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Fun with Dick and James
You’d think a Delaware blue blood with a talent for shaking cocktails and a penchant for obscure historical biographies would lead a quiet life, but Dick Hunter seems to face one crisis after another. Whether it’s locating the right hors d’oeuvres for a hurricane party or just trying to take a nap, nothing comes easily. Add a fussy ex-wife, a flatulent basset hound, and the flamboyant heir to a fading french fry empire, and things get downright complicated. Meanwhile, Dick’s nemesis—the vengeful society dentist, Red Snapper—has become obsessed with trying to make Dick’s life miserable. Fortunately, Dick’s young boyfriend, James, is more than just eye candy, even though his problem-solving tactics aren’t always by the rules. Together, Dick and James navigate the shifting sands of life in Rehoboth Beach in this rollicking romp.
182 pages, Paperback
Published June 10, 2016
8 people want to read
About the author
Rich Barnett
8 books1 followerI grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains but always knew I belonged by the sea. I now shuttle between my salary job in Washington, DC, and my writer's life in Rehoboth Beach, DE, where I explore what's quirky, historic, inspiring, and, yes, even tawdry about my adopted home town.
I've been writing a regular column in the magazine Letters From Camp Rehoboth since 2006. My writing has also appeared in: Shore Life Magazine; Saints and Sinners: New Fiction from the Festival 2014; The Beach House: Rehoboth Beach Reads; and No Place Like Here: An Anthology of Southern Delaware Poetry and Prose. I've been fortunate to have been recognized several times for my writing, photography, and blogging by the Delaware Press Association.
I've been writing a regular column in the magazine Letters From Camp Rehoboth since 2006. My writing has also appeared in: Shore Life Magazine; Saints and Sinners: New Fiction from the Festival 2014; The Beach House: Rehoboth Beach Reads; and No Place Like Here: An Anthology of Southern Delaware Poetry and Prose. I've been fortunate to have been recognized several times for my writing, photography, and blogging by the Delaware Press Association.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 8, 2024
Hilariously and egregiously terrible queer take on Dick and Jane with a distinctly Delawarean flare…popcorn-reading this aloud with friends with added substances was so much fun.
Dick Hunter (lol genius) is an obnoxious and pompous (clearly republican capitalist pig) gay (as such I certainly sympathize with Red Snapper’s hatred of Dick) and Kissy is best gworl. Long live Queen Kissy.
Realizing that this book was episodic was exciting because I love the endless and absurd possibilities of episodic media, but the complete lack of plot cohesion within the book’s episodic formula and the utterly pointless mundanity of the stories was mind-numbing and baffling at BEST. With such a colorful cast of characters, I expected more…
I picked up this book at a used bookstore as a joke with my bestie who shares my love of terrible media, but never in a million years did I expect to be so angry at a book’s (lack of) development while already knowing it was going to be hilariously bad. There was zero narrative tension whatsoever. The points where we got inklings of funny drama were defining and memorable even though they were basically nonexistent and so far beyond the lowest of low stakes.
The disgusting and terribly composed cover art added to the hugely camp experience of reading this book, especially considering James’ existence as a LATINO MAN. That boy is WHITER THAN WHITE on the cover. The artist had one job…..
To Mr. Barnett, continue writing. You know how to make fun characters. There’s potential here. This was silly and entertaining to a Delawarean like me, and my friends who were staying with me at my family’s home in Bethany, DE, one town down from Rehoboth, loved learning some Delaware lore from your words. I enjoyed giggling at the absurdity of the cast, worrying about their alcoholic tendencies, and getting pissed off at their propensity toward being the messiest of messy middle-agers under a feigned guise of pompous upper-class Delawarean elegance which screams Greenville or Rehoboth’s Silver Lake community.
This reads as satire but…I think this was created seriously. That’s CAMP, honey!
The only reason I’m spending so much time reviewing this is because it adds to the camp-ness of this book’s experience. It was terrible. Mind-numbingly so. However, I had a great time consuming it as it allowed me and my friends to gather and laugh at the mundane absurdity of each chapter’s (lack of) happenings. It was ultimately a bonding experience I really loved.
I also need to note though that, as a gay man myself, I detest Dick and James. So much. They’re obnoxious stereotypes and egregiously superficial men. They are the physicalized version of everything wrong with the gay community in my eyes—especially the millennial-and-beyond gay communities. Gays in this book are presented as alcoholic, party-addicted, body- and class-shaming know-it-all socialite capitalist with heavy boomer tendencies, and that is fucking HILARIOUS to me. It’s a distinctly American brand of gay horror.
Reading this had me thanking the gay gods that Gen-Z queer people seem to really be turning the tides in radically nuanced and kind ways with regard to the ever-developing Western queer social culture. This book’s presentation of queerness is far beyond stereotypical. It’s so damaging, but because I decided from the get-go (really after the first few pages but also very much informed by its cover art) not to take this book seriously, which made the experience camp heaven. As I noted above, this book reads as a serious attempt at a slice-of-life/episodic novel that adds something to the limited pantheon of Delaware-centric lit.
All in all though, I love to hate-consume when laughs are in store with friends, so I will for sure read a potential Fun with Dick and James Vol. 2 if that reality ever comes about. Count me in. Myself and my four other friends who experienced this trash rotationally giving voice to Barnett’s prose with our own comedic flair are waiting with baited breath. Like, truly.
