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benp18's review
3.0
Having now read most of Vonnegut’s novels and loved them, I certainly enjoyed Palm Sunday. That being said, I would argue that quite a lot of this book is skip-able. For instance, the long chapter describing Vonnegut’s entire family history or the long chapter which is a reworking of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ as a play. Much of what is written in this book will not be new for any Vonnegut fan, but there are nevertheless many great quotes littered throughout. Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone working their way through the Vonnegut catalogue, but probably wouldn’t recommend to more casual readers or anyone unfamiliar with his most well-known novels.
stacialithub's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, I liked many (but not all) parts of it. It's a collection-ish mix of essays, letters, speeches, short stories, etc.... Much of it is very typically Vonnegut. As usual, he has wise, witty, & wry words about the human condition as we go through this thing called life. Recommended for Vonnegut fans (but it's not what I'd recommend as a first book to read from him).
stewreads's review against another edition
4.0
I consider Kurt Vonnegut one of my closest friends. It's a shame that I'll never meet him.
Ever since I read Slaughterhouse-Five, my first Vonnegut book, I've been hooked. I have literally wasted entire paychecks on nothing but Vonnegut. I have all of his novels, short stories, nonfiction, speeches, everything. I even have a Slaughterhouse t-shirt which I will wear religiously in college in search of new friends with common interests. After reading 3 Vonnegut novels in no apparent order, I decided to start at the beginning and work my way to the end of his stuff to fully appreciate all of the small details and references. Reluctantly, I made my way to Palm Sunday.
I say reluctantly because sometimes reading nonfiction isn't very fun. The last nonfiction Vonnegut I read was Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons which was interesting but overall random and far from memorable. This book, however, was nothing like that. Each of these 19 chapters deals with a different topic, giving the author a chance to rant for however long he wants about anything from sex to religion to World War II (lots of WW2). While this isn't always entertaining (the genealogy chapter was tedious and the religion chapter was kind of upsetting), it usually is. I would say about 14-15 of the 19 chapters in this book were very good, which is more than enough for the four stars I give it.
The best thing about Vonnegut's nonfiction, though, is the tone. It really feels like you're sitting down with him and talking over dinner and card games, (sign me up, yo) and he holds a great conversation. Can't wait to see just how grumpy he gets by the end of his career.
I'm sitting here, looking at my bookshelf. 26 Vonnegut books. I've read 12 already. I only have so much more time left to spend with my friend.
P.S. I blew through this 300 pager in a day and a half. Go me!
Ever since I read Slaughterhouse-Five, my first Vonnegut book, I've been hooked. I have literally wasted entire paychecks on nothing but Vonnegut. I have all of his novels, short stories, nonfiction, speeches, everything. I even have a Slaughterhouse t-shirt which I will wear religiously in college in search of new friends with common interests. After reading 3 Vonnegut novels in no apparent order, I decided to start at the beginning and work my way to the end of his stuff to fully appreciate all of the small details and references. Reluctantly, I made my way to Palm Sunday.
I say reluctantly because sometimes reading nonfiction isn't very fun. The last nonfiction Vonnegut I read was Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons which was interesting but overall random and far from memorable. This book, however, was nothing like that. Each of these 19 chapters deals with a different topic, giving the author a chance to rant for however long he wants about anything from sex to religion to World War II (lots of WW2). While this isn't always entertaining (the genealogy chapter was tedious and the religion chapter was kind of upsetting), it usually is. I would say about 14-15 of the 19 chapters in this book were very good, which is more than enough for the four stars I give it.
The best thing about Vonnegut's nonfiction, though, is the tone. It really feels like you're sitting down with him and talking over dinner and card games, (sign me up, yo) and he holds a great conversation. Can't wait to see just how grumpy he gets by the end of his career.
I'm sitting here, looking at my bookshelf. 26 Vonnegut books. I've read 12 already. I only have so much more time left to spend with my friend.
