutor was exposed as a sham, Otto Waltz went to Austria to study in the years before the Great War; his lack of talent forbade him entry to the Academy, and he developed a friendship with another failed artist who later became chancellor of the Third Reich. This association with Hitler and some of his ideas would come back to haunt Otto in the 1940s. Rudy was Otto's second son, and on the day when his father bestowed upon him the key to the gun room, Rudy took a rifle up to the top of the cupola at his family's most unusual residence, fired it randomly, and unknowingly shot a pregnant woman right between the eyes while she was vacuuming - thus did Rudy receive the nickname Deadeye Dick. His father insisted on making a production about how everything was his fault, and life would never be the same again for the dysfunctional Waltz family. They lost everything, and life got little better as Rudy matured. The story of Deadeye Dick and his family goes on to include such events as a decapitation, a death by chimney (it was made of radioactive cement), and the eventual death of everyone in the whole town by way of an accidental neutron bomb explosion. There is a lot of symbolism in the book, and Vonnegut's discussion of what certain symbols mean in the introduction is particularly helpful in understanding this novel (although I'm still a little unsure about the random inclusion of recipes throughout the story). One experiences a definite lack of closure upon completing this fascinating read, and that inevitably disappoints some readers, including myself to some degree, but I don't think any can deny the fact that Deadeye Dick offers a typically Vonnegut-like interpretation of life and offers much food for thought to the serious reader.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The superlative Vonnegut scores again, August 8, 2006

By 

Gregory Baird (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deadeye Dick: A Novel (Paperback)

To my way of thinking Kurt Vonnegut is one of the greatest writers of all time, end of story. I've yet to read anything bad by him -- and even a subpar offering from him is leaps and bounds better than most other books out there. This is great for Vonnegut and the reader, but is most fortunate for Deadeye Dick because while it falls (just barely) into the category of lesser Vonnegut it is still a truly great book and a tour de force of creative writing. In its pages you will meet Rudy Waltz, a pharmacist and so-called neuter who has been hiding away from the world ever since he accidentally shot and killed a pregnant woman at twelve years old and became a double murderer known in town as Deadeye Dick. In typical Vonnegut style Waltz has a fascinating and unique way of looking at the world and telling his story, and is backed up with an endearingly eccentric cast of characters. His outrageous father is one of Vonnegut's best creations: a self-proclaimed artist with no talent or artwork, an utter narcissist and onetime friend of Hitler's who becomes a laughingstock after the outbreak of WWII because he had so ardently supported his friend without actually paying attention to his politics. So why does Deadeye Dick fail to join the pantheon of Vonnegut's greats like Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night, and Breakfast of Champions? Because those three have a moral urgency to them that Deadeye Dick is just slightly lacking in some key parts. While it is certainly not difficult to get involved in Waltz's saga I couldn't help but wish that he had come to more definitive conclusions in the end. But it does have a killer last line, and I would highly recommend this novel to anyone familiar with Vonnegut or, especially, to anyone who has yet to experience his divine fiction.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slight wacky but hey, we're talking Vonnegut, June 21, 2000

By 

J. Evans (Worcester, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deadeye Dick: A Novel (Paperback)

Deadeye Dick is the kind of thing that your average person might write after a prolonged lack of sleep when the 'giddies' sets in. It doesn't entirely make sense, and some of the themes are a little wacky, but it is still very entertaining and fun to read. Vonnegut manages to use plenty of his traditionally biting humor throughout the book and deals with neutron bombs, eccentric artists, criminal coverups, and life after Ohio is obliterated. I am already biased because I am a big fan of Vonnegut's style of writing, but I found the book to be consistently interesting and can't wait to get another of his books