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mittland's review
5.0
i find it difficult to describe a vonnegut book without sounding like a broken record: yes, it is that good. yes, it is that funny. what he knows (and what his reader comes to realise), is that you can ramble on about anything at all for however long as long as you’ve got a good enough punchline. not to say that the rambling isn’t good, it’s often very poignant, but it’s that solid couple or single sentence at the end of his words that always twists “great” into “life-changing”.
pierce_ellinwood's review
2.0
Meh. Found many of these essays to be dry and boring. There are of course nuggets of Kurt wisdom sprinkled throughout, but I struggled to get through this one.
lattelibrarian's review
5.0
Partially fictional and mostly nonfiction, this book is so funny and so incredibly informative about Kurt Vonnegut and his personality.
tommyhousworth's review
4.0
Reading Vonnegut is such a joyous experience, especially his autobiographical sketches, where you feel as if the man is just sitting with you, casually throwing off witticisms, deft observations, and sacred beliefs. It's you and Kurt, sharing a glass of lemonade under the shade of a grand willow tree for an afternoon.
Here, Kurt shares his thoughts on a cornucopia of subjects, from censorship and American politics (circa the '70's, mostly) to how and why jokes work. He pays homage to the author he is most indebted to (Mark Twain) and gives us insight into a few writers he knew over the years (Mailer, Irving, Buckley, Kerouac, Ginsburg).
Most enjoyable to me were his takes on writing and religion. He's an atheist who name drops God with reverence, a skeptic who still sees the world as nothing less than divine, and a writer who has reverence for his craft, but never so much as to presume that we all shouldn't give it a try, just to experience the joy of chasing the lightning and thunder that converges around the perfect sentence.
Of all my favorite writers, Vonnegut is the one I wish I had actually known. I can imagine him living next door, dropping by to borrow some kitchen gadget, and staying for a few hours to mesmerize me with thoughts both playful and profound.
Having now read "Palm Sunday", I feel as if he has dropped by a few times...and I'm a better neighbor for it.
Here, Kurt shares his thoughts on a cornucopia of subjects, from censorship and American politics (circa the '70's, mostly) to how and why jokes work. He pays homage to the author he is most indebted to (Mark Twain) and gives us insight into a few writers he knew over the years (Mailer, Irving, Buckley, Kerouac, Ginsburg).
Most enjoyable to me were his takes on writing and religion. He's an atheist who name drops God with reverence, a skeptic who still sees the world as nothing less than divine, and a writer who has reverence for his craft, but never so much as to presume that we all shouldn't give it a try, just to experience the joy of chasing the lightning and thunder that converges around the perfect sentence.
Of all my favorite writers, Vonnegut is the one I wish I had actually known. I can imagine him living next door, dropping by to borrow some kitchen gadget, and staying for a few hours to mesmerize me with thoughts both playful and profound.
Having now read "Palm Sunday", I feel as if he has dropped by a few times...and I'm a better neighbor for it.
clfairey's review
3.0
Great insight into Kurts psyche and loved the genre-mashing. Would read again for the writing advice. Given a 3 because some parts are laboring to read (unusual for Vonnegut) and some parts seemed added in just for the sake of it/humor. But I repeat, insanely good writing advice, especially for those of us who are semi-talented and have a chance of being published. Also great commentary on war, that evil thing...
mattycakesbooks's review
4.0
This may be the least polished Vonnegut book I've ever read. In it, he's clearly still feeling raw about several things: about his mother's suicide, about the falling apart of his marriage, about the loss of his ex-wife and daughters to religion, about his bad reviews, about the censorship of his books, about his family's response to his "obscene" use of language, about his son's crack-up, etc. It makes it one of the least impressive but most interesting of his books.
(Also, he's too hard on Slapstick, which is not a bad book.)
(Also, he's too hard on Slapstick, which is not a bad book.)