I’m not gonna lie, it took me a little bit to fall into the rhythm of this book so for a few chapters I was like, meh. But it’s Vonnegut, so OF COURSE he can make things relatable and interesting in that witty, dark humor kind of way. There’s just, A LOT of name dropping in this book. I’m bad with names, irl or on paper. This mfer knew, uh, everyone? Most of the names are famous and recognizable but they are getting to that fine line where in a generation or so a reader will have to look a few up. I think I was just not in the mood to make my brain conjure up all these people. ⁣
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But anyways, it actually was pretty interesting to read more about his life and just casually bringing up mental illness (in a Vonnegut way though. Race issues were mentioned a few times as well and it’s interesting to see where we were then (and who was acknowledging it) and where we are now.⁣
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There was a lot about war (boy, there was a lot about war) but I s’pose that made him into the person he was, partially anyways. What else? His life, his kid, other artists, how he talks about works of his....⁣
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I wouldn’t recommend this for everyone but if you are a fan of his it’s a bit insightful.

انهيت الكتاب هذا من مدة لكن نسيت/انشغلت عن كتابة اي نوتات عنه وهذا ماجعلني اتكاسل عن مراجعته، عمومًا "أقدار أو مصائر أسوأ من الموت" هو عبارة عن مجموعة مقالات وخطابات لكرت ڤونيجت كتبها في الثمانينات
فيها يتحدث عن حياته، عن أمه اللي أنهت حياتها، عن تجربته في الحرب العالمية، عن محاولته الفاشلة في الانتحار وعن السياسة ونبذ الحروب والقنابل والمتفجرات

كرت ڤونيجت مثل الجد الحكيم اللي حكمته ممتزجة بحس فكاهي سوداوي، والحقيقة اني وجدتني استمتع أكثر بكتاباته عن نفسه والحياة من رواياته، قرأت هذا الكتاب بسبب نص واحد قرأه جون جرين كتأبين وتكريم له يوم وفاته، النص هذا موجود في الكتاب وفيه كرت يتحدث عن قريته الصغيرة اللي عاش فيها ايام صباه قبل ما يصير اللي صار بحياته.
فيه يتكلم عن البحر، البحر اللي كان يحيط بمنطقته الصغير ويطوقها في دائرة و اللي كان كل ماشافه وهو راجع من المدرسة للبيت يطمئن لانه يعرف انه بمجرد مشيه بمحاذاته سيصل لمنزله آمنًا مهما كانت النقطة التي يجد نفسها فيها على تلك الدائرة

ختامًا، كرت يقول ان الناس موجودون في نظره ليقومون بدور واحد فقط وهو "الصيانة" بدونها لا معنى لحياتهم. في رأيه هو انه كل واحد فينا غالبا يكون متحمس لبناء شيء جديد لكن لا أحد يريد الصيانة وهذه مشكلة لانه لا معنى لما تصنعه اذا لم تصنه، ‏فالاشياء تدوم وتبقى فقط بالصيانة وقول ذلك طبعًا أسهل من فعله.

In a collection largely drawn from various speaking engagements, Mr. Vonnegut takes deadly humorous aim at many of his favorite targets: arms races, overpopulation, television, ruling class thievery and many, many more. If you have never read his non-fiction, do yourself a favor....

Overall, this wasn't as strong as his other "autobiographical collages," a la Palm Sunday. However, this does contain one of my all-time favorite Vonnegut passages about a child learning how to play with the universe.

Being a huge Vonnegut fan, I felt compelled to read this. After all, I've read all of his novels and almost all of his other work. It had some funny spots, some wise observations but almost read like something he had to write to fulfill some publishing obligation. Don't regret the time it took to read it, but won't remember much of it, though a lot of his topics he had written about before. I'm going to go back and read Slaughterhouse Five to remind me why I became such a fan in the first place.

This is a collection of speeches, letters and essays that Kurt Vonnegut Jr. wrote during the 80's and 90's. Each one begins with a setup for the piece including setting and background for the topic. At the end, Vonnegut concluded by adding thoughts/notes/praises/criticisms made by himself and others. After reading this autobiography it made me wish even more that had had the opportunity to hear him speak publicly before his passing.

this one was a little dry. still Kurt though, he’s a beautiful soul.

Finished this one last night. I found it hard going at times but I was glad to find the usual wealth of wisdom within these pages. Having now seen "Grandpa" Kurt's feelings about Reagan and Bushes senior and junior, I wish he'd been around to experience the Trump "Presidency". He might've been nearing 100 but I'm sure he would've vented his spleen with vim and vigour on a regular basis.

Okay, so Kurt Vonnegut took the ‘junior’ off his last name when his father died. So it goes. This collection of speeches and essays about his political musings and cynical postulations is Vonnegut as his best. He really tells it like it is and brings to light the occasional (often) absurdity of politicians and humans, really. Don’t read it unless you want a good dose of reality. I found myself chuckling out loud at his satirical genius and frank way of looking at things.

A sequel to one of Vonnegut’s earlier essay collection Fates Worse Than Death gives a glimpse into Kurt’s life in the mid 90’s and explores how he was feeling after the death of his best friend and his feeling that his life was coming into the final stages and what he thought that meant.

There’s lots of good stuff here for Vonnegut fanatics like myself, back story on novels, people in his life that inspired characters in his novels like Billy Pilgrim. It also explores many themes that Vonnegut was fond of talking about, war, government and religion. He spends some time discussing his suicide attempt that he previously wouldn’t comment on and this chunk I found the most informative and interesting part of the whole book.

As I said earlier in the review this book is really for huge fans of Vonnegut. Most people won’t pick up and read this book since it is specific to ideas and opinions that Vonnegut explores in novels and novels are usually a more digestible form for people to get a hardline to all things Vonnegut. But this book does go over themes he’s explored extensively before so that’s why it gets a lower rating then most of his other stuff but I’m biased when it comes to Vonnegut, I love his voice and his writing no matter the format.

I was first introduced to Vonnegut through his fiction, which is a good portion of what he's written. And that those works are great - he has some unique and interesting ideas, and he has the ability to wrap a funny, compelling, and meaningful story around them.

I eventually stumbled upon the group of Vonnegut's publications, like this one, which feature him speaking in his own voice, presenting his experiences and ideas first hand. And to me, that was so utterly refreshing. Reading his fiction, you can just tell that there's a very interesting man behind the words. Reading his thoughts unfiltered offers glimpse after glimpse into the life he lived.

But, when those thoughts themselves are somewhat lackluster, the reading experience loses a bit of it's appeal. That's how I felt with this book. In it, Vonnegut quotes a book that claims aging American humorists inevitably end up "mouthing sardonic fables in a bed of gloom." I'm sorry to say it, but much of the supposed substance here is just the essence of that bed of gloom. Now that the thrill of hearing from Vonnegut himself has somewhat worn off for me, the thoughts he has to offer here are mostly just negative, and often uninteresting. That being said, it's not all bad: there are indeed a few shining moments in here.

In any case, this book was certainly not a sign of Vonnegut's impending doom in this realm of writing, as the excellent semi-novel Timequake was still yet to come. Though his approach is quite different, Vonnegut manages to accomplish there something along the lines what he was trying to do here.

I read this book all the way through on June 6 2007, in the lobby of the Executive West hotel in Louisville, KY while my husband took his radiology boards. It was as if Kurt Vonnegut himself was seated beside me and had spent that day with me. He made me laugh, he made me think and he took my mind off of the matter at hand. It was one of the bright sunny, wonderful days of one's life and I am so happy that Kurt was part of it.