P.S. I blew through this 300 pager in a day and a half. Go me!
jdmitrijeva's review against another edition
3.0
ar īso prozu un esejām man kā vienmēr - grūti. Dažas esejas patika vairāk (par filozofiskākām tēmām), dažas mazāk (par ģimeni etc).
sackofbeans's review against another edition
3.0
I prefer to alternate back and forth between fiction and non-fiction in order to maintain my interest in reading and so that I do not get burned out on one genre or another.
Having just read a clinical psychology text, I was craving some existential bittersweet human-condition material and figured it had been awhile since I read such a Vonnegut story. So without really glancing at the cover I picked Palm Sunday off of my shelf.
Oops! This one's an auto-biography. Well, sort of.
Mr. Vonnegut describes this book as a "blevit", his description of a genre that is neither fiction nor non-fiction but is both at the same time, kind of.
I'd still mainly put it in the non-fiction camp. He explains in detail his ancestry, his parents, his life as a young child in Indianapolis, his time spent during the firebombing of Dresden during World War II (which he sort of re-told in a strange sci-fi time travel narrative in his novel Slaughterhouse Five), his children and adopted children, and his more recent life in Cape Cod and New York. You understand from all this why he wrote the way he did.
There's also some interviews and speeches he had given... and some some he never gave, but relates any way what he would have said had he been given the opportunity.
There's also his short stage adaptation of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" that feels like his book Slapstick in that it is something you want to find hilarious because of how absurd it is (Mr. Hyde is a giant human chicken?) but it just doesn't quite work.
Oh, and there's the inclusion of his short story "The Big Space Fuck", the story which he describes as the most vulgar thing he's ever written. Basically, a rocket full of a select few's sperm is being launched to the Andromeda galaxy to "fuck it". As someone now working in the space industry I suppose I could say I appreciated this story a little more than I would have otherwise.
Perhaps the neatest things in the book were how he shows the shapes of stories on graph paper (which you can get the gist of here), and his personal report card reviewing his previous novels. He gave my personal favorite novel of his Mother Night an 'A', and my least favorite (so far) Slapstick a 'D', and this book itself a 'C', which I suppose I could agree with.
I did love this quote though:
"If a lover in a story wins his true love, that’s the end of the tale, even if World War III is about to begin, and the sky is black with flying saucers."
Having just read a clinical psychology text, I was craving some existential bittersweet human-condition material and figured it had been awhile since I read such a Vonnegut story. So without really glancing at the cover I picked Palm Sunday off of my shelf.
Oops! This one's an auto-biography. Well, sort of.
Mr. Vonnegut describes this book as a "blevit", his description of a genre that is neither fiction nor non-fiction but is both at the same time, kind of.
I'd still mainly put it in the non-fiction camp. He explains in detail his ancestry, his parents, his life as a young child in Indianapolis, his time spent during the firebombing of Dresden during World War II (which he sort of re-told in a strange sci-fi time travel narrative in his novel Slaughterhouse Five), his children and adopted children, and his more recent life in Cape Cod and New York. You understand from all this why he wrote the way he did.
There's also some interviews and speeches he had given... and some some he never gave, but relates any way what he would have said had he been given the opportunity.
There's also his short stage adaptation of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" that feels like his book Slapstick in that it is something you want to find hilarious because of how absurd it is (Mr. Hyde is a giant human chicken?) but it just doesn't quite work.
Oh, and there's the inclusion of his short story "The Big Space Fuck", the story which he describes as the most vulgar thing he's ever written. Basically, a rocket full of a select few's sperm is being launched to the Andromeda galaxy to "fuck it". As someone now working in the space industry I suppose I could say I appreciated this story a little more than I would have otherwise.
Perhaps the neatest things in the book were how he shows the shapes of stories on graph paper (which you can get the gist of here), and his personal report card reviewing his previous novels. He gave my personal favorite novel of his Mother Night an 'A', and my least favorite (so far) Slapstick a 'D', and this book itself a 'C', which I suppose I could agree with.
I did love this quote though:
"If a lover in a story wins his true love, that’s the end of the tale, even if World War III is about to begin, and the sky is black with flying saucers."
bookedinsideout's review
I think it's probably best suited to people who are already fans.
lolitalofi's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.5
Disclaimer: This is more of a retention of the highlights I’ve found interesting than a review of the actual book.
