Needed a quick read, and this is my first time revisiting vonnegut since his passing. I owe a lot of my humanist ways to the man, and this is a lovely novella(short story? I don't know which)

If you've yet to check out any vonnegut, this isn't a bad place to start, as it only takes about half an hour to read.

The first thing I must admit is that this is not what I expected. I was expecting either an endorsement of or a condemnation of the controversial doctor. I personally think the good doctor did a valuable service for those who asked him for that service. If my earth journey happens to end in sickness and pain, I hope there is someone as compassionate as Dr. Kevorkian to help me cross the bridge. I doubt that such a person will be allowed by the medical, legal, and religious people who insist that their interests are more important than my own, even though it will be my life and comfort on the line, not theirs. If I'm not lucky enough to die quickly, I'll probably be fed strong drugs for the pain while I'm hooked up to machines to keep me alive so the system can generate more revenue from the medical bills and the religious zealots can cover themselves in ashes and gnash their teeth while my loved ones feel compelled to beat a path to and from the hospital while I'm trying to die. There will be nothing left of my property by then for my sons to inherit. The banks will own it now even tho before I got sick, it had no lien. That will truly suck!!

The part Kevorkian plays is to medically take Vonnegut through "the tunnel" to the edge of death so that he can interview famous dead people in heaven (there is no hell) for public radio, and bring the interviewer back again. While temporarily in heaven, Vonnegut as he writes in the first person, has conversations with such as Hitler, Shakespeare, and Joe DiMaggio. It's a very short book you should read in about an hour or less. It is well worth the time.....mgc

Humorous and intriguing.
My complete review is at:
https://youtu.be/o3IVdyTGf-Y

I have a weakspot for dying author's eulogyising their life's worth by the inspiration they cultivated through it. Atleast that's how I view what authors must feel when writing such pieces. These stories usually told Through fancying hording with your role-models posthumously as in Dante's inferno, or through their paranormal ghost concious intervention in real life. The case here, through approaching dead state experience through controlled process of euthanization.

If I got one solid fact from this book, it'd be Vonnegut's position, as a humanist, on euthanization. The thing that the book was named after, unironically enough.

Other than that, Vonnegut's humer is scattered all around here. His relentlessly witty self is tangibly fighting to follow its legacy. Like a lion who lost his tenacity with old age, Vonnegut's wrote with what he last had left in his veins which made his humer when it showed up empathetic and appreciated.

It's just as brilliant as everything else Vonnegut touches. I enjoyed it immensely and Neil Gaiman's forward was PERFECT. I merely found it too short— you should look up the actual recordings to hear Vonnegut share them over the radio, as they were originally conceived.

My love of Vonnegut grows more and more with each passing page. As someone struggling through her own relationship with religion and God and the afterlife and our roles in it all, the plain diction he uses when interviewing these celebrities who have crossed over makes so much sense to me and actually brings me some comfort? It's all just very matter o'fact, "c'est la vie", and for some reason, that makes it feel ok...like..."Huh. Well, I guess that's it then. What's there to do around here?"

I think when I have my first near death experience, I'll find my Mom. But the second time around, I would love to have lunch with Kurt Vonnegut and just get to know him - I feel like we would get along.

Very much into quick, one-sitting books right now… not even just because it’s fun to finish a book so quickly but also because I think there’s something really charming, poignant, and natural about stories told in 80-100 pages. Also it’s fun for when I’m checking books out from the library because at the book store I’d prefer to buy something longer.

This book specifically is less of an actual novel — it’s just a series of fictional interviews — but I had never read anything by Vonnegut before so this was fun and made me laugh!

Perfectly Vonnegut. The interviews with the deceased that stood out to me the most were the ones with Salvatore Biagini, James Earl Ray, William Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, and Carla Faye Tucker. Philosophical, humorous, and bright, this collection will be stuck in my mind for a long time.

Short, sweet, poignant and hilarious. Read in about 1 hour …. went by way too fast.

This book was a series of short one men interviews by Vonnegut for the WNYC public radio (note to self: find those recordings) to benefit the American Humanist Society.

The premise of these interviews is always the same, KV gets 3/4 killed by Dr Kevorkian at a lethal injection facility in Tx, he interviews a dead celebrity (famous or infamous) and then is brought back to life by Kevorkian. My favorite by far is Sr Isaac Newton (he can’t forgive himself for having left it to Darwin to come up with the theory of evolution….I must have been deaf, dumb and blind not to have come up with those myself)


In a way, a book about death that celebrates life. Super fun. Will re-read.

Uuuuuughhhhhh. I am probably one (or maybe there's none) of the few people who didn't really like or get this book! Like it took me decades to finish it, and I actually read to the end because I hate leaving books unfinished. Plus since it's a really short book, I really really wanted to get it out of the way. I have normally loved the few Kurt Vonnegut books I have read thus far but this one just didn't do it for me. :'(

Sadece 62 sayfaya bu kadar şeyin sığmış olmasına inanamıyorum. En sevdiğim yazarlardan olan Vonnegut'un, her daim en sevdiğim kitapları arasında bulunacak. Tarzı kimseye benzemeyen Vonnegut'un en azından bir kitabını okumadan ölmeyin.
Ve bu kitaba puanım 10 üzerinden "11".

my takeaways were…

“c’est la vie… go fly a kite”!!!

also the part that said that governments will always be unjust at their core and, like roman games, enormously entertaining w real lives at stake.

but also ending it with “hell is other people” i could see that one coming

found a sketch my ex who gave me this book drew of me and it tainted the experience because this book is just so excruciatingly who he wanted to be perceived as