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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
A collection of short stories, all much more straightforward than is expected of the brilliant Kurt Vonnegut.
Confido - A man invents a small machine that listens to your thoughts and responds directly in your ear so that nobody ever feels lonely anymore. The man's wife discovers that the device is somehow tapped into the worst part of the operator, causing it to say impolite things. An OK story.
FUBAR - Due to overcrowding, a public relations worker with no life outside of caring for his sick mother is forced to work in a massive building with no other employees. The arrival of a new secretary, however, looks to change his life for the better. Another OK story.
Shout About it from the Rooftops - A storm window salesman stumbles upon a very odd couple. The wife has become famous for a novel she's written based on her own life with her husband. The novel has become so well known that it's become a source of embarrassment for the pair and their marriage is on the rocks. The salesman has never heard of the book, and so his treatment of them as regular people provides an important building block in repairing their marriage. This is more of the Vonnegut we know, focusing on human folly in a slightly absurd circumstance.
Ed Luby's Key Club - A surprisingly suspenseful short story about a couple being framed for murder. Harve and Claire Elliot celebrate their anniversary every year at an out-of-town steak house, but this year they find the restaurant has been converted into a members only club. The owner, Ed Luby, disrespectfully turns them away. As they sit in the parking lot, Ed gets into an altercation with a drunk patron and ends up hitting a woman so hard she dies. Ed then frames the Elliots with surprising ease, since the entire town seems to be in Ed's pocket. What follows is Harve attempting to flee in the hopes of exposing the town's corruption. Very solid story.
A Song for Selma - A delightful story that posits the idea that the difference between a genius and a dullard might just be the way we treat them.
Hall of Mirrors - A fun story about two detectives investigating a local hypnotist whom they suspect is responsible for the disappearance of several rich widows. The mind games at play here are really interesting and the ending is very satisfying.
The Nice Little People - A man with a wife far out of his league finds a mysterious knife on the eve of their eight anniversary. The knife turns out to be the ship of an alien race of really, really tiny people. There's a statement here about mans relationship with God.
Hello, Red - A good, human story about a man returning home from the merchant marines after nearly a decade and hoping to form a relationship with his daughter. But the daughter doesn't know who her real father is, and the man that's been raising her objects to giving her up.
Little Drops of Water - This one is really brilliant. A deeply habitual composer that uses women for a time then throws them away gets his comeuppance.
The Petrified Ants - Set in Soviet Russia, two ant-studying brothers discover that millions of years ago, ants has complex civilizations full of music, art, and books. Over time, soldier ants rose in power the population of cultured ants dwindled. Obvious parallel for social structure in the Soviet Union. Great story.
The Honor of a Newsboy - A murder investigation that relies on the truthfulness of a paperboy. A nice story.
Look at the Birdie - Definitely a surprising ending, but just an OK story overall. I really love the opening paragraph.
King and Queen of the Universe - Possibly my favorite story in this collection. Set in the Great Depression, a well-to-do couple are wrangled up by a down-on-his-luck chemist in a park in the middle of the night. He has no ill intentions; He simply wants to enlist their help in a noble matter. He is hoping they could play along with a charade that will make his dying mother proud of him before she expires. The couple are happy to help, but things don't go as planned. Says a lot about the economic divide in our country, then and now.
The Good Explainer - Well that was unexpected. A long, mysterious set-up that pays off with a serious middle finger to male-dominated society.
Confido - A man invents a small machine that listens to your thoughts and responds directly in your ear so that nobody ever feels lonely anymore. The man's wife discovers that the device is somehow tapped into the worst part of the operator, causing it to say impolite things. An OK story.
FUBAR - Due to overcrowding, a public relations worker with no life outside of caring for his sick mother is forced to work in a massive building with no other employees. The arrival of a new secretary, however, looks to change his life for the better. Another OK story.
Shout About it from the Rooftops - A storm window salesman stumbles upon a very odd couple. The wife has become famous for a novel she's written based on her own life with her husband. The novel has become so well known that it's become a source of embarrassment for the pair and their marriage is on the rocks. The salesman has never heard of the book, and so his treatment of them as regular people provides an important building block in repairing their marriage. This is more of the Vonnegut we know, focusing on human folly in a slightly absurd circumstance.
