The Ha-Ha by Dave King

I stumbled upon this book and put it in the pile I accumulated last week shopping at B&N. The Ha-Ha is a fascinating look into the mind of a man who suffered a head injury during the Vietnam War and cannot speak, read, or write. Inside of his mind, however, his thoughts are relatively unimpaired. Through this veil of silence, he must live in the world, where everyone communicates, and if you cannot, you must be a "retard." Howie, the novel's narrator, manages to build a life, sort of, until one day he is pressed into service to care for Ryan, the 10 year old son of his high school sweetheart. Now, because of Ryan's need for him to exert himself out of himself, he discovers that he has a life, he has people who care about him, and even though life sort of sucks, it's not really all that bad. I really liked this book. I cried a little toward the end. Course, this means nothing, because I am a big weeper at the best of times. Interstingly, the Ha-Ha, as the preface explains, is a hidden wall within a ditch, and like the best of literary works, Dave King's Ha-Ha is both literal and metaphorical. Thanks for the great read, Mr. King.