I wrote about this one on The Avocado as part of my A Series of Accidents column.

A bitter, often clumsy, subpar Vonnegut book oddly salvaged in the final act by a glorious appendix.

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(Между красками и пистолетами больше общего, чем я прежде думал. И краски, и пистолеты навевают владельцам мысли о странных, а возможно, замечательных вещах, которые с их помощью можно сделать.)
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А Олгрен, день за днем и год за годом непосредственно наблюдая американцев, подвергшихся дегуманизации, утверждал примерно вот что: "Послушайте-ка, те люди, которым вы так сострадаете, что у вас сердце обливается кровью, большей частью действительно народ тупой и озлобленный. Это факт, только и всего. А вы не знали?"
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Когда шла первая мировая, Соединенные Штаты втянулись в войну так поздно, что американец, способный рассказать невыдуманный боевой эпизод, да еще получивший ранение, казался редкой птицей. Вот таким и был Хемингуэй.
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Но невыдуманные боевые эпизоды сильно упали для американцев в цене после второй мировой войны, когда нас миллион за миллионом посылали в Европу, а вернувшись, мы уже не нуждались в Хемингуэе, чтобы представить себе, что такое война.
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9/10. This book is almost 30 years old yet it still speaks the truth through humor. Anytime I read Vonnegut, I wonder what he would have to say about the current state of his the world. Like Twain, he lives on through his moralized writings.

This would make a terrible introduction for readers new to Vonnegut. I'm a huge fan, I enjoyed this disjointed collage of musings. It would be fair to assume Vonnegut has a cynical tone throughout this book but the more I've come to understand him, I read it as a total lack of confidence in his perspective, which I appreciate and find refreshing. I finished this book several weeks ago and have had to dig back in to find a passage here and there that was spinning around in my head.

I’d probably rate this closer to 3.5 stars. I did really enjoy this seemingly jumbled collection of autobiographical essays from Vonnegut but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who isn’t already a big fan of his work. I loved learning more about his life, including the ugly bits of mental illness and his suicide attempt (which I previously didn’t even know about.) There were several insightful tidbits sprinkled throughout, so plenty of pages have the folded dog ear and plenty of lines are highlighted. As always, I truly love this man.

“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,” sayeth Article II of the Bill of rights, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Perfect! I wouldn’t change a word of it. I only wish the NRA and its jellyfishy, well-paid supporters in legislatures both State and Federal would be careful to recite the whole of it, and then tell us how a heavily armed man, woman, or child, recruited by no official, given no goals by any official, motivated or restrained only by his or her personality and perceptions of what is going on, can be considered a member of a well-regulated militia.

I consider the discharge of firearms a low form of sport. Modern weapons are as easy to operate as cigarette lighters. Ask any woman who never worked one before, who went to the local gun shop and joined the NRA’s idea of a well-regulated militia and then made Swiss cheese out of a faithless lover or mate. Whenever I hear of somebody that he is a good shot, I think to myself, “That is like saying he is a good man with a Zippo or Bic. Some athlete!”

At one point in this collection of non-fiction, mostly short speeches and essays with bracketed commentary by 'present' (1990) Vonnegut on past Vonnegut's words, the author talks about the phenomena of comedians & satirists turning sour in old age. He feels this has happened to him, at least in his speaking engagements. While much the exact mixture in the usual Vonnegut Jr cocktail, bittersweet humanist joy and cynicism, is a bit heavy on the cynicism at times...this doesn't feel unwarranted or like an unproductive misery parade.

If you love Vonnegut and want to hear more of his voice, read this book. If not, move on.

Vonnegut does a great job of turning his speech file into a book. Even though it's clear he's recycling, he interweaves it so well.


The problem is that much of his political and philosophical views are not entertaining. that doesn't make them bad views but a little tiresome. Vonnegut usually has three spoonfuls of sugar, so it's especially notable. Comparing this to the fiction hurts the book.

I am waiting for my husband to finish this book; then it will be my turn although he has already read various parts to me that he finds particularly interesting. The onlynovelist that John reads is Kurt Vonnegut; this Christmas season he has put his Ebay business on "vacation" status and has read/reread 6-7 of his books. He likes Vonnegut's unique "take" on everything and feels he gets to the truth of matters more that most. I started one of them but could not get far with his style of novel-writing; everything felt too patchily strung together. I had to give up. This book is autobiographical, though, and is just the kind of writing I enjoy so I am anticipating this read. Any other Vonnegut readers out there?

There are some books/authors for which one or two quotations/moments stand out to the degree that I would like to read them out loud to someone. Then there are some books/authors who are so amazing that quotable, read-out-loud moments happen a few times per chapter. Then there is Kurt Vonnegut, who is so funny, opinionated, amazing that there were moments I wanted to read out loud or share with someone else in just about every paragraph. Even though this book consists of essays from the early nineties, reflecting back upon the eighties, the topics--sadly--are still just as timely today as they were then. Highly recommended.

Horinaa.

Not my favorite Vonnegut book. It seemed like a bit of rambling at some stage. But still has few chapters worth reading.