Ed Luby's Key Club - A surprisingly suspenseful short story about a couple being framed for murder. Harve and Claire Elliot celebrate their anniversary every year at an out-of-town steak house, but this year they find the restaurant has been converted into a members only club. The owner, Ed Luby, disrespectfully turns them away. As they sit in the parking lot, Ed gets into an altercation with a drunk patron and ends up hitting a woman so hard she dies. Ed then frames the Elliots with surprising ease, since the entire town seems to be in Ed's pocket. What follows is Harve attempting to flee in the hopes of exposing the town's corruption. Very solid story.
A Song for Selma - A delightful story that posits the idea that the difference between a genius and a dullard might just be the way we treat them.
Hall of Mirrors - A fun story about two detectives investigating a local hypnotist whom they suspect is responsible for the disappearance of several rich widows. The mind games at play here are really interesting and the ending is very satisfying.
The Nice Little People - A man with a wife far out of his league finds a mysterious knife on the eve of their eight anniversary. The knife turns out to be the ship of an alien race of really, really tiny people. There's a statement here about mans relationship with God.
Hello, Red - A good, human story about a man returning home from the merchant marines after nearly a decade and hoping to form a relationship with his daughter. But the daughter doesn't know who her real father is, and the man that's been raising her objects to giving her up.
Little Drops of Water - This one is really brilliant. A deeply habitual composer that uses women for a time then throws them away gets his comeuppance.
The Petrified Ants - Set in Soviet Russia, two ant-studying brothers discover that millions of years ago, ants has complex civilizations full of music, art, and books. Over time, soldier ants rose in power the population of cultured ants dwindled. Obvious parallel for social structure in the Soviet Union. Great story.
The Honor of a Newsboy - A murder investigation that relies on the truthfulness of a paperboy. A nice story.
Look at the Birdie - Definitely a surprising ending, but just an OK story overall. I really love the opening paragraph.
King and Queen of the Universe - Possibly my favorite story in this collection. Set in the Great Depression, a well-to-do couple are wrangled up by a down-on-his-luck chemist in a park in the middle of the night. He has no ill intentions; He simply wants to enlist their help in a noble matter. He is hoping they could play along with a charade that will make his dying mother proud of him before she expires. The couple are happy to help, but things don't go as planned. Says a lot about the economic divide in our country, then and now.
The Good Explainer - Well that was unexpected. A long, mysterious set-up that pays off with a serious middle finger to male-dominated society.
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
I liked these much more than I expected, given the quality of so much of his later work. Or maybe it just hit me at the right time. I'd say at least one star is purely for nostalgia's sake.
At the very least, Ed Luby's Key Club is amazing and defiant. Like "First Blood" without the violence and "realism."
At the very least, Ed Luby's Key Club is amazing and defiant. Like "First Blood" without the violence and "realism."
It's worth noting that these are unfinished stories, but maybe I was still expecting too much. There are some solid ideas here, in traditional Vonnegut fashion, but nothing came close to hitting like his novels do. Every story read like a pale imitation of his work.
Long lost, the glory of hope, 'tis a wonder to have it restored by sarcasm. Indeed, both man and fate have an extremely efficient way of getting back at the other.
My favorites have sadly been the happy-ending ones, since all the others tend to suffocate me with the manner they have been written, but this book, every story in it, is, tough not engaging, rather like a sneak attack on the basis of your prejudices and the axioms of your theories on life.
The best part? It's less than 300 pages long, and unlike those dusty books full of ancient knowledge, without a beginning and an end where you read and you nod and you forget, here you read, you laugh, you close the book and think about it. Then you open it again.
My favourites were "Little Drops of Water", "King and Queen of the Universe" and "Hello, Red".
My favorites have sadly been the happy-ending ones, since all the others tend to suffocate me with the manner they have been written, but this book, every story in it, is, tough not engaging, rather like a sneak attack on the basis of your prejudices and the axioms of your theories on life.
The best part? It's less than 300 pages long, and unlike those dusty books full of ancient knowledge, without a beginning and an end where you read and you nod and you forget, here you read, you laugh, you close the book and think about it. Then you open it again.
My favourites were "Little Drops of Water", "King and Queen of the Universe" and "Hello, Red".
funny
lighthearted