Kurt Vonnegut - God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater

Eliot Rosewater, a millionaire drunkard with a fascination for volunteer firefighting, becomes president of the Rosewater Foundation. The foundation was set up by his family as a means to prevent the government taxing their fortune. When Eliot takes over, things change dramatically. He moves out of his mansion and abandons his wife to live in a dilapidated house in Rosewater County. There, he tries his best to help the poverty stricken inhabitants, manning a phone for emergency calls from the public. Meanwhile, antagonist Norman Mushari tries to prove that Eliot is insane in order to get some of the family fortune for himself. Soon though, we find ourselves wondering whether Eliot's eccentric kindnesses may be linked to his mental health.

One of Vonnegut's lesser loved novels, God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater instantly became one of my favourites. The author immediately puts his stamp on this tale about capitalism, informing us that the main character in this story is "a sum of money". Written in his inimitable style, the book is more a series of short stories involving the inhabitants of Rosewater County than a traditional novel. The simplicity of Vonnegut's writing and the matter-of-fact storytelling which originally drew me to the author is present throughout the book. Take the following extract for example.

“The Client who was about to make Eliot’s black telephone ring was a sixty-eight-year old virgin who, by almost anybody’s standards, was too dumb to live. Her name was Diana Moon Glampers. No one had ever loved her. There was no reason why anyone should. She was ugly, stupid, and boring. On the rare occasions when she had to introduce herself, she always said her full name, and followed that with the mystifying equation that had thrust her life so pointlessly: “My mother was a moon. My father was a Glampers.”

Is Eliot Rosewater a guilty millionaire, a madman or a humanitarian? The blurring of these lines is what makes the character so fascinating.