Hmmm deformed, incestuous fraternal twins become geniuses when they touch their heads together. One is the last President of the United States of America. Ridiculous, yes? No. This is Vonnegut! I liked this one. I like all Vonnegut actually. I'm very biased, don't listen to me. Hi ho.

Note that I am giving this book a low rating as compared to Vonnegut's other books, and is not necessarily reflective of my opinion of it as a fine work of fiction.

Really, when compared to the similarly-themed n  Cat's Cradlen and n  The Sirens of Titann, this one just doesn't hold up as well. It boasts a classic Vonnegatian comedic end-of-the-world scenario, but Slapstick just doesn't quite live up to the standard set by his previous novels, and achieved again by later ones. I guess I can't really offer a better explanation.

I read somewhere that Vonnegut considered this one the weakest of his catalog. I'm inclined to agree with the old man.

Pure delight and perfect Vonnegut! This is one of my favorites of his and a wonderful book to end the year (unless I put my new game aside and get some reading done in the next week).

No es el mejor Vonnegut pero es Vonnegut.

Ya que todas las reviews dicen esto mismo, agrego dos citas.

La definición de fascismo de Vonnegut, muy buena:
"-Lo dijeron otros y tú les creíste -dijo ella-. Eso es peor. Eres un fascista, Wilbur. Eso es lo que eres.
-Eso es absurdo.
-Los fascistas son gente inferior que se lo creen cuando alguien les dice que son superiores.
-Bueno, bueno...
-Y luego quieren que todos los demás se mueran".

Y esta discusión sobre historia:
"-Lo único que leo es historia -dijo.
-Eso es sabio en un hombre de su posición, majestad -respondí.
-Los que no aprenden de la historia están condenados a repetirla -dijo.
Los escribas escribían.
-Sí -dije-. Si nuestros descendientes no estudian concienzudamente nuestros tiempos, descubrirán que de nuevo han agotado los combustibles fósiles del planeta, que de nuevo han muerto por millones de gripe y Muerte Verde, que los aerosoles de desodorante para las axilas han vuelto a amarillear el cielo, que de nuevo han elegido un presidente senil de dos metros de altura, y que de nuevo son inferiores, en lo intelectual y lo espiritual, a los diminutos chinos.
No compartió mi risa.
Me dirigí a sus escribas, hablando por encima de la cabeza del rey.
-La historia es una lista de sorpresas -dije-. Solo puede prepararnos para ser sorprendidos de nuevo. Escriban eso, por favor."

Another sublime lesson in humanism from the doyen of deadpan. This novel is rich in humour, pathos, cynicism, invention and all-purpose lunacy. Top Von.

n  History is merely a list of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again.n

Vonnegut's sister Alice was his audience in nearly all of his writing, including well after her death. He apparently regretted having never told her this. Slapstick, with its "Turkey farm" motif, et al, seems to be based largely on this relationship and regret. It is, like most of Vonnegut's works, bittersweet. Madcap, poignant, with an underlying sense of loss, despair, and resignation.

A few notes:

pp. 47: "They appeared to be under some curse which required them to speak only of matters which did not interest them at all." Oof. This could be the epitaph for most of humanity.

pp. 129: The TURKEY FARM!

pp. 143: Nations could never acknowledge their own wars as tragedies, but families HAD to.

pp. 150: "History is merely..."

pp. 155: I burst out laughing maniacally on the crowded Amtrak into NYC. Again on pp. 157. Tears.
"He was clearly sickened by what his disease was about to make him say..."

Not a bad place to start if you are approaching Vonnegut for the first time or have only read Slaughterhouse so far. This is a gem.

Kurt Vonnegut’s 8th novel and he reaches new levels of niche weird.

The introduction is “Dedicated to the memory of Arthur Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy, two angels of my time.”

This reader sees no Slaptsick per se in the story told, but he sure reads about being Lonesome no More.
Vonnegut gives the game away in the intro. He writes that “THIS IS THE CLOSEST I will ever come to writing an autobiography. I have called it “Slapstick” because it is grotesque, situational poetry—like the slapstick film comedies, especially those of Laurel and Hardy, of long ago. It is about what life feels like to me. There are all these tests of my limited agility and intelligence. They go on and on. The fundamental joke with Laurel and Hardy, it seems to me, was that they did their best with every test. They never failed to bargain in good faith with their destinies, and were screamingly adorable and funny on that account. • • • There was very little love in their films. There was often the situational poetry of marriage, which was something else again”

Let’s leave Kurt there and just say that to this reader this is genuinely strange but audacious fiction. Very niche. The passing Slaughterhouse Five readers was going to wander by this one, surely.
The plot includes;
The collapse of his relationship with his sister.
His none relationship with his parent’s.
Family schisms in general.
Any rich idiot can be the President of the US.
The coming of the Chinese as a world power
Pandemics.

And much more that I can hardly think about such is this mixed up muddled up world of the life of Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain. This is his memoir and as the President of the United States.

And this is how Kurt Vonnegut Jr felt when this strangely compelling mélange of oddness that is, to repeat him, the closest he “will ever come to writing an autobiography”?
If this is the case then he had one oddball of a relationship with his parents and his sister and all those around him.

