Vonnegut's autobiographical collage is as entertaining, if not more, than his fiction. Witty and heartfelt.

Kurt is my favorite — living or dead ... but I don't think I'll read this one again. It's too date.

This is Vonnegut's third nonfiction collection, and covers the 80's. A weaker effort; I thought there was a lot of padding in the book, Vonnegut is grumpier (and seriously depressed), and there is a bit too much name-dropping of his famous author friends. His shtick is starting to get old. But in fairness he admits all of this in the book (except the name-dropping).

This was another good Vonnegut book. I have yet to read one I didn't like. Non-fiction is not normally my type of book, but I wanted to read this as I think it's good to get inside the head of an author you adore. A lot of the subject matter rings true today as it did when it was written.

This was good because everything Vonnegut wrote was good, but as far as his nonfiction goes this is his least inspiring collection. I'd still recommend it for fans of the author, but for anyone else who might be interested in Vonnegut's nonfiction I'd recommend A Man Without a Country, Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage, and Armageddon in Retrospect: And Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace, etc. ahead of this.

This is Vonnegut’s last in the trio of “autobiographical collages,” which is a canny way of presenting various nonfiction materials without having to impose a structure on the book. This is the most shambolic of the three—firstly, Fates Worse Than Death is divided into conventional chapters, so the reader has no contents table to peruse the various speeches Kurt reproduces here from recent public speaking events. And the book is mostly reproduced public speeches, most of which are entertaining and erudite in his typical style, but some of which become tiresome. Imagine sitting through several hours of Vonnegut lecturing. That effect is created here. On the positive side, although he repeats facts about his life from previous books ad nauseam (did you know he worked for General Electric? and was at Dresden?), the commentary on his family is illuminating among the shrubbery of opinion. Not to say the revelation he tried to commit suicide in the 1980s, which is barely discussed and leaves me craving more detail. So yes, absolutely for diehards only. Those wishing to dip a toe into his nonfiction try Palm Sunday.

If I could give this a 4.5 star, I completely would. This book is self-awareness at its finest. Of course, I thoroughly adore Vonnegut. This is the 18th book I've read of his, and I may be getting so excited about this because I haven't read one of his works in so long. It was refreshing to be immersed in his style again, to feel understood by his witty and unconventional perspective. Some people may think that this books is rather dark, seems tired, and isn't the most perfectly written. But that is what I love about it. Kurt Vonnegut lets us into his life and into his world, being raw and honest about things that have happened. I will say that it takes a decent understanding of Vonnegut's previous works and his life story to fully grasp the context in which this work is written. I loved it. I will keep saying that a hundred times.

This book gives the most excellent argument for gun control I have ever read, and presents well-formed ideas on environmentalism and religion. Such an intelligent work, so beautifully written. This gives a selection of all the outstanding selections of Vonnegut's writings/speeches/articles/etc. without being overburdening to the reader. His commentary after the fact is hilarious and brings up good points.

It is indeed a somber work, but one that gets you thinking and is so excellently written. Classic Vonnegut, though clearly towards the later years of his career. This is an insightful read and set apart from his novels and short stories, because he is so self-aware in presenting an autobiographical collage of his life.

As usual, Vonnegut underscores and testifies to the fact that “we probably could have saved ourselves, but we were to damned lazy to try very hard […] and too damn cheap” (p. 116)

And to the fact that nontheatrical arts provide means for individuals to enter isolated states of meditation:

“Because it is such a relief to get away from one’s own brain from time to time, books, despite television and all the rest of it, will continue to be popular with those who have done the hard work of learning to read easily” (p. 213)

He ponders whether his writings will outlive him - they have.

“The crazy quilt of ideas coming out of the White House: that it was good that civilians could buy assault rifles; that Palestinians were to be called “terrorists” at every opportunity; that the contents of wombs were Government property…”

“And speaking of revered old documents which cry out for a rewrite nowadays, how about the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America: It is as though a starving person, rescued at last, blurted out all the things he or she had dreamed of eating while staying barely alive on bread and water.”

“Only one person on earth clearly benefited, and I am that person. I got about five dollars for each corpse, counting my fee tonight. Paradoxically, I am not only the one success of the raid but also one of its thousands of failures. Everything possible was done to make me die, but I did not die. Same scheme as Hiroshima, but with primitive technology, and with white people down below.”

“I asked another great German writer, Heinrich Böll, what he thought the dangerous flaw in the character of so many Germans was, and he said, ‘Obedience’”

“Böll also said that the correct way to shoot yourself was through a loaf of bread, in order to avoid powder burns.”

“That is how crazy we remain today. Attacking a civilian population from the air, with or without warning, with or without a declaration of war.”

Classic stuff, yet a bit too boring and repetitive for my taste.

A look inside the mind of one of my favorite authors.

As I work my way through his books, I find that I love his speeches and essays far more than his fiction. That is a pleasant surprise. I absolutely loved this book - perhaps more than Palm Sunday. There are too many passages to quote but I'll note a few:

"We were in hell, thanks to technology which was telling us what to do, instead of the other way around. And it wasn't just TV. It was weapons which could actually kill everything half a world away. It was vehicles powered by glurp from underground which could make a fat old lady go a mile a minute while picking her nose and listening to the radio."

In the same chapter, he talks about how technology has helped us travel to other countries and to learn about other cultures, something that used to be exclusively for people studying anthropology. "So we now know for certain that there are no potential human enemies anywhere who are anything but human beings almost exactly like ourselves. They need food. How amazing. They love their children. How amazing. They obey their leaders. How amazing. They think like their neighbors. How amazing."

After reading this book, I learned that Vonnegut and his son spent time in a mental health ward. This book made me cry