A savagely comic portrait of an archetypal, middle class family, Ozzie, Harriet, David, and Rick, falling apart. When David comes back from the war blinded, he is pursued by furies that haunt him. Wanting to return their son to normal, Ozzie offers camaraderie, while Harriet cooks and bakes the foods he once loved, and shares her faith in her beloved religion. But David grows even more vengeful. Ozzie feels the foundation of his world crumbling. In a darkly hilarious scene, a Catholic priest called in to give his blessing is, ingeniously, rebuffed by David. Finally, Ozzie and Harriet break under the pressure, for it seems David is about to turn their home into his nightmare. It's up to guitar-playing, fudge-eating Rick to save the day and allow the family to return to their cherished status quo with a tidy, ritualistic atrocity all their own.

本作は、アメリカの中産階級が抱く欺瞞を、残酷さと猛毒のユーモアで暴き出した衝撃作です。ホームドラマの象徴的な名を持つ家族が、盲目となり帰還した息子を前に「平穏」という名の牢獄を維持しようともがく姿は、読む者の魂を激しく揺さぶります。戦争という外的な暴力以上に、日常の裏側に潜む拒絶と不寛容の恐ろしさが、鋭利な筆致で描き出されています。 救済の名を借りて家族が選び取る儀式的な結末は、自分たちの世界を守るためなら異物を排除して厭わない人間の根源的な闇をえぐり出しています。単なる反戦文学を超え、平穏な生活という仮面の下に隠された狂気を突きつける本作は、現代を生きる我々の倫理観を根底から揺さぶる戦慄の傑作です。