The Ha-Ha

Great Book--for once I was unable to figure out how the story would end--and it was very well done.

Very very few books have touched my soul as did The Ha Ha. As I read it, I had to stop many times to contemplate Howard's existence; his world. What might if feel like to be this extraordinary yet prosaic protagonist. How do we communicate as one human being to another? What happens to our world and our relationships when we cannot speak or read or write - but can still think and feel? Author Dave King casts a brilliant light on this compelling and at times heartbreaking condition - to think but not to speak. To hear but not to be able to respond. To understand but not have the ability to read. Communication is all we have to reach out to another person; to engender love or hate; to learn and share experience. Yet in some subtle way, Howard is able to tell os of his life through the words of King. It is extraordinary and subtle. I had to stop at various points in the book to let myself feel the events in the daily lives of the protagonist and of the very few people with whom he creates a bond. Howard's inability to communicate in the conventional sense does not leave us with a bitter or solitary man. Rather, through his daily experiences, sad, funny, frustrating, hopeful we feel Howard's reality as less than an end to his life but instead, an example of the wonderful ability we all have to go beyond our capabilities, to be "better than ourselves." This is a very special book making the reader want to contemplate many of the daily events, banal and monumental, that make up the character of our own lives. I found the mundane events of Howard's life to be the most profound and touching. His view of the world has a puzzled clarity to it which made him "real" to me. And I am ever so grateful that our world has those few very special writers who offer us such a gifts as this illuminating book of a life.

It's a cliché but I found myself rationing the amount of this book I would read each day because I didn't want it to end and I wanted to savor its unselfconscious wisdom slowly. Frankly, I've never read anything like it. It's told from inside the head of a man whose Vietnam War head injury leaves him unable to speak. But his internal monolog is so rich, observant, feelingful that the pain of his not being able to express himself except through his actions becomes a paean to the virtues of patience over adversity, expression of love through loving actions rather than words, and the wisdom of living life as it is, not as it might have been. King's prose is carefully and poetically chosen. His observations of the little things feel true and important. I am ready to predict from this first novel that this is an important writer just revving up for a huge career. Scott Morrison

At first I feared this would be one of those novels that made me wish I lived in such a wondrously blessed placed but, happily (?), the book doesn't go in that direction and that's its saving grace. Yet, it is chock full of flawed characters the reader comes to regard affectionately or appreciatively and there's only one particularly fecklessly evil player (and even she isn't so much evil as disgustingly selfish). All set in a mid-western town so well drawn. LOVED this book! It's a debut; can't wait to see what King does next. Heh, no pressure, buddy. But, hurry up please, Dave King. My god you've done good!

Dave King's THE HA-HA gives a unique look into the mind of a man unable to speak, and while this novel succeeds on many levels, its greatest success comes in effectively duplicating in the reader's mind the same frustrations felt by the lead character, Howard. At every turn, this story tugs at your heartstrings, making you wish poor Howard were able to communicate his feelings for his old flame, Sylvia, and her son, Ryan. This is a true tour de force of point-of-view characterization, and for any readers who enjoy a good character-driven story, this is a remarkable novel.