Scan barcode
hannahkelley's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
13iscute's review against another edition
3.0
I finally finished this more than 3 years after starting. The stories themselves ranged from 1 to 4.5 stars for me, averaging 3.1 stars. (yes, I rated every story). My favorites (4.5 star) were "Just You and Me, Sammy" and "Jenny". The best section was "Futuristic" (3.6 star average) and the worst was "Romance" (2.75 star average).
As for the collection overall, the categories didn't really work for me - a lot of stories didn't seem to fit any of the categories. The introductions for the categories started strong, then felt like they were running out of steam by the end. I think I would have rather just organized by original short story collection, or by date published, or by magazine published. I would also have liked to see the publication about each story printed with the story (e.g. original publication date and magazine, original short story collection.) I still don't know which were the 5 never-before-published stories.
There are some gems of stories in here. There are 24 stories (out of 98) that I rated 4 stars or higher. And there was a 4 star read in almost every section (except the short section "The Band Director").
-------------------------------
I received an ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway and am looking forward to working my way through it. It may take awhile, because it is a hefty volume at 960 decent-sized pages with small print! The book claims to be "the first complete collection of Vonnegut's short fiction" and includes 97 stories, including those published in magazines and collections during his life, those published posthumously, and 5 previously unpublished stories. I'm sure I will find some great stories in here.
As for the collection overall, the categories didn't really work for me - a lot of stories didn't seem to fit any of the categories. The introductions for the categories started strong, then felt like they were running out of steam by the end. I think I would have rather just organized by original short story collection, or by date published, or by magazine published. I would also have liked to see the publication about each story printed with the story (e.g. original publication date and magazine, original short story collection.) I still don't know which were the 5 never-before-published stories.
There are some gems of stories in here. There are 24 stories (out of 98) that I rated 4 stars or higher. And there was a 4 star read in almost every section (except the short section "The Band Director").
-------------------------------
I received an ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway and am looking forward to working my way through it. It may take awhile, because it is a hefty volume at 960 decent-sized pages with small print! The book claims to be "the first complete collection of Vonnegut's short fiction" and includes 97 stories, including those published in magazines and collections during his life, those published posthumously, and 5 previously unpublished stories. I'm sure I will find some great stories in here.
kb_208's review against another edition
5.0
It is a wonderful thing that all of Vonnegut's stories are together in one collection along with a few that haven't been put in book form before. They arrange these stories into themes, like War, futuristic, behavior, science, ect. I think it's a pretty good way to arrange the stories, though I'm sure some would prefer to arrange them in chronological order in which they were written or published. Along with all the stories that started Vonnegut's career you have intros to each section by the people who knew him well. It gives a lot of insight to the reasons behind the stories he wrote and who he was writing for. Many of his early works embody much of the culture from the 50's, but in a way that still lets in that classic Vonnegut charm. If you already have the other short story books there is only a few that aren't in those, but it's still great to have them all in one collection.
kazio1993's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
pbobrit's review against another edition
4.0
This was a long, but generally enjoyable, read. It makes you appreciate the beauty of a curated collection. These 900+ pages contain all of Kurt Vonnegut's short stories arranged into a series of broad themes with introductions penned by Vonnegut fans and scholars. It interesting see his development as an author, as you can see that the quality of the pieces improving over time. It is also interesting to observe how he repurposed story lines or images/phrases between stories. In gathering all the stories in one place there is a risk that reading them becomes repetitive, and there were points were it did and I had to put the book down for several days to cleanse my palate. Overall reading the stories was enjoyable and made me appreciate his skills as writer in that form.
grawlsy's review against another edition
5.0
4 stars for the content, 5 stars for the book’s existence
More...