This is my first book by this author and I am... underwhelmed.

Mind you, Vonnegut had plenty of sentences and passages in this book that had me smiling or even chuckling out loud. But the overall story was a meandering bunch of nonsense.

As I said, this is only my first Vonnegut book - I certainly hope that at least a few of his other books are better than this one.

The problem I have with most Vonnegut books is that they feel like they've been churned out of a random plot generator machine. I imagine Vonnegut throwing a bunch of scraps in a hat and then challenging himself to string the items together into some sort of book which will then fly off the shelves because he's VONNEGUT, for chrissakes. Sometimes the ideas hang together in interesting and fun ways. Other times they just flop around uselessly, sort of cute but really kind of gross, like a beagle without any legs. The former would be Cat's Cradle. The latter would be Slapstick.

The repetition of hi-ho, which I suppose Vonnegut's idea of being cutesy, drove me crazy by the end of the book. I've seen this sort of writerly tic in some of his other books, and I've never understood why he did it. I get the feeling that he was just looking for filler in a book that was already chock full of nothing anyway.

It was a quick read and vaguely entertaining, but definitely not a book I'd recommend to a friend.

Loneliness and isolation… What can they do to one’s destiny? What does it mean to be different from the others?

We were aware of all the comedy in this. But, as brilliant as we were when we put our heads together, we did not guess until we were fifteen that we were also in the midst of a tragedy. We thought that ugliness was simply amusing to people in the outside world. We did not realize that we could actually nauseate strangers who came upon us unexpectedly.

Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! is post-apocalyptic burlesque… Everything in the novel is turned inside out and even the apocalypse is ludicrously absurd.
The old protagonist writes a preposterous story of his long life but, as usual, hiding behind the façade of fun Kurt Vonnegut explores the serious problems existing in the modern society.

Yes, and I write now with a palsied hand and an aching head, for I drank much too much at my birthday party last night.
Vera Chipmunk-5 Zappa arrived encrusted with diamonds, borne through the ailanthus forest in a sedan chair, accompanied by an entourage of fourteen slaves. She brought me wine and beer, which made me drunk. But her most intoxicating gifts were a thousand candles she and her slaves had made in a colonial candle mold. We fitted them into the empty mouths of my thousand candlesticks, and deployed them over the lobby floor.
Then we lit them all.
Standing among all those tiny, wavering lights, I felt as though I were God, up to my knees in the Milky Way.

“Bear ye one another’s burdens…” Galatians 6:2 This remedy for loneliness is known since the ancient times.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, you can't not like Kurt Vonnegut. Even if you don't like some of his stuff, Timequake, There's still a lot more to choose from. He's always funny, bright, inventive, creative, and just plain genius in everything that he does. The worst of Vonnegut is still better than anything Dickens, Shakespeare, or Hemingway could come up with on their best day.

Тому, кого це стосується:

Книжки Воннеґута дивні, незвичайні, прекрасні і чесні. Важко второпати, смішно і боляче від правдивого чорного гумору, сумно через події, але відірватися неможливо.

«Буфонада, або Більше не самотні» – добра і чутлива історія, хоч і, як же інакше, з еволюцією людства щось пішло не так. Курт Воннеґут грає за власними правилами, тому описати сюжет чи мораль книжки важко. Чи маємо ми бути добрішими один до одного? Чи маємо ми більше радіти простим речам і бути свого роду дурнями замість втискатися в соціальне життя і «правильну» поведінку? Чи людство таки зруйнує все, а природа візьме своє? У кожного після прочитання будуть свої питання. Одне з яких, не виключено, – «що за маячню я тільки-но прочитав/ла?».
⠀
Здається, що Воннеґут не дуже любив людей. Хоча скоріше не любив те, що люди роблять з планетою та самими собою. Пережив бомбардування Дрездена, бачив на власні очі, як за кілька днів люди можуть зруйнувати красиве місто, яке будувалося століттями (читайте «Бойня номер п’ять, або Хрестовий похід дітей»); пережив втрату близької душі і взяв у власну сім’ю вже з трьома дітьми ще трьох дітей (частково про це у «Буфонада, або Більше не самотні»). Тому якось і цікаво, чому у Воннеґута з людством завжди щось йде не так: він хоче відомстити чи навпаки хоче зробити добре і повернути людство до природи?

А взагалі мені подобається, як легко ллється фантазія Воннеґута в «Буфонаді» та й інших книжках. Ніби здається, що автор вже виклав всі карти на стіл, а насправді читаєш і все дивуєшся, яким чином так гарно сюди приплелося ще й це. Цей ефект до всього посилюється через те, що розповідь йде від першої особи, цього разу від Короля канделябрів. Воннеґут частенько любить на початку книжок розповідати, що саме привело його до майбутньої історії. Тому і виходить така тонка грань між реальним і особистим життям автора та його вигаданим майбутнім. Не встигаєш закрити рота від подій, які пережив автор, як вже доводиться пристосуватися до дивацтв його персонажів та сюжету, які пов’язані з реальністю, хоч і вигадані.

І наостанок: дивним чином історії Воннеґута не викликають страх, а скоріше сміх і спокій.

Хоча подеколи страшно.

Гей-го.

