STRANGEST OF THE STRANGE

This is the first book by Vonnegut that I have read . And honestly it was odd. (But in a good way). One can be odd ,different even eccentric without stereotyping them as weird

Back to the book . I felt his book was both happy even humorous at times . As I read more I felt sadness , deep sorrow . Vonnegut highly imaginative and intelligent book. And I found it written in the most uncomplicated , simple manner . It read much like having a conversation with a very creative person minus the ego .

I found this book while sorting through boxes of my Mother's vast collection of books. My mom was a AVID reader . She had a passion for historical non-fiction and health .

I laughed out loud when I stumbled across a few romance novels .

HEHE! That's my mom for sure . She had such a fantastic sense of humor . I know she left those on purpose just to make me laugh . Now as I am thinking she probably did the same with this book !

Olağanüstü bir yazar , müthiş bir hayalgücü...

My first Vonnegut book. For many years I felt like I should read something by KV as I have always heard great things about him and his writing. Ben suggested I start with this book, so I did. Slapstick was pitched as "hilarious", but I found it to be profoundly sad.

It took me back to Christmas morning in Singapore when I had a conversation with an aunt of two of our friends. She was Singaporean of Chinese ancestry but lived in San Diego, and was back visiting for the holidays. She said that she found American culture very disturbing because she felt like Americans didn't have our values in place, that we didn't know what was important. She felt that the majority of the Americans she had met didn't understand or respect family, that many of the people she encountered didn't know their grandparents or revere them or even their parents. That when you get old in America, your family just puts you away in a home to be cared for by strangers. She found this quite upsetting and sad, and worrisome as she was concerned about her own future (aging) since she felt that her son was adopting the ways of "Americans". Ultimately she was worried about be lonely and forgotten. I wish I had her address because I'd send her this book.

Vonnegut examined the idea that Americans were missing out on family and were often creating false families to fill that void—"Lonesome No More!"; he also somewhat comically examined East-West, where the Chinese are so far advanced (and have made themselves tiny!) and have way more things figured out than Westerners can even comprehend. There were some really brilliant passages with keen insights into our government and way of life. Some parts were a bit bizarre, but still a good read. Looking forward to reading Slaughterhouse Five next.

Apocalyptic plot, dark humour, wild imagination.
Another great story by one of my favourite authors.

Quite an apt time to be reading a book where the United States is in ruins...

I have already read 13 books by Kurt Vonnegut, and will continue reading more.

I don't usually read a book's preface, but I started with the preface in this one and it is gorgeous.
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It's Angela Carter's Wise Children meets A Series of Unfortunate Events meets something like Muriel Spark's Symposium.
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It also solves that ancient mystery of how the Pyramids came to be built so read it for that if for no other reason.
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And it has jokes:
Q: Why is cream so much more expensive than milk?
A: Because the cows hate to squat on the little bottles.”
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Oh, and it sums up why I hate the phrase 'I love you.' And I quote: “It’s as though you were pointing a gun at my head[...]It’s just a way of getting somebody to say something they probably don’t mean. What else can I say, or anybody say, but, ‘I love you, too’?”
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Graham Greene apparently called Vonnegut "one of the best living American writers." They're both dead now, but I guess I agree.
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All books in my library are alternately titled Lonesome No More

Hi ho.

This was the very first Vonnegut book I’ve read, and while Slaughterhouse 5 is probably the most popular starter (as far as I’ve heard) I picked this volume at complete random because Barnes & Noble didn’t have Sirens of Titan which is what I originally wanted.

In any event, I think this was quite a stroke of luck: Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! is a semi-autobiographical work, and for someone like me, who prefers to begin everything with first principles, I think this makes for an especially great start. It gives you a sense of the author’s primary perspective before you venture off to study its other manifestations.

I preface my further thoughts with an expression of reservation - I am reluctant to judge a man by his book. Nonetheless, to whatever extent this is true of Vonnegut is a person, I felt that his worldview was most informed by loneliness… loneliness of a very special kind, a sort of intellectual isolation which, it seems, could only be broken by his sister. With his sister dead of cancer in her forties, the novel (and the autobiographical introduction) convey the sense that her death left Vonnegut very much alone.

This loneliness permeates every page and it translated instantly to me as the reader. I’m not quite sure how. It is somehow ingrained in the desperation of the prose, and the foolish hope and desire to well, not be lonely anymore. I was surrounded by family as I finished the novel in one sitting, but the isolation Slapstick left me with was overwhelming. Some believed this to be an overstatement, but I think the only other author who left me with such a heavy emotional burden was Dostoyevsky. I couldn’t shake it for a couple of days. It seems to me that Vonnegut is a master of meanings, conveyed with every word and phrase and period - not just broad structural and literary brushstrokes.

I am astounded by Vonnegut’s ability to take individually absurd events and ideas and combine them into something so powerful and tremendous. I don’t know whether to let his wit make me laugh or cry. I don’t know if I’m ready for the full extent of his ability to manipulate me.

In other words, I’m in love.

Hi ho.

Beside the official critiques of this book being hilarious & witty, I believe it is a very accurate criticism of wgphat human beings are doing to the planet with all the pollution,water contamination, disrespecting gender equality and also humanity per se.

Vonnegut is ridiculous. I love it.

It's like staring at a Kandinsky (the later ones) and wondering why it makes absolute sense and kinda mind blowing although it all seems to be splotches of colors and random geometric patterns on a canvas.
I kept tripping between smugness and earnestness when it comes to Vonnegut's brand of realism.

Any other Sunflower-13’s out there?

At times meandering and tangential, Slapstick is probably Vonnegut’s most bombastic work of satire, a hard slap in the face of the rich and famous, while always keeping it ridiculous, half-dark, and supremely clever.

“if you can do no good, at least do no harm.”