One for the Vonnegut reader in my opinion and recommended as such.

My review of number 1 Player Piano.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of number 2 The Sirens Of Titan. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of number 3 Mother Night.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of number 4 Cats Cradle.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of number 5 God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of number 6 Slaughter House Five
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of number 7 Breakfast Of Champions.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Vonnegut at his best. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. At once apocalyptic and whimsical, this book juxtaposed the complete collapse of civilization and a decimated human population with a lovable and lighthearted hideous neanderthal of a main character whose demeanor is endearingly naive and accepting of the extreme circumstances by which he is surrounded. This character, which the prologue clearly establishes as Vonnegut's own image of himself, truly embodies the essence of why I love Kurt Vonnegut's writing so much.

As much as Vonnegut always wrote piercing, insightful and brilliant satire exposing the gaping cracks in our culture, he did so with a palpable love of humanity and a forgiving post-modernist shrug, accepting the human condition and all our folly as high theater and first class absurdist humor. Thus the title of this post apocalyptic sci-fi tale, Slapstick, perfectly reflects the devil may care attitude Vonnegut adopted in sharing his painfully on-point indictments of our species' utter lunacy.

Essentially the plot follows the life of one half of a pair of monstrously deformed twins, who are geniuses when they are within arms reach of each other (due to a telepathic sharing of intelligence), but slightly below average intelligences when apart. He and his twin have an idyllic childhood together until they are forced to separate, after which he becomes a mediocre student, then doctor, then the last President of the United States. During his term, lethal diseases and unstable gravity bring about the swift end of industrial civilization and the majority of the world's human population. He tells the story from the ruins of Manhattan, now dubbed "the Island of Death." Of course, the plot is filled with quirks and absurd turns a la Vonnegut, which are too numerous, too random and too fun to spoil by telling here. And of course, in keeping with Vonnegut's style, all those random meanderings of the plot provide their own witty little commentary on the madness of contemporary culture.

A heart warming tale about the end of life as we know it suitable for any fans of satire, humor, sci-fi or Mark Twain. If you are a Vonnegut fan and haven't read Slapstick, this is one of his best efforts and probably won't disappoint. If you are not yet a Vonnegut fan, this is a fine book to start with.

"And how did we then face the odds,
Of man's rude slapstick, yes, and God's?
Quite at home and unafraid,
Thank you,
In a game our dreams remade."

یه کتاب دیگه از ونه گات و من متاسفانه هنووووز "سلاخ خانه شماره پنج" رو نخوندم
جالبیش به این بود که این کتاب انگار ترکیبی بود از داستان "گهواره ی گربه" و غرغرهای پیرمرد تو کتاب " مرد بی وطن" ، دو کتابی که قبل تر از ونه گات خوندم. یه داستان ونه گاتی تیپیکال

ویلبر شخصیت اصلی و راوی که حالا رییس جمهور امریکاییه که نابود شده در ملاقاتش با پادشاه میشیگان که در حال مطالعه ی تاریخ بوده این طور میگه
بله اگر اعقاب ما زمانه ی ما را به دقت مطالعه نکنند یکباره خواهند دید که دوباره سوخت های سنگواره ای کره زمین را تمام کرده اند و دوباره میلیون ها نفر از انفلونزا و مرگ سبز می میرند و دوباره اسمان ها از اسپری زیر بغل زرد شده اند که دوباره رییس جمهور پیری با دو متر قد انتخاب کرده اند و با وجود این باز هم از لحاظ فکری و روحی از چینی های ریزه میزه عقب تر هستند

آشنا نیست؟ همون حرف ها و تهدیدها و نصیحت ها و غرغرهای همیشگی ونه گاتی راجع به محیط زیست و سیاست های امریکایی

یه جورایی دلم کم کم داره واسه نویسنده میسوزه که قبل از دیدن به آخر رسیدن دنیا و به بدبختی نشستن کل بشریت در نتیجه ی محافظت نکردن از زمین آرزو به دل دار فانی رو وداع گفت

پ.ن: داستان کتاب به اندازه ی طرح جلدش بد نیست و محض اطلاع، طرح جلد کاملن بی ربط و تزیینی ، هرچند زشت است

As Vonnegut explains in his prologue, Slapstick was conceived at the time of his sister’s funeral. While it still contains Vonnegut’s familiar satirical edge, it’s a much sadder offering. He was clearly feeling the pain of the loss. It runs deep, even when he’s writing about miniaturised Chinese people and changing everyone’s family name.

Slapstick is also a much more structured book for Vonnegut, having a clear through line in the plot. It’s a very good example of how you can effectively deliver most of a book as backstory. Certain authors, who shall remain unnamed (Patrick Rothfuss) should read and learn.

Vonnegut is always pretty weird but this was EXTREMELY weird. Loved the idea of abolishing police by randomly placing everyone into various families of thousands of people that self regulates and takes care of all. Oh, you’re a Daffodil? Me too! We’re cousins have some tea!

A long way from his best but still rather magical. A trip along the absurd which shows Vonnegut up to his knees in stars!