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What are the best Kurt Vonnegut books? [merged]

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What are the best Kurt Vonnegut books? [merged]

Old 11-08-01, 02:30 PM
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Kurt Vonnegut, anyone?

I'm re-reading Timequake.

I forgot how good this guy is.

Anyone else? Favorite KV titles and why?
Old 11-08-01, 03:08 PM
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I've only read a couple. Sirens of Titan was great, as was Slaughterhouse Five. Breakfast of Champions was just plain bizarre, but I think I liked it.
Old 11-08-01, 03:43 PM
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His best by far, imho, was Galopagos (sp). That novel is great!
Timequake was rather odd, but a little too familiar, if you know what I mean, I was thinking it was more like a biography than a real story if I remember correctly.
Old 11-08-01, 03:51 PM
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"Slaugherhouse Five" was a classic. One of the best war novels ever written. In some ways, I'm torn between whether or not Billy Pilgrim was really abducted by aliens, or if his experiences in the war drove him insane. But in the end, I don't think it really matters.

"Cat's Cradle" is bizarre and coldly (pun maybe intended) nihilistic. Then again, I find a theme of nihilims and defeatism in much of Vonnegut's work.

"Sirens of Titan." Like "Slaughterhouse Five," this can also be taken as an anti-war/military statement. Also takes on religion (then again, "Cat's Cradle" did a fair amount of that as well). No wonder this guy is so often banned...

I also liked "Welcome to the Monkeyhouse," though I feel Vonnegut's novels are stronger than his stories, with his somewhat spare writing style. "Harrison Bergeron" is sort of Ayn Randish, which I find a little off-putting, though it's one of his most memorable short stories.

Kind of odd how such a biting satirist's work is so depressing. Reminds me of "Doctor Strangelove:" It's funny as hell, but you won't laugh once.

Last edited by Josh-da-man; 11-08-01 at 08:51 PM.
Old 11-08-01, 03:59 PM
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Haven't read too many yet:

"Slaughterhouse 5" -- classic

"Deadeye Dick" -- another good one.

"Mother Night", and "Player Piano" were excellent as well.

Tuan Jim
Old 11-08-01, 05:56 PM
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I liked Cat's Cradle. I didn't care for Timequake at all...it seemed rather pointless, I kept waiting for something to happen.
Old 11-08-01, 06:00 PM
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I didn't like Timequake very much either. It seemed that he was showing his age with that book, and none too well.

My favorite has got to be Breakfast of Champions, followed closely by Cat's Cradle and Player Piano.
I think I've read all of his books and I've enjoyed them all, except the one noted above.
Old 11-08-01, 09:36 PM
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My favorites of his have been Cat's Cradle and The Sirens of Titan. Also thoroughly enjoyed Slaugherhouse Five and Mother Night. Haven't read Timequake, but it's on my list.

BTW, BoatDrinks, thanks for making some contacts for my BIL. Didn't pan out, but I appreciate the effort. Things may be looking up for them. Thanks again, buddy.
Old 11-09-01, 04:50 PM
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Never read Timequake.

Welcome to the Monkeyhouse is the title of his that I pull of the shelf most often.
Old 11-12-01, 07:31 PM
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Mother Night.
Old 11-14-01, 12:24 PM
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I'm surprised true fans of KV wouldn't like Timequake. If you've followed his work throughout, then this book, which is really not a novel at all, is a wonderful tribute to himself and his brilliance as an observer and writer. As I read it, I was constantly taken back to wonderful moments from many of his books. JMHO.
Old 04-12-02, 02:21 PM
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Vonnegut reviews annoy me..

It seems like on the back of all of Vonnegut's books there are reviews that say things like - His wackiest novel yet - or - a hilarious romp -

Vonnegut is very funny, but I would never say wacky....he talks about very serious and depressing things, but does so in a humorous voice.

If I had not read Vonnegut and just happened to pick a book of his up in the book store, I wouldn't buy it because the reviews on them make the books sound stupid.
Old 04-17-02, 10:21 AM
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I would have to agree with you on this. They've always annoyed the crap out of me, and I wonder if the reviewers actually were on crack when they read it.
Old 05-02-02, 04:45 PM
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The only Vonnegut book that's even CLOSE to wacky would probably be Breakfast Of Champions; all his others have serious overtones punctuated by his bizarre humor.
Old 05-04-02, 05:22 PM
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I also hate it when he is called a science-fiction writer.

There is nothing wrong with sci-fi, really.

But Vonnegut isn't a sci-fi writer. Sure he had acouple of books set in the future, some with aliens - the Tralfalmadorians (sp?). But most of his books have nothing to do with science fiction. When Billy Pilgrim becomes unhinged in time, it is more of a psychological thing I think than a sci-fi thing.

If he'd stopped writing after "Sirens of Titan" - his second book, then I think you could call him a sci-fi writer, but people always seem to say it as an insult.

