Anyone care to talk Vonnegut?

[gavinowl]

Hello out there. I'm new to this site. Everyone seems very friendly from what I read. Kurt Vonnegut is an old favorite of mine. Does anyone share my interest?;)

[Lara]

Vonnegut is on my 'to read' list, someday. What is it about his stories that makes him your favourite? Is it the plot? depth? Just curious.

Lara

[star blue]

now, here's a thread that interests me. I've read almost every vonnegut novel and, boy, is he ever an incredible guy. no one has ever made me feel so good about living such a shi:tty existence.

anyway . . . lara, it's his story telling that ultimately wins the trophy. ask anyone, he's the most feel-good writer you'll ever encounter.

[gavinowl]

You're right Starblue. Vonnegut is just plain fun. He has a wonderful way with words that is pragmatic and hilarious. He has some pretty ridiculous plotlines, and his down-to-earth manner makes it more ridiculous. "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater" is a good read, as is "Blue Beard," "Sirens of Titan," and "Cat's Cradle."

[sloegin]

In Slaughter House Five, it seemed he was going in to many directions. Sirens of Titan, on the other hand was beautiful.

His paintings and sculptures, leave something to be desired.

[gavinowl]

sloegin- I have seen some of his drawings in his novels, but I didn't know he sculpted. That's interesting. Where have you seen his sculptors? I didn't care for Slaughterhouse Five at first. With another reading, I found more insight. I will admit that Vonnegut has written a few mediocre novels. Player Piano I found a little slow. Sirens of Titan is great though, isn't it?

[sloegin]

There was one at a local gallery. I thought it was a joke and did some more research on it, it isn't. He should have some pictures on his website, I haven't been there in awhile.

[sloegin]

Who else do you read?

[ajoe]

I like his style, but I haven't read his other books other than Cat's Cradle because I'm not really into science fictions.

[5Parker]

[QUOTE=star blue] no one has ever made me feel so good about living such a shi:tty existence.
[QUOTE]

That's it. That's it 100%. I love Vonnegut cuz he just gets life. It's not melodrama like so many of his genre, but it's deep. It's true. I even read some short stories of his that had no particular hook for me other than Vonnegut's having written them. But they were wonderful. Accidental wit. Vonnegut = Life. Heck, Vonegut = death, too. So it goes.

[simon]

His short stories are of particular intersest to me. There was a recently published book of his stories written before he became famous, small works found in small and not so small magazines. It is called Bagombo Snuff Box, and I can assuredly recommend it to any fans.

5parker and star blue are certianly correct in stating their above about Vonnegut, "he gets life", the truest and most sought after words. What all persons should be endeavoring for.

[Capnplank]

Vonnegut definately ranks among my favorites. I don't know about "getting life", but to me he definately seems to enjoy highlighting the ridiculous in everything. Though that in itself is life for some of us, when you find a way to enjoy it. Anyhoo, he also writes in a style that a lot of people enjoy. It's not overwordificated and just moves really fast.
One of his most highly regarded works seems to be Slaughter-house Five, but that's somewhere near the middle of the list for me. My favorites would probably be Cat's Cradle, The Sirens of Titan, Bluebeard, Welcome to the Monkey House, Hocus Pocus (or Slapstick? I can't seem to keep those two straight), and... well I'll wind up listing them all eventually.
I've gotta say that I don't think the film interpretations of most of his works (there are a staggering lot of them) do them justice, with maybe the exception of Slaughter-house Five, which was pretty good. For some of the others I've seen, they stretched 5 page short stories into 90 minute feature films, as in Harrison Bergeron. Bluck.


Though his novels are quite different, John Irving is another writer that manages to seem similar to me, without seeming at all similar. I believe he was a student of Vonnegut's way back when at Iowa or whereever it was, and he has written about how close the two have become. I notice Vonnegut blurbs on a lot of his novels now...

[Sniper15]

Hello out there. I'm new to this site. Everyone seems very friendly from what I read. Kurt Vonnegut is an old favorite of mine. Does anyone share my interest?;)

No. :banana:

[simon]

Then why did you even bother to post.

[baddad]

.......so it goes.....

[simon]

Actually what should be asked is why I bothered to post, but alas that mistake cannot be retracted at this moment in time.

Onto Vonnegut again...Irving was a student of his? I didn't know Vonnegut taught anything. What other tidbits of the authors perks can be dished out?

[Sethasagerund]

I have recently become intereted in his literature. Someone said that slaughter-house 5 way lacking and my response to that, like another i read is, read it again. It essentially describes why he writes the way he does. That and how could you not be cynical after your mother commits suicide on mothers day when you are home on leave. You would think that maybe he could catch a break from death. But the book, i would say, is about himself in another persons place. I believe that's the only way he could describe it, third person.

