# Hocus Pocus

By Kurt Vonnegut

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/hocus-pocus-707807db/

Eugene Debs Hartke has served in Vietnam and taught at Tarkington College. When we meet him, he’s waiting to go on trial for a charge the novel takes its time naming. He looks back over his life as a soldier and teacher in short pieces that jump between dates and subjects.

## What makes it funny?

Hartke counts how many people he’s killed and how many people he’s slept with. The totals match. He gives the coincidence enough weight to start doubting his atheism.

### The comedy at work

The short sections let Vonnegut switch scale without warning. Hartke can spend a moment on a stray fact and then turn to military history, giving his small observations as much space as events with public consequences.

### Try this if…

There’s a political edge to Hartke’s jokes and a lot of twentieth-century history in his account. It suits readers who like their satire delivered in quick shifts of subject, with time to make sense of the pieces as they accumulate.

## What to expect

- Genre: Contemporary
- Kind of humor: Dark comedy · Satire
- Audience: Adult
- Format: Novel

## Sources & further reading

- Publisher: [Penguin Random House: book description](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/334939/hocus-pocus-by-kurt-vonnegut)
- Review: [Publishers Weekly: book review](https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-13524-8)