I had a professor, a medievalist, who hated Vonnegut....when I pestered him about it, I found out that he had only read the covers and the title page of "Slaughterhouse-5" Seems like teachers should be more open minded - but I guess that's too much to hope for.
Old 05-04-02, 07:16 PM
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Originally posted by Foole
The only Vonnegut book that's even CLOSE to wacky would probably be Breakfast Of Champions; all his others have serious overtones punctuated by his bizarre humor.
i agree. from my slaughterhouse five paperback...

"A zany but moral mad scientist - Time"

what was so zany about S5?
Old 05-04-02, 09:05 PM
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Originally posted by monkeyboy


i agree. from my slaughterhouse five paperback...

"A zany but moral mad scientist - Time"

what was so zany about S5?

Exactly, - its like they don't know how to describe a writer who has a serious subject but a comic voice. There's no way that anyone with have a mind can call Vonnegut "zany" or "wacky" - does anyone with half a mind ever use words like that anyway!?!
Old 05-07-02, 02:54 PM
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Originally posted by ziggy


Exactly, - its like they don't know how to describe a writer who has a serious subject but a comic voice. There's no way that anyone with have a mind can call Vonnegut "zany" or "wacky" - does anyone with half a mind ever use words like that anyway!?!
perhaps they're assuming that those with at least half a mind will buy the bok regardless of what is written on the cover ("never judge a book by its cover" etc etc), whereas putting such silly things on the cover might convince a few people without the bare minimum half of a mind to buy a copy..

(after all, it does not really matter to the publisher whether the purchasers LIKE the books they buy, just as long as they continue to buy them

Hemulen

Theory 2 states that such issues as the placement of review quotes on the cover of a work is almost certainly a marketing issue - and nobody with more than half a mind works in marketing..... just a thought.
Old 05-08-02, 10:25 AM
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Originally posted by Hemulen


perhaps they're assuming that those with at least half a mind will buy the bok regardless of what is written on the cover ("never judge a book by its cover" etc etc), whereas putting such silly things on the cover might convince a few people without the bare minimum half of a mind to buy a copy..

(after all, it does not really matter to the publisher whether the purchasers LIKE the books they buy, just as long as they continue to buy them

Hemulen

Theory 2 states that such issues as the placement of review quotes on the cover of a work is almost certainly a marketing issue - and nobody with more than half a mind works in marketing..... just a thought.

True, but you have to use a book cover to determine if you want to spend that amount of time toward something - short of finding real reviews - If I had not already read a vonnegut book and knew that I liked it - reading the cover would probaby make me not buy it.
Old 08-15-02, 11:45 PM
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Slaughterhouse Five

I just finished this book a couple days ago and enjoyed it. However, everyone that I had talked to before had said that it was one of the hardest books they had ever picked up. I didn't think it was so difficult though, I just had to keep in mind that, to Vonnegut, time isn't viewed as a stream but like a pool.

My theory is that people found it so hard because they were trying to figure out the part of time in which Billy existed. Did anyone have any big problems with this, and if so, why?
Old 08-16-02, 12:13 AM
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No. I was actually surprised just how easy it was to read. Finished the book in an afternoon.

Still sort of unclear on whether or not the aliens were real or Billy Pilgrim was just driven insane by the war and the circumstances of his life.
Old 08-16-02, 06:51 AM
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I used to love KV, but now I'm starting to debate whether or not I'll ever read him again... too many people have pointed out to me that my life philosophy is almost as depressing as his, and more or less my view of life (according to these same people) is that of kilgore trout. And in re-reading time quake and galapagos about 6 months ago, I realized that I was nodding my head in agreement way too much, so I quit.
Old 08-17-02, 12:46 PM
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I've read all of his novels and most of his short stories I think.

Breakfast of Champions is my favorite I think.

The challanging thing about Vonnegut to me is that I have to slow down. Its easy to read one of his books in a day - but you miss alot by doing that. His writing style is so....I don't know how to describe it.......but its very easy to miss alot of the good stuff just because the pages are turning so quickly.

I read Hocus Pocus and Slapstick on the same day and I can still not seperate the two novels in my head - even though they aren't really connected at all.


And as to whether or not Billy was actually kidnapped....
a) if you've read more of vonnegut, you see the Tralfalmadorians in several different places - so its easy to assume that the were real.
2) it doesn't matter - the question sort of misses the whole point
Old 08-17-02, 01:13 PM
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I want to start reading his stuff and have been looking at the various FAQs, and none of them quite agree on what order his books should be read.

Any suggestions? Isn't there some sort of order to the books? I know he uses some recurring characters.
Old 08-17-02, 08:07 PM
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Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors. My favorite book has to be "Mother's Night" I've read most of his books except two. Thw play Wamoos...Timbuktu and his autobiography, "Palm Sunday." Can't say enough of how I've enjoyed his books and I even named oneofmy dogs after him.

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