''Deadeye Dick'' is a novel by

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

originally published in 1982.

Plot summary

The novel's main character, Rudy Waltz, or "Deadeye Dick", commits accidental

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

as a child when he shoots a gun out of a window and fatally strikes a pregnant woman. Rudy was so traumatized and guilt-ridden by the incident that he lives life as an asexual "neuter," neither homosexual nor heterosexual. He tells the story of his life as a middle-aged

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

hotel manager in Haiti, which symbolizes

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, until the end, when the stream of time of the story catches up with him. At this point, he confronts an event that has been suggested and referred to throughout the novel. The generic

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

ern town of Midland City,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, in which Rudy was raised, is virtually destroyed by a

neutron bomb A neutron bomb, officially defined as a type of enhanced radiation weapon (ERW), is a low-yield thermonuclear weapon designed to maximize lethal neutron radiation in the immediate vicinity of the blast while minimizing the physical power of the b ...

, all the people in the town dying. At the ending of the book, it appears that Rudy, while he may not have fully come to terms with his actions, has at least come to live with them. Another key theme throughout the book is the relationship between Waltz and his parents and brother, Felix. His father, as a young man, lived in Austria and was one of the few people who was actually friends with

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

before his rise to power. His father is also a failed artist, who does his best to protect Rudy, to the point when he insists on going to jail just to effectively make a point. Rudy's brother was the president of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, who is fired after his fourth marriage breaks up.

Place in the Vonnegut universe

''Deadeye Dick'' is set mostly within fictional Midland City, Ohio, which is also the setting for one of Vonnegut's other seminal works, ''Breakfast of Champions''. Several characters, locations, or concepts from that novel are mentioned in passing or have an active role in the story (e.g. Rabo Karabekian, Dwayne and Celia Hoover, the Mildred Barry Memorial Center for the Arts, and Barrytron Ltd., amongst others).

Reception

Dave Langford reviewed ''Deadeye Dick'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...

'' #56, and stated that "The Vonnegut idiom of brief, flip, casual paragraphs lets him sneak through some shrewd blows under the lighthearted camouflage, but though often moving the technique sometimes rings hollow ..Read the book, but warily."

Reviews

*Review by Loree Rackstraw (1990) in ''Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut''

References

External links

Vonnegut discusses ''Deadeye Dick'' with Martin Amis
- a British Library sound recording {{Vonnegut 1982 American novels English-language novels Novels by Kurt Vonnegut Novels set in Haiti Novels set in Ohio Postmodern novels