armageddon interviews conversation slaughterhouse

books:

369 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dell Publishing, 1998

The twisted brilliance of Vonnegut...
This book isn't for everyone, that's for sure. The central theme is a fictional religion based around the principal that everything is a lie. The first line makes that clear. Characters include a midget, an introverted modelmaker who forced bugs to fight one another in his younger years, a man who is forced to make bicycles for blind people in Afghanistan, an insane elevator operator, a maniacal ...

Player Piano

81 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

The Dial Press, 1999

Shocking through and through
This book is a 5-star book for engineers and technologists, particularly those working for big corporations, but probably only a 3-star book for anybody else. (You can guess from my rating what I do.) Vonnegut creates hybrid eu/dystopia brought about by the ultimate success of American ingenuity and capitalism. Dr. Proteus is brilliantly and complexly written as a successful technologist ...

Galapagos (Delta Fiction)

110 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999

Big Brained Humans Enjoy!
As usual Kurt Vonnegut's novel is filled with delightful creatures, strange personalities, and psychological messiness yet hope. Apart with providing an interesting description of the Gallapagos Islands, Darwin's original get-away, the book delves into the psychotic nature of human behavior, be it fiat money systems, evil minded power grabs, and destruction of the entire species. It's a ...

Welcome to the Monkey House

75 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

The Dial Press, 1998

Brilliant Young Vonnegut
This is a collection of Vonnegut short stories that many, maybe all, were published in magazines in the 50's 60's and possibly later. They are a collection insights into Kurt's sense of angle on human nature and the possibilities of our interactions and relations. I read the story Harrison Bergeron when I was in 7th grade and it changed my life forever. Seriously. I no longer thought of Star ...

Mother Night

98 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999

A Dark Novel with a Valuable Moral Lesson
~Mother Night~ by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is a dark novel set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany initially in the 1930s. An American expatriate living abroad Howard W. Campbell, Jr. marries a German woman Helga, and works as a playwright in Germany. But a dark cloud looms over the horizon, the spectre of Nazi Germany and its violent ideology of ultra-nationalism. Campbell's parents depart Germany ...

A Man Without a Country

190 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007

I wish I could have met him
I read the book the same day I bought it. The only downside is that it is too short. However, it's an excellent read. Reading this is like sitting next an old man telling you about the fascinating life he has lived. It is witty, pointed, and brings up some excellent food for thought. Fans of Vonnegut may notice some repeated thoughts from earlier books but this one still managed to bring up some ...

Armageddon in Retrospect

15 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Putnam Adult, 2008

Vaya Con Dios, Kurt
It is still hard to accept, even after a year, that Kurt Vonnegut is gone. I think this is the way readers must have felt after Mark Twain passed in 1910. "Armageddon in Retrospect" comes then as something like a parting gift...no, that's not right; "A Man Without a Country" did that. "Armageddon in Retrospect" is more like a visitation, our opportunity for closure, like the ghosts in those TV ...

Slaughterhouse-Five

691 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999

Vintage Science Fiction
This is Kurt Vonnegut's Masterpiece. It achieves everything that good science fiction aspires to achieve. The world of Billy Pilgrim is not to be missed. This definitely has to be one of the greatest science fiction books ever written if not it is in the top 10. John

The Sirens of Titan

152 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

The Dial Press, 1998

My Favorite Vonnegut
One of Vonnegut's earliest works and, in my opinion, possibly his best, The Sirens of Titan sees Vonnegut doing what he does so well...taking all the self-importance of humanity and reducing it to a mindnumbingly unimportant task. A book of such scope that it includes a fair portion of our solar system, it is only fitting that the ending is such as it is (I'll avoid putting a spoiler here). His ...

Breakfast of Champions

250 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999

Breakfast Of Champions
Breakfast Of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut ***** Breakfast Of Champions is satire at it's all time best, and Breakfast of Champions is Kurt Vonnegut's all time best, the only other novel of his to even come close is Slaughterhouse-Five. Which is a must read. But as I was saying, BoC is a not so subtle comment on the social structure of America in the early 1970's, but what is so amazing, much ...