I have to agree with Vonnegut’s rating of this book as a solid C, despite not finishing any other book of his; I at least promise to finish the A & B rated ones. It’s an easy read, mostly about his personal thoughts on certain topics (family, religion, writing, etc.) with some inserted stories.
- Slaughterhouse 5 was partly inspired by the doctor/author/Nazi sympathizer Celine, who has written the novel ‘Journey to the End of the Night.’ Celine was said to be so preoccupied with the death of people despite the mundaneness of it. So it goes.
- His eldest child Mark is a doctor who has written a book on his personal experience with schizophrenia/mental health issues. Mark recovered, which offers a positive light at the metaphorical end of the tunnel. I did read from a small internet research that from a young age Mark thought his father would kill himself at some point in his life. He never blamed his family for his mental health issues though. It seems like they carried some form of intergenerational trauma, both with Kurt Vonnegut’s mother committing suicide and him being a WW2 veteran. Casual suicidal thoughts ran through his mind, albeit it was mentioned in the book with a joke, making the difficult topic more bearable; maybe that’s what Vonnegut’s personality and books are all about, but definitely don’t quote me on that; it is perhaps a misrepresentation and an oversimplification of the matter.
- Writing is a form of art wherein you can escape from the lack of control outside your own life. This may come at a price if you escape too much into it.
- Write about the topic that is close to your heart.
- Morality and actions derived from a direct reaction to disgust is one of the worst bases for a better individual and society. Disgust from non-whites, Jews, and even the LGBTQIA+ people, historically didn’t result well. (Look up WW2, Auschwitz concentration camps, systemic and micro aggressions against the black community & people of color, gay conversion therapy and the AIDS epidemics). So yeah, what I’m trying to say is go check out Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift as recommended by Vonnegut. It’s good insane stuff, or at least Vonnegut said so.
- Stop burning books. Just don’t.
That’s all I could think for now. The book is worth a casual read, but it isn’t Vonnegut’s best work so check out his other stuff. (:
I have to agree with Vonnegut’s rating of this book as a solid C, despite not finishing any other book of his; I at least promise to finish the A & B rated ones. It’s an easy read, mostly about his personal thoughts on certain topics (family, religion, writing, etc.) with some inserted stories.
- Slaughterhouse 5 was partly inspired by the doctor/author/Nazi sympathizer Celine, who has written the novel ‘Journey to the End of the Night.’ Celine was said to be so preoccupied with the death of people despite the mundaneness of it. So it goes.
- His eldest child Mark is a doctor who has written a book on his personal experience with schizophrenia/mental health issues. Mark recovered, which offers a positive light at the metaphorical end of the tunnel. I did read from a small internet research that from a young age Mark thought his father would kill himself at some point in his life. He never blamed his family for his mental health issues though. It seems like they carried some form of intergenerational trauma, both with Kurt Vonnegut’s mother committing suicide and him being a WW2 veteran. Casual suicidal thoughts ran through his mind, albeit it was mentioned in the book with a joke, making the difficult topic more bearable; maybe that’s what Vonnegut’s personality and books are all about, but definitely don’t quote me on that; it is perhaps a misrepresentation and an oversimplification of the matter.
- Writing is a form of art wherein you can escape from the lack of control outside your own life. This may come at a price if you escape too much into it.
- Write about the topic that is close to your heart.
- Morality and actions derived from a direct reaction to disgust is one of the worst bases for a better individual and society. Disgust from non-whites, Jews, and even the LGBTQIA+ people, historically didn’t result well. (Look up WW2, Auschwitz concentration camps, systemic and micro aggressions against the black community & people of color, gay conversion therapy and the AIDS epidemics). So yeah, what I’m trying to say is go check out Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift as recommended by Vonnegut. It’s good insane stuff, or at least Vonnegut said so.
- Stop burning books. Just don’t.
That’s all I could think for now. The book is worth a casual read, but it isn’t Vonnegut’s best work so check out his other stuff. (: