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A review by biblioliv
A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut
5.0
This is probably one of my favourite books of all time. It's hard to compare it to other novels I've read because it is not fiction, and yet I wouldn't call it non-fiction or even strictly autobiographical either. In fact, it seems to me like Vonnegut was trying to, at the end of his life, write a biography of the world -and humanity- as it is today. Given that that was always the driving force behind all of Vonnegut's works, it really makes this book ever more poignant in that this is his one last shot at summarizing what it is humanity is about and the big WHY, if that is even possible.
Of course, as a veteran of war and of decades of in-depth study into human nature and history, not to mention someone who has lived through Hiroshima, the Cold War, The Holocaust, The Civil Rights battle, Rwanda, 9/11, and the birth and growth of the technological age, Kurt Vonnegut has seen enough to turn him into a bitter, cynical, nihilistic old man longing for death, and in the book we do see a lot of vitriol and bitterness about the state of the world we live in, and the people that walk that Earth, but what prevails in the book, is a prevailing sense hope, optimism, and a belief in human capacity for goodness.
I've heard of many people who read this book, and have come away depressed or angry at the bitterness Vonnegut expresses in the book, but NEVER has reading a book made me feel so hopeful. Readers who call this book pessimistic or fatalistic are completely missing the point. None of the events relayed by Vonnegut in the book are untrue. Humanity has seen and been responsible for countless tragedies and unimaginable cruelty, and for a book to deny that history is just false. Vonnegut presents us with the hard truth that we must live with ourselves as a race even after all of this disappointment and tragedy, but most importantly, after everything, he still believes we are worth it. He believes we have REASON to go on living and the enough potential for good that we are worthy of love and a future.
This book has saved my life and changed my mind for the better, and I will never forget a single word of this powerful book.
Of course, as a veteran of war and of decades of in-depth study into human nature and history, not to mention someone who has lived through Hiroshima, the Cold War, The Holocaust, The Civil Rights battle, Rwanda, 9/11, and the birth and growth of the technological age, Kurt Vonnegut has seen enough to turn him into a bitter, cynical, nihilistic old man longing for death, and in the book we do see a lot of vitriol and bitterness about the state of the world we live in, and the people that walk that Earth, but what prevails in the book, is a prevailing sense hope, optimism, and a belief in human capacity for goodness.
I've heard of many people who read this book, and have come away depressed or angry at the bitterness Vonnegut expresses in the book, but NEVER has reading a book made me feel so hopeful. Readers who call this book pessimistic or fatalistic are completely missing the point. None of the events relayed by Vonnegut in the book are untrue. Humanity has seen and been responsible for countless tragedies and unimaginable cruelty, and for a book to deny that history is just false. Vonnegut presents us with the hard truth that we must live with ourselves as a race even after all of this disappointment and tragedy, but most importantly, after everything, he still believes we are worth it. He believes we have REASON to go on living and the enough potential for good that we are worthy of love and a future.
This book has saved my life and changed my mind for the better, and I will never forget a single word of this powerful book.