God Bless You, Mr Vonnegut!

[Sebastian Cobb]

Yeah, so I promised a mate I'd post him God Bless You, Mr Rosewater! And even reading the first page made me realise I didn't want to part with it and bought him a copy instead.

I reckon slaughterhouse five was the first one I read but actually didn't get on with it. I should probably revisit it tbh.

Loved Player Piano, despite it being panned by fans as well.

So I dunno, discuss?

[Gwen Taylor on ITV]

Is his name pronounced Von-gut or vonny-gut?

[Alberon]

Neither. It's Throat Warbler Mangrove.

[Ambient Sheep]

I've only read Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions, all of which I liked a lot, in ascending order.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I've only read Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions, all of which I liked a lot, in ascending order.

I've read those and player piano, and God bless you Mr Rosewater.

I think you'd rather like Player Piano, because not only does it touch on the modern-day issue of automation rendering us all useless, it has a lovely quaint quality of being pre-transistor so he describes it all futuristically using tapes and valves. The only other example of prescience I can compare it to is Neal Stevenston

[Attila]

My favourite author, and was well-pleased when he donated all of his papers to my undergraduate university's special collections department. All sorts of things to wallow through as a result of that!

[Sebastian Cobb]

My favourite author, and was well-pleased when he donated all of his papers to my undergraduate university's special collections department. All sorts of things to wallow through as a result of that!

That's it isn't it? He's not even a genius or anything, by his own admission he's just a reasonably intelligent man who can 'describe how a  refrigerator works'. His beauty is he's so accessible. Reading him is effortless.

Actually on second thoughts that's a bit shit, his charm is he also understands people while doing all that.

[Smeraldina Rima]

I read the same three as Ambient Sheep, but Slaughterhouse Five was my favourite of those. By the end of Cat's Cradle I felt like I was revisiting a lot of the same things around an interpretation of free will. I can remember thinking that it resembled some of the spatial descriptions of time and willing in Saint Augustine. The autobiographical feeling that comes through in Slaughterhouse Five seemed helpful to hold my interest besides the more imaginative sci-fi, but it could just be a historical subject I can latch onto more comfortably whether Vonnegut had lived it himself or not. It's interesting what you wrote about his effortlessness. He reminds me of his American contemporary Russell Hoban insofar as a lot of his reputation attaches to one great novel but he keeps building the connected fictional world across his other books, even when they seem a bit more disposable. It might make sense to go back to some of the early stories I had meant to read, those being Mother Night and Player Piano, especially after the recommendation of the latter in this thread. Sorry if this sounds a bit negative for a celebration thread.

[Spoon of Ploff]

wonderful chap.

may i add a shout out for Bluebeard (which had me tearing up at the reveal) and Deadeye Dick which introduced me to the idea that we all live our lives up to a point and then the rest is just epilogue.

[QDRPHNC]

Just read Deadeye Dick yesterday on a transatlantic flight. Think that might be all of his I've read now.

SOMEWHAT CONTROVERSIALLY, my favourite is Breakfast of Champions. God Bless You, Mr Rosewater was great, but didn't really kick in until the second half for me. Laughed my head off at the bit where a naked, wide-eyed Elliott finds a stupendously long pubic hair in front of his pubic-hair-hating father.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Just read Deadeye Dick yesterday on a transatlantic flight. Think that might be all of his I've read now.

SOMEWHAT CONTROVERSIALLY, my favourite is Breakfast of Champions. God Bless You, Mr Rosewater was great, but didn't really kick in until the second half for me. Laughed my head off at the bit where a naked, wide-eyed Elliott finds a stupendously long pubic hair in front of his pubic-hair-hating father.

That's another aspect about Vonnegut I'd completely forgotten about! Not ashamed to bring a good bit of toilet humour or jokes about wanking into the mix.

I think on balance one of my favourite parts of Rosewater was the fact the cleverest character was the scheming schoolgirl who hawked filthy books, because the adults were too self-absorbed to see what she was up to.

[garbed_attic]

I really like Deadeye Dick because it is about guilt (in part).

[djtrees]

Loved him when i was little, think that i would weep myself into a puddle if i were to read him again. He appeared to effortlessly describe the uselessness of the human condition. When i was 17 i wasnt that arsed. being 43 means i tear up when i read beautifulnessness, so i avoid it if poss.

Is he still beautiful? or just a X

[hewantstolurkatad]

Haven't read anything by him in about five years.

Read in this order (with some short stories scattered through):
Slaughterhouse
Cat's Cradle
Hocus Pocus
Breakfast of Champions
Mother Night
[big gap]
Sirens of Titan

I was basically liking each one more than the last, more in that I was getting really into his style until I got to Mother Night. It was kinda weird, I was basically like "yep, that's literally everything I've been wanting from him", and then I didn't read anything by him again for ages.

Skip on a few years and I'm gifted a copy of Sirens of Titan. It was a huge slog, I don't think it was so much that I had grown out of Vonnegut as that it was proto-Vonnegut and I just couldn't be arsed with that six books in. At the same time, I do feel like I've gotten all the best out of him for whatever reason so I probably won't return unless I'm rereading.