Question 8 - Dark Humor

[Diana S]

Stuckey-French is known for her dark humor. Do you find this novel humorous? If so, what parts did you find funniest and what are the sources of the book's humor?

[Carol]

I'm not what I'd call a dark humor fan. I really didn't find the book that funny, definitely more dark than pleasurable for me.

[Ashley]

This was my first Stuckey-French novel, and yes, I found it very funny! I mean, it's satire after all. The tone in her narration is unique and wry. The events in and of themselves? Pretty wacky and perhaps not so funny. The humor reveals much more about the characters than, oh, say melodrama or whatever. I thought Buff and the mega church was hilarious, especially seeing them through Suzi's eyes and Nance's.

[Lauren]

This was the first time I've read a Stuckey-French novel as well, and I'm with Ashley: I thought it was funny, and I couldn't believe how deftly the author pulled humor out of very dark, not-funny events.

To that end, I read The Universe vs. Alex Woods a few weeks ago and jotted down a few lines from that novel that struck me as particularly good. Two the quotations particularly felt like they could be written about Radioactive Lady, so I'm including them here:

"About halfway through, I thought I probably understood what satire was. I thought that it was when you talked about important things in a kind of disguised funny way. But rather than obscuring this importance, satire made it clearer somehow - more pure and easier to understand."

"I guess what was driven home was something I should've already known: with Vonnegut, you can't take any kind of irreverence at face value. The funnier the joke, and the more light-hearted the approach, the more serious the implications tend to be. He said something along those lines himself, I believe - several times. Laughter, irreverence, absurdity - as often as not, these things have their roots buried deep in despair."