[B-Mental]

Seth, I will recommend 'Fates Worse Than Death' again, he goes through how his family has been plagued with mental disorder, and his own struggle with depression. Its essays, and his opinions are so true (at least to me a liberal free thinker).

[Sethasagerund]

i'll take you up on that, it seems as if i'm closing my mind up in open mindedness...haha if that's possible.

[Jack_Aubrey]

I've read Breakfast of Champions and Slaughter-House Five. Loved them both, he's one of my favorite authors.

[A Hard Rain]

Having read breakfast of champions, and slaughter house 5, (the two that everyone have seem to of read.) hocus pocus, and a slew of short stories by vonnegut jr. i will try to label and classify and what he does that is so good, but it will most likely be futile anyway!

Vonnegut's prose sucks. His vocabulary, whether he is lacking in this department or not, is simple colloquialism, common talk. His writing is not eloquent.

This works for him. His ideas are quite creative, usually coming from a perspective of the otherworldly or other planetary. Anyone can read these books and not have to pull out the dictionary or scratch their heads saying what the **** did he mean by that?! Most of his novels have sci-fi undertonings.

Vonnegut is satire. Everything in his books are traumatic, sad, pathetic.
However, KVjr. tells his storys with sincere sympathy to the ludicris and insane plots, and of course the tragedies of his characters. He will make you laugh more then you'll cry, and you might say to yourself... jesus christ i am ****ed , this is sad, while i am laughing hysterical. At times maybe he just makes you feel better because others situations are more ****ed up or pitiful or insane then yours, but at the same time he is showing you your existence, because everything that happens to his characters can happen to you. there is a deep empathy.

He juxtaposes. He throws extremes in, smashes them together, blows your thought process to bits. You think to yourself there is no way this sort of thing could happen, but it could, or it has. In his smashing of the extreme, he leaves your existence futile. He shows you this, and the heart wrenching tragedies in sometimes backwards ways, and then he finds some sort of optimism in it, some sort of peace, something worthwhile. Some beauty. Maybe it is only a reflection he shows of what matters to yourself, or what direction you have to go. He breaks it down. And you're left with a sickly irony, permeating you for days after, influencing your decisions, thougts, views, and maybe seeing some truths.

[starrwriter]

I'm almost ashamed to admit I have never been able to get into Vonnegut, although I have tried several times. His heart is clearly in the right place and he can be very funny at times, but his writing style seems so limited to me. By limited I mean narrow, one-track or repetitive. He just doesn't seem capable of stretching himself as a writer, which I think is a major flaw.

[imaditzyreader]

Fisrt of all, i am a high school student currently, i dont know if this affects anything. aAny ways, i went to a summer school this summer(Phillips Exeter Acadamy). They have one of the most amazing libraries in the world, and through out they had concerts in there, in which you could just sit three-five stories up and listed to the music and browes the books. As i was in there one day, i saw a book titled Galapagos, and i picked it up. i looked through it and decided that it looked readable, and so the next day i went back and took it out. that small novel has been my only experience of Vonnegut, but it was a great book. i did not have time to return it before i came home, and i have been looking for it evr since. i look forward to reading more of his works.

[bodica]

I have just started to read the Cats Cradle I will let you know soon as.

Good to meet you

[tennis2622]

Hi Just wanted to let you guys know that Kurt Vonnegut came to my school at OSU and held a very witty talk I found it very enlightning.

[PeterL]

I read many of Vonnegut's works years ago, but I got sick of them. His basic theme seemed to be that thigs happen without apparent reason, fatalism. I stopped being a fatalist, so I stopped likeling his writing, until fairly recently, when I realized hat many things do happen without apparent reason. I haven't reread any of his writings, but I did like The Sisrens of Titans and Slaughterhouse Five; both of which are very fatalistic. I also liked his style, and some of his writing is humorous.

[cuppajoe_9]

Vonnegut is one of my favorites. Interesting how manic depressives tend to be hillarious. Kurt Vonnegut, J.D. Sallinger, Mike McDonald, Mitch Hedburg, Andy Kaufman, Abraham Lincoln...

[asorens]

I have only read one of Vonnegut's novels and that is Slaughterhouse Five. I was very entertained by his incredible writing style and the playfulness of the text. What interested me the most about Vonnegut was the articulate way in which he satirized the ideals of war and violence in the novel. The main character Billy seems to be unable to escape the effects of his past during the Dresden bombing and thus we see the time tripping. I think Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five is comparable with Joseph Heller's Catch 22. Have you read that before? If you like Vonnegut I think you would like Heller. Does anyone else see a connection between the two?

[dramasnot6]

Oh i adored Cats Cradle. His has a very unique way of writing, i find many young people like him for his idealist style. but hes also jsut hilarious.

[asorens]

I've never read Cats Cradle, but he is hilarious!