Some stories are better than others but overall a good solid 5 star read. Review to come.

This collection, along with Bagombo Snuff Box, collects short stories from Vonnegut’s time writing for the glossies, dailies and slicks. The pieces range from speculative fiction to standard romance fare, each only hinting at the greatness he would achieve as a novelist. He wrote these for money, no doubt about it, and although several spar with some of his Big Stuff, they lack the scathing black humour, wild absurdity and heartbreaking pathos of . . . hmm, well, start at The Sirens of Titan and go from there. ‘All the King’s Horses’ stands out for its brutality, ‘Harrison Bergeron,’ ‘The Euphio Question’ and the title piece are satirical little SF attacks, while the others bear the stamp of conventional fifties fiction—tales from blue-collar America with social comment and breezy, everyman characters. One for the devoted Vonnegutian.

Some stories are 3-star, many are 5-star. Overall, this is an insanely good collection. Here are my favorites:

• Harrison Bergeron
• Welcome to the Monkey House
• Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog
• The Euphio Question
• EPICAC

Vonnegut always brings the satire, wit, and speculation.

This was a summer reading assignment for me in high school and I remember being hooked by Vonnegut's social satire. I loved his imaginative stories, humor, and slightly sci-fi plots to portray human pitfalls. The book left we pondering considerably and hungry for more Vonnegut and I soon read every one of his novels. Recently I reread the collection of short stories and it wasn't the amazing book I remember from my youth, many of his warnings about humanity are old news now. But as a youth I was highly effected by his views and I still think he is a good story teller.

Previously read June 2003 (among many other times)

Like many offbeat/outcast teens, I went through a Vonnegut phase - and am glad to say I never completely recovered. I would heartily recommend Welcome to the Monkey House for anyone new to Vonnegut's body of work, as it covers basically the first two decades of his career (and IMHO, the best years)

It contains an honest-to-goodness love story - "Long Walk to Forever" that always makes me sniffle a little. Then there's the familiarly sardonic "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" and "The Euphio Question". "The Kid Nobody Could Handle" contains one of my (many) favorite KV quotes: "You are better than you think. A-one, a-two a-three."

Both comforting and chilling - this collection of stories, while a bit dated at times ("The Hyannis Port Story" and "Epicac", I'm looking at you) is still in my top 50 of favorite books and will continue to be a re-read for years to come.

I love Kurt Vonnegut, and have since I was about 15, so I'm biased. Each year I try to find a new book or set of stories by Mr. Vonnegut that I have yet to enjoy, and this year it was Welcome to the Monkey House. Actually, as I read, I realized I had read a few of these as a teenager, but it was good to read them again. So sad that he died from a fall at 84. My guess is he would have been deadpan wisecracking well into his 90's if he had lived. What a man, and what a voice for the portion of the WWII generation that saw and understood the horror of that war. My dad was a WWII vet, and I grew up worshipping him, and I wanted to go to West Point like he did (he got there the hard way, after a stint as an infantryman). One day, I guess I waxed a little too enthusiastic about how great it would be to be in the military like he had been. He smiled at me, and then he got very still. And he said, "You know, John, war is the absolute worst thing that can happen". Not something that a worshipful 16-year-old intuitively understands, and it was good that he said it to me. Vonnegut knew what my dad knew about war, and Kurt said so in unvarnished terms, as such things really should be said.

What is happiness? What is pleasure? Is happiness an emotion that endures, that has to be earned and pleasure a temporary reaction to something that makes you feel good.?

In this short story, radio waves from a distance star are picked up and amplified and the effect on people is much like good weed. Everyone hangs out feeling mellow, letting the little things go, a somewhat deviant idea of what is funny, great hilarity and general love. I know this exactly because I've tried Euphio.

The story centres on whether or not a Euphiophone machine can be commercialised, and if so would it be ethical to sell happiness, and what price can you put on it?

Ultimately, Vonnegut comes down on the side that happiness must be earned and the blissful feelings induced by Euphiophone will leave the person in a miserable state of withdrawal and dissatisfaction when the Euphiophone is not operating. Happiness, though, being earned, is a more valid emotion and will endure.

There is also the implication that if there was such a thing available easily if not freely, that the apathy would destroy society, would mean that no one would really be happy because they couldn't be bothered to get off their asses and go and do something to earn it

A couple of years back I decided to give this author a spin, and won a lot of his books off eBay - 15 books for about 75 bucks if I recall correctly. Not a bad bargain, so I thought, and what I don't keep I donate to Little Free Libraries.

I've since read six of seven of his books and hoo boy, he's been a real hit and miss. I can see why he is a celebrated author, his prose is solid and he has written many brilliant descriptions and scenes. But several of his books are just personal ramblings that I wish he'd STFU about, like Timequake or Breakfast of Champions. I did like one of his other books, Mother Night.

Like with any short story collection, this assortment has some stories that are better than others. My least favorite was the titular story, because it included rape (but not in a sensitive or respectful way) but many of the stories in this collection are quite solid, seems like Vonnegut has less of a chance to spin off into personal rambling when he has to limit his word count. There is an assortment of science fiction as well as regular contemporary stories and a couple of military ones. Aside from that one story, I would recommend this collection whether or not you're a fan of Vonnegut.

Every time I re-read this I fall in love with it all over again. Honestly one of my favorite Vonnegut books, his short stories are masterful and stick with you. Each one of the twenty five short stories in this collection are well worth a read and pack a punch. Some of my favorites are Harison Bergeron, Who Am I This Time, The Foster Portfolio, and hell, who am I kidding? I love all of them! This collection is a great introduction to anyone who has never read Vonnegut. It's got some sci-fi, romance, satire, and intrigue. Of course there is his famous black humour and hoosier-isms packed in throughout. A personal favorite that ages well and always reads well.

This is a difficult review for me to make sense of--I really liked almost all the stories I read--especially as I read them--but each one left me a little sadder for having read it. I'm not a fan of nostalgia, so while all the stories' pangs were poignant and touching, it was not a welcome touch. I feel like it's a similar response to how some people react to puns--I love them, but some people cringe. Similarly, I loved the idea of most of these stories, but in the end they make me cringe. Because of this, reading the collection took a long time (~2 months probably)--rarely could I read more than one in a sitting. What I did read I do appreciate, and I feel it was done with sincerity and in high quality, but it's not something I'm eager to repeat. Strangely I also have the feeling that I've read all the stories before, whether this is the second time I've seen the book or if I'd been assigned them individually over many prior years of schooling I don't know. As I've remarked before, I need to stop reading collections of short stories!

I’m not usually into short story collections, but Kurt Vonnegut could write anything and I would read it. This shows off his range as a writer, he can go from weird sci-fi dystopias on one page to his life in Cape Cod on the next and it feels totally natural. Such a brilliant writer, one of the best of all time.

I love these short stories; I think they're my favorite of Vonnegut's writing. Some are contemporary and some are set in the future. They're all so well-written and memorable, and Vonnegut's voice is unique.