The Feud by Thomas Berger

Maybe I'm losing my sense of humor in my old age, but this novel wasn't nearly as funny to me as the back cover review comments led me to believe it would be. I suspect the problem was that the actions and reactions of the characters, however inept and misguided, did not seem exaggerated to me, even though I'm quite sure they did to most people, who viewed it as parody and satire.

The titular feud begins when a resident of one small town travels to the hardware store of the small town nearby to buy paint remover, where he feels he is insulted by the owner's teenage son. The owner jumps into the dispute, along with an eccentric relative, and in the ensuing argument a gun is pulled. That night, the store burns to the ground, and you can guess who is blamed. From that point on the feud escalates and spreads, eventually even including the policemen of the two towns.

Although Berger situates his action in the 1930s, he does not specify location, but it seems to me to be very Southern. And that's where the humor problem comes in. As a life-long Southern resident, I have known these people -- the men who take offense at any perceived slight of their dignity and are willing to fight about it, the cowards who suddenly become bullies when they have a gun in their hands; the law officers who abuse their power and are little more than bullies with badges. So that part is not funny to me at all. The slapstick comedy of errors is somewhat amusing, and reminds me very much the the Coen brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou?

This is a well done book, though not as successful a dark comedy as many others. Interesting fact: it was recommended by the Pulitzer jury for the Prize for Literature in 1984, but the Pulitzer Board overruled and chose another book instead. Maybe one of the Board members was a Southerner who felt the novel hit a bit too close to home.

Disclaimer: Perhaps Southerners do not behave in any way differently from people in other regions of the country. I wouldn't know. But I doubt it.