God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian

50 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Washington Square Press, 2001

Round Trips
The zany straight shooter, Vonnegut, had Dr. Kevorkian arrange for "near death experiences", round trips to the pearly gates, where he was free to interview whoever he pleased, such as John Brown, Louis Armstrong, Shakespeare, Adolf Hitler, and Sir Isaac Newton. All was reported in forty-five second spots on radio station WNYC. Respected humanist that he was, he took delightful digs at moral ...

Deadeye Dick

47 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999

Wonderful, Like Wandering Through a Junky Antique Shop
Vonnegut does his fans a service with this satirical parable packaged with original food recipes. DEADEYE DICK starts strong and ends the same way all good novels end, leaving you looking at the world in a different light. Again Vonnegut questions the motives of the human race, its follies, and bleak fate. However, there are still bright nuggets of optimism buried in cleverly constructed ...

Slapstick: Or Lonesome No More!

70 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999

Vonnegut is a legend
This book has a surreal element to it. Vonnegut is a master, and his minimilstic style is captivating. He has a strange sense of humor, and that only heightens the brilliance of this book. After reading this book, it's easy to see why he's one of the biggest writers of our time. Four and a half stars are not good enough for this book. And neither is five, but when giving five stars I'm giving a ...

Jailbird

30 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999

All History is Gossip
Poor Walter F. Starbuck. He should have been a servant to those who make history because he certainly wasn't any good at participating in history. He serves a short sentence for being in the general vicinty during the Watergate mess. His crime seems to have been incurable obliviousness. He also was questioned during the Commie witch hunts of the 50's. He exonerated himself by telling the truth ...

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

81 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1998

It's hard to critique Vonnegut
Vonnegut is one of those genius writers that you can't help but love. "Slaughterhouse 5" was my first venture into the realm of Vonnegut, but I have to say that I think I enjoyed this tale much more. Perhaps because the topic is closer to my heart, or perhaps I was able to identify more closely with the characters, I found this novel to be both thought provoking and utterly hysterical. The ...

Fates Worse Than Death

15 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Berkley Trade, 1992

Peek Into Vonnegut's Head
These essays give us a rare look in to the mind of a genius. He expounds on subjects ranging from mental illness, family relationships, death and war. Sounds depressing, but an optimism shows through. Vonnegut masterfully points out the adsurdity around us and shines the light of sanity on it. The essays are as relevant and mind opening today as they were when he wrote them over a decade ago. ...

Timequake

191 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Berkley Trade, 1998

Coda
With "Timequake", Vonnegut's final novel, he is clearly looking backward. When the universe stops expanding, everyone on the planet is forced to relive the last ten years of their life exactly as it had been before. Although this clearly ties in with Vonnegut's common theme of fate and predestination, the loose plot of the novel is mostly an excuse for Vonnegut to reminiscence. You could ...

Essential Vonnegut Interviews CD (Caedmon Essentials)

4 reviews

Caedmon, 2006

Revelation For Vonnegut Fans, Interesting for Anyone
This CD comprises 3 interviews conducted by noted author, editor, translator, NYU English professor, and Vonnegut confidant Walter James Miller. Covered here are 33 years from 1973's discussion of Slaughterhouse Five to 1981's talk about Palm Sunday and ending with 2006's Man Without A Country. Each interview runs at about 25 minutes, giving the listener approximately 74 minutes of critical ...

Like Shaking Hands With God: A Conversation About Writing

8 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Lee Stringer

Washington Square Press, 2000

The art of Being
This is a wisp of a book. At less than 80 pages, I read it in one evening in the time it took me to eat a few tapas and down two pints of beer. By the time the check arrived, I was already writing down my thoughts inside the back cover. But what an enjoyable wisp it is! Almost everyone I know is a fan of Kurt Vonnegut, and so the colorful and curmudgeonly wisdom he brings to the table here ...

Bluebeard (Delta Fiction)

66 reviews
Kurt Vonnegut

Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1998

A Beautiful Book
That's the best way I can describe this book: simply beautiful. The story is very funny, sad, yet touching. And of course, you're dying to know what's in the potato barn. That revelation is one of the nicest surprises that a book has ever given me and is what really left me with a lasting impression. It's surprising that Vonnegut could write something so heartfelt compared to his other books, ...

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