Some potential sequel titles worth consideration:
• Alcoholism with Dick and James (postscript: Our Cast Awakens to their Illness!)
• Giving into Heteronormative Stereotypes with Dick and James (postscript: We’re Not Part of the Problem, We Swear!)
• Whitewashing with Dick and James (postscript: Sorry! We Didn’t Mean To!)
• To Hell and Back with Dick and James (postscript: The Postmortem Dante’s Inferno-Adjacent Parody Sequel!)
• Canine Flatulence with Dick and James (postscript: A Tribute to Our Stinky but Lovely Boy Otis!)
• The Wonders of Viagra with Dick and James (postscript: Dick’s Getting Old but Still Wants to Get It On, and That’s Great!)
Long live Queen Creator Cuntress Slay Mama Boots Goddess Mother Kissy.
Dick Hunter (lol genius) is an obnoxious and pompous (clearly republican capitalist pig) gay (as such I certainly sympathize with Red Snapper’s hatred of Dick) and Kissy is best gworl. Long live Queen Kissy.
Realizing that this book was episodic was exciting because I love the endless and absurd possibilities of episodic media, but the complete lack of plot cohesion within the book’s episodic formula and the utterly pointless mundanity of the stories was mind-numbing and baffling at BEST. With such a colorful cast of characters, I expected more…
I picked up this book at a used bookstore as a joke with my bestie who shares my love of terrible media, but never in a million years did I expect to be so angry at a book’s (lack of) development while already knowing it was going to be hilariously bad. There was zero narrative tension whatsoever. The points where we got inklings of funny drama were defining and memorable even though they were basically nonexistent and so far beyond the lowest of low stakes.
The disgusting and terribly composed cover art added to the hugely camp experience of reading this book, especially considering James’ existence as a LATINO MAN. That boy is WHITER THAN WHITE on the cover. The artist had one job…..
To Mr. Barnett, continue writing. You know how to make fun characters. There’s potential here. This was silly and entertaining to a Delawarean like me, and my friends who were staying with me at my family’s home in Bethany, DE, one town down from Rehoboth, loved learning some Delaware lore from your words. I enjoyed giggling at the absurdity of the cast, worrying about their alcoholic tendencies, and getting pissed off at their propensity toward being the messiest of messy middle-agers under a feigned guise of pompous upper-class Delawarean elegance which screams Greenville or Rehoboth’s Silver Lake community.
This reads as satire but…I think this was created seriously. That’s CAMP, honey!
The only reason I’m spending so much time reviewing this is because it adds to the camp-ness of this book’s experience. It was terrible. Mind-numbingly so. However, I had a great time consuming it as it allowed me and my friends to gather and laugh at the mundane absurdity of each chapter’s (lack of) happenings. It was ultimately a bonding experience I really loved.
I also need to note though that, as a gay man myself, I detest Dick and James. So much. They’re obnoxious stereotypes and egregiously superficial men. They are the physicalized version of everything wrong with the gay community in my eyes—especially the millennial-and-beyond gay communities. Gays in this book are presented as alcoholic, party-addicted, body- and class-shaming know-it-all socialite capitalist with heavy boomer tendencies, and that is fucking HILARIOUS to me. It’s a distinctly American brand of gay horror.
Reading this had me thanking the gay gods that Gen-Z queer people seem to really be turning the tides in radically nuanced and kind ways with regard to the ever-developing Western queer social culture. This book’s presentation of queerness is far beyond stereotypical. It’s so damaging, but because I decided from the get-go (really after the first few pages but also very much informed by its cover art) not to take this book seriously, which made the experience camp heaven. As I noted above, this book reads as a serious attempt at a slice-of-life/episodic novel that adds something to the limited pantheon of Delaware-centric lit.
All in all though, I love to hate-consume when laughs are in store with friends, so I will for sure read a potential Fun with Dick and James Vol. 2 if that reality ever comes about. Count me in. Myself and my four other friends who experienced this trash rotationally giving voice to Barnett’s prose with our own comedic flair are waiting with baited breath. Like, truly.
Some potential sequel titles worth consideration:
• Alcoholism with Dick and James (postscript: Our Cast Awakens to their Illness!)
• Giving into Heteronormative Stereotypes with Dick and James (postscript: We’re Not Part of the Problem, We Swear!)
• Whitewashing with Dick and James (postscript: Sorry! We Didn’t Mean To!)
• To Hell and Back with Dick and James (postscript: The Postmortem Dante’s Inferno-Adjacent Parody Sequel!)
• Canine Flatulence with Dick and James (postscript: A Tribute to Our Stinky but Lovely Boy Otis!)
• The Wonders of Viagra with Dick and James (postscript: Dick’s Getting Old but Still Wants to Get It On, and That’s Great!)
Long live Queen Creator Cuntress Slay Mama Boots Goddess Mother Kissy.
June 29, 2021
Found this in a little free library in Bethany Beach and grabbed it for a fun beach read… Did not disappoint! Extremely cute and I loved all of the local references.
June 29, 2016
Such a fun book! I randomly walked into a rehoboth bookstore & the author was there signing his book. The impulse buy was worth it!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews