Growing up as a kid in the 1950s and early '60s, my parents' house, like most, had a sheaf of magazines at various locations, the den (Popular Mechanics, Newsweek), the living room (Good Housekeeping, McCall's), even the bathroom (Readers Digest and a few TV Guides). McCall's was the most prominent, a regally displayed rag spread proudly across a corner table where, previously, contributing authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ray Bradbury, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and...yes...Kurt Vonnegut could be found regularly, their stories much sought-after until entertainment trends would forever be changed by television. The best authors on the way up, if not already widely acclaimed, would later appear in the avante garde generation of contemporary print 2.0 in Esquire and Playboy. Lucky was a high schooler (hopped-up on testosterone) who could find a stack of those in the alley. But I digress. Hard to believe that a young Vonnegut, back in the day, would be paid a paltry $1,500 for a short story. As well as in other circulations like The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and Argosy which, though not in our house, were part of the larger mainstay of an American appetite for fiction. Interestingly, the short story by which this collection is titled appeared in Cosmopolitan in 1954. Decades before Burt Reynolds centerfold appeared--a liberational "happening" of the sexual revolution when I was in college, and a tipping point where journalistic integrity yielded to the editorial flourish of the magazine becoming a garish women's sex manual instead. The drink by the same name in the empowering TV series "Sex in the City" would further symbolize a reversal of the tables whereby mature women of means were randomly seducing men, and boy-toys being much younger, all things being equal, the status quo for casual sex and gaps in age was stood (deservedly, or perhaps not so much) on its head. So magazines did have their place. Still, even in their Golden Age, stories were lucky to survive their dog-eared magazine lifespan bundled with string for paper drives. Until savvy, aspiring publishers got wise to the nostalgic market value of reprinting them; worthy of discovery by fans--like myself--of certain authors--like Vonnegut--who had become icons. All that being said, my expectations were higher for the short-form Vonnegut. Much as I was rewarded by Updike's collection, before, in reading them (more than a hundred) some months ago. Sadly, this collection of KV's earlier talents--a work in progress--came up, well, short. "Welcome to the Monkey House" (1968) includes another 23 stories, and it has been so long since I read it, can only remember that it didn't strike me as being especially on par either at that time with his novels. So, to each his own. For my take, the stories are rather smarmy. The young writer feels compelled to rush to a satisfying resolution where conflict is brief and the characters who are minor enough get on with their troubled situations behind them smoothing things over nicely for the future. It's the expectation of readership--much like movies in that time--to look for happy endings. All tied up neatly together before the theater lights come back up. In Vonnegut's "Coda" to his career as a writer of periodicals, he finishes with an amusing defense of his roots as though to compensate for his being a native son of the Middle Western United States. Following the last, rather-dreadful pieces in the collection, it was a welcome act of decorating a cake that had not so properly been baked. Vonnegut is a giver. He's always mindful of his readers and I remain, my finger laden with gobs of icing on the tip, a fan.

I wish I never read this. I didn't need to know what a racist and sexist writer Vonnegut used to be. Really yikes. The Preface by Peter Reed excuses it as a sign of the times; Vonnegut is more concerned about the quality of the stories than the contents being racist and sexist. I will say that all of these were published well after my great-grandparents and grandparents mixed races and all the women in my family of color worked outside the house. So while it may be a "sign of the times," let's be clear that it is the white times people are referring to.

If you are Japanese, Chinese, or Black - really don't read this. Indigenous folks, he refers to you as "redskins" at least once. Women, you are apparently to be manipulated by your husbands to do as they wish and that's that. Disappointing. I'm giving a second star for something that Vonnegut said in the Preface that might make me a better writer and for no other reason.

3.5 stars

A great collection of some of the first short stories every published by Kurt Vonnegut. I don't think this collection would have every seen the light of day if Vonnegut's friends and fans hadn't unearthed them. Even so, Vonnegut said he did some heavy revision work before he re-released them. Here you have a combination of a lot of unique works that all feel like less-distinct Vonnegut. These stories read a little more like Bradbury, or like those Hitchcock might have collected if he weren't so particularly obsessed with mystery and horror. Some of these are surprisingly optimistic for Vonnegut, but they all sound like him. Rather than retaining his normal sense of sarcasm, this feel more earnest in their ironies. If you like short stories, these are excellent.

Honestly, I enjoy the short fiction a bit more than his novels. Even though many of these are admittedly raw and amateurish and came early in his career before he had developed any confidence or distinctive style, they have punch and show glimpses of his storytelling acumen. Many of his novels, even the very brief ones, feel like overblown short stories that either meander aimlessly or belabor certain points anyway, so getting bite-sized morsels is a bit refreshing.

A wonderful collection of early Vonnegut short stories, narrated by Alexander Marshall except introduction and afterword read by the Vonnegut.
Contents (note the order is different from print editions):
--Introduction
-- Thanasphere
-- The boy who hated girls
-- 2BRO2B
-- Hal Irwin's magic lamp
-- The cruise of the Jolly Roger
-- The power blue dragon
-- Der arme dolmetscher
-- A present for big Saint Nick
-- This son of mine
-- Custom-made bride
-- Souvenir
-- Lovers anonymous
-- Bagombo snuff box
--Coda to my career as a writer for periodicals.

Oh dear. Vonnegut is one of the writers I have often said is "among my favourites" and it's true that I regard The Sirens of Titan as probably the best science fiction novel of the 1950s, and Cat's Cradle as possibly the best science fiction novel of the 1960s. I also happen to have enjoyed many of his short stories. But this collection isn't especially good.

Yes, there are three good stories among the 23; and of those 3, one is superb. The superb story is '2BR02B', which is far ahead of the pack. It's a classic Vonnegutian SF satire, just a few pages long but magnificent in every way. The other two good stories are 'Thanasphere' and 'A Present for Big Saint Nick' (which initially I assumed was going to be another clunker, but it's totally redeemed by its ending). As can be seen, two of these three are SF, the only science fiction stories in this book. Vonnegut hated to be called a science fiction writer, but I have come to the conclusion that he was only really very good when he was writing science fiction. Ah well!

Many of the stories are dreadful. 'Hal Irwin's Magic Lamp' is perhaps the worst of the bunch. It's a story that appeared in Vonnegut's first collection Canary in a Cathouse (now difficult to obtain) and is the only story from that collection not to be included in his later (and good) collection, Welcome to the Monkey House. It seems that Vonnegut was well-aware even back in the 1960s of what a bad story this is. And yet it is typical of the quality of much of the other work in this present collection.

Ultimately, a disappointing book. I am giving it three stars because of my fond memories of how I enjoyed Vonnegut's work in the past. It probably only deserves two stars.

Most of these stories -- originating as they did in general interest periodicals such as The Atlantic and Collier's -- are less speculative and surreal than Vonnegut's famous works. It is interesting to see him using a medium closer to realism to address social concerns (sexism, racism, classism) that also come up in his wilder stories. The essays he wrote for the book about his career writing short stories for magazines are delights, and I recommend them to anyone who is interested in fiction and writing.

There's not much to say about a book of short stories, really. I liked some of them. Thought others were okay.

Some of these stories touch upon human nature, feelings and emotion - and do it well.

All in all, I like Vonnegut's humour.

Recommend read - 2BR02B, which was a sure 5/5.

This collection of “uncollected” stories isn’t Vonnegut’s best stuff - paling in comparison to Welcome to the Monkey House (which is excellent!) - but I really appreciate these early stories as the seeds of what would come. Some are very fun, some take until the end to really drive home the point, and some just meander in silly ways, but all of them quite literally paid the bills back then. The coda hid a little gem as well, for the fans of Vonnegut’s essays. So it goes!

I've been meaning to read more Short Story collections to get more inspiration on writing shorts of my own, having really only read short story collections by Philip K. Dick and Haruki Murakami. And where to go for short stories than probably my favorite author of all time, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

And of course I wasn't disappointed. KVJr. always delivers. Though these shorts were VERY different from his novels. You can tell that this era of his, where he wrote for periodicals was his proving grounds as well as his personal classroom. And you can also tell that he had to somewhat censor himself because he was writing for the masses in popular literary magazines. Nonetheless, his creativity and his cleverness shines through. He truly is a national treasure.

My a favorites were still probably the most "sci-fi" or "speculative-fiction" -esque of the bunch, like Thanosphere and 2BR02B... though I did love the ones like the series of the band teacher, Mr. Helmholtz... Next I will probably be diving into some Neil Gaiman for his short stories, but I'm sure I will be returning to Vonnegut with a new collection of shorts very soon. Most likely "Welcome to the Monkey House"

Fantastic as always, never disappoints, and always one to recommend.

Some of the stories are beautiful. Most of them somewhat predictable and inane. Vonnegut, whom I admire for many of his novels such as "Slapstick, or lonesome no more", "Slaughterhouse Five", "God bless you, mr. Rosewater", here not at his very best