"Slapstick" is a novel that can be misread on so many levels. Having read many of Vonnegut's works, it is obvious that he recycle themes, and even characters. However, the point that he is trying to ram home never diminishes. Unlike many post apocalyptic novels, this one is light-hearted, and the world does not seem much worse off than it was before. That is the real crux of this piece, that it is not the conditions of the society around us that determines happiness, but rather the value and condition of the PEOPLE we surround ourselves with. One reads "Slapstick" with the feeling that all Mr. Vonnegut was trying to get us to see is that we should "all treat each other with a little common decency".
The novel is set up as a memoir of the last president of the United States, and the voice of the persona is full of drool humor and classic Vonnegut dry wit. The nonfiction prologue at the being of the text also adds a whole new dimension to the piece, which I won't discuss here. I recommend reading the prologue after having read the novel. It might change the way you view the entire work.

Another example of what makes Vonnegut so great. "Slapstick" combines sarcasm, humor, an absurd plot, and a critique of society and every part of it works. This is no where near his best book and yet it's still leaps and bounds over most other books.

It's like Frankenstein if the monster get what he wants. But also an apocalyptic story? And a take on American politics? And maybe an autobiography? It's a wild ride for sure, but I liked it.

Whenever I finish a book written by Kurt Vonnegut, I sit back and wonder 'What on earth did I just experience?'
Because with KVs books it's never as simple as just reading it and grasping what is being said, it's, for me anyway a feeling, a thought, a process to be enjoyed or endured even, then mostly, not always but mostly it sinks in that the man who wrote this is totally nuts and also a genius.

I would strongly suggest not reading this as a first time reader of Kurt Vonnegut though maybe try Slaughterhouse 5...

The dedication at the front of this book is to Arthur Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy
Two of Slapsticks finest.

4*

3.5 stars

short review for busy readers: a typical socially scathing Vonnegut, but probably his most personal work as it was written right after his sister died. The first part is slow and somewhat laboured, but the second is profound. Lots of good quotes and a few laugh-out-loud situations.

in detail:
How important is family in modern western cultures? Especially in the American culture which prides itself on newness, independence and mobility?

Answer: by and large, not very.

We live thousands of miles away from our relatives or where we grew up. We do as we want and expect not to be given a moment's grief for it. We may not even come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas or ever visit grandma. HA! That's how independent and our own people we are!

And loneliness - what Vonnegut refers to as "American Loneliness"- disconnection and having no one to turn to eats us alive. Many of us lack a strong social structure, a community. We're a nation of lone wolves attempting to rear young without a pack. (Esp at that period in time)

In answer to this problem, Vonnegut has his protag, The US President, create vast extended families based on a randomly assigned middle name. Are you an Orchid-5, a Bumblebee-27 or a Hematite-11? Then you now have at least 10,000 family member scattered all over the place!

Instant connection! Lonesome No More!

Do you have to like all these people? Of course not. Do you do like all your blood relatives? Of course not. Same diff. Only now, you have people and groups you can go to if you need help. You have your own magazine and social clubs and legal representation. You can organise parties and festivals and the biggest family reunions the world has ever seen.

You will have a social net, a community, a pack. You will have friends and connection in every city and village, if you want them.

What a fabulous idea. And how like Vonnegut to envision a socially interesting (and probably viable) solution to one of the ills of American culture.

But his ruminations come back to his sister, who had just passed away when he wrote this novel. How important was their connection? Or his connection to anyone in his own family? I imagine Vonnegut felt as comforted by the idea of these vast families, most of whom you'd never meet but are there when you need them, as I do.

Not his best, but touching and very readable. And who can resist the description of Manhattan as "Skyscraper National Park"?

kurt vonnegut is so right

I love Kurt Vonnegut's books, at least one of which is even featured in my bio for my favorite books and that bio hasn't changed in many years. I want to be clear on that.

Slapstick ... was not my favorite. It just didn't hit like the others I've read do and I think it's something that may or may not be the book's fault. You see, I love Vonnegut's dark sense of humor, his way with words and phrasing, and so many other things. I ... used to love his repetition of phrases, "so it goes", "no cat no cradle", etc. Slapstick had "hi ho" and I just couldn't help think it was a complete phone in.

Now, Slapstick is one of the older books so it's not fair that I was already getting a bit frustrated with this tick in Hocus Pocus, which was published in the 90's. I get that. However, it does make me a little concerned about reading more because I couldn't get over it with this book.

It probably didn't help that this story wasn't my favorite either. It's post-apocalyptic and we follow the President of the United States, who lives in the Empire State Building (I mean, wouldn't you) because New York is pretty much a wasteland and the rest of the country isn't doing much better. I get that "slapstick" is literally the title of the book, but this was just a bit too absurd even for me.

2.5 out of 5 Stars (not my favorite KVJ)

BTW, I started a new Youtube channel because I apparently needed another way to embarrass myself, especially with this one and it's opening title. Please follow me and feel free to make fun of my attempts and editing and anything else you want. Here's my review for Slapstick.

Some quotes I liked:

'They were of course distantly related to Eliza and me, too, since our Vermont ancestors had once been content to dogpaddle endlessly, so to speak, in the same tiny genetic pool.'

'Speaking for my sister and myself: We were born with the capacity and the determination to be utterly happy all the time. Perhaps even in this we were freaks. Hi ho.'

'“If you think this is bad,” I told him, and I tapped my forehead with my fingertips, “you should see what it looks like in here.”'

'“Washington, D.C., runs out of ideas from time to time,” I said.'