I wandered the bookstore. Vonnegut reached out with one long, scraggly arm and slipped his arthritic fingers around my wrist. "All books speak," he said. "Right now, they are all gibbering and jabbering and crying out, 'Hey! Read me!,' but you only hear them if it is your time to read them. Sometimes it sounds like a madhouse in here. Sometimes a magical chorus. For god's sake, grab me and run before you hear all the others."

It was my time to read some Vonnegut.

I read this 92-page book in one sitting. It has all the wit and charm I've come to love from wizened (and wise) Vonnegut. The chapters are a page or two and each one speaks to a truth of existence. The book's conceit—that Vonnegut travels back and forth to the afterlife (thanks to Dr. Kevorkian) to interview the dead—works wonderfully well to supply imaginary anecdotes and vignettes that teach without being overly didactic.

Vonnegut's insight about the proliferation of divorce is reason enough to read this book (p. 19-21).

The book spoke to me in the bookstore, and it speaks to me still.

There is no greater truth.

Da quando è entrato in casa nostra, Vonnegut è diventato una passione famigliare, non possiamo farne a meno.
Ho trovato questo libricino al Libraccio e non ho resistito a comprarlo. Non è un romanzo, ma quasi un piccolo pamphlet sotto forma di interviste immaginarie.
Vonnegut immagina di poter intervistare i defunti, più o meno famosi, e da questi dialoghi emergono forti alcune idee dell'autore sulla politica e sulla società.

Un libro che si legge in un pomeriggio volendo.

Not super substantial but a fun little read.

A very short collection of very short interviews with the dead. Fictionalized, of course, although Vonnegut characteristically blurs the line between fiction and reality, interviewing, in his own name, both Adolf Hitler and Kilgore Trout, i.a.

The book is transparently a fictional treatise on Humanism, of which Vonnegut was an ardent adherent. Being Vonnegut, he also includes biting satire. Take, for example, Hitler's megalomania, which persists even in the afterlife. Anyway, each of the chapters (1-4 pages) is an interview with a dead person conducted at the other side of the blue tunnel between life and the Pearly Gates. Some of the interviews are with famous dead people; others with virtual unknowns; still others with fictional characters. Each, however, draws out some aspect of humanity and humanism. We see the inherent contradiction in Jefferson's slaves and role in promoting alleged freedom for all men, the integrity of Vivian Hallinan's commitment to progressive politics and civil rights, and the injustice of James Earl Ray's racist beliefs and actions. We are treated to science through Newton, gardening through Harold Epstein, and, finally, Humanism through Asimov. Each chapter, as another reviewer has accurately noted, is a parable. Vonnegut casts a wide net in order to capture the various elements of human experience.

The book is good, for what it is. It is an extraordinarily quick read. Amusing, pithy, and provoking, God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian justifies the brief time spent on it. I disagree with humanism completely, but still feel that Vonnegut is on to something, especially when the world seems to be more emotionally hollow and devoid of compassion every year. But maybe that is just Vonnegut rubbing off on me.

I am by no means a die-hard Vonnegut fan, but this has quickly become one of the best fiction books I've ever read. Wherein the narrator-author conducts a series of post-mortem interviews with the help of Dr. Kevorkian guiding him to the cusp of the Pearly Gates and back. Splendid, poignant, satirical, heartfelt in its brevity. I really got a kick out of this strange little book.

I'm a pretty big Vonnegut fan, but I finished this book and just thought, "is that it?"

This was originally a public radio broadcast for charity, which is well and good, but it's pretty boring and slightly patronizing to the reader/listener.

A wonderful celebration of life! In a series of fictional interviews Vonnegut is able to remind us of the humanity of life, in his own comical humanist way.

Kurt Vonnegut has a way of making you look into purchasing $400 signed first editions on ebay for the first time in your life

Vonnegut's eccentric whimsy shines through in this book, which is split into short segments documenting an interview in Heaven with a dead person. The brevity was perfect, capturing a thought just simple enough to be potentially profound.

literally read this in an hour and it was so nice
9, 12, 14, 31, 36, 38, 49, 50, 55, 59-61, 67, 70, 73, 77-78

Alcuni degli argomenti menzionati nell'introduzione a queste interviste dall'aldilà li ricordavo da Quando siete felici, fateci caso. Per il resto Vonnegut è... ironico, demenziale e lucidissimo. In altre parole, una gioia da leggere!
[L'introduzione di Gaiman è perfetta. Sono certa che a Vonnegut sia piaciuta un sacco, anche se ormai era morto...]

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, but admittedly I am rating it a bit lower because I prefer Vonnegut’s other books. So it goes.

Would recommend this book for sure though for those who would like to dip a toe into reading Vonnegut, to give a sense of his writing style.