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[Dr Jason]

I thought there needed to be a thread to discuss this man, his books, and his awesomeness.

[Ravenbomb]

awesome to the amount of 9

[Reidonius]

Whoa, what a coincidence. I just read Slaughterhouse-Five for the second time and am now reading Cat's Cradle. I'm just kind of in a Vonnegut mood so I think I'll tackle Galapagos again soon. He is teh awesome

[Inlander]

Slaughterhouse 5 is amazing.  I'd just started reading Breakfast of Champions when I left the bag in which I was carrying it at a friend's house.  That was last November and I haven't been able to get it back yet - very frustrating!

The most brilliant thing about Slaughterhouse 5, at least from a writer's point of view, is the way Vonnegut manages to re-sensitise the reader to the violence depicted in the novel.  We're so used to reading about people being killed that we tend to skim over it - by saying simply "So it goes" every time somebody is killed in the novel it snaps the reader's attention back to just how much pointless violence there is in the world.  At first you get sick of that same phrase being repeated over and over, but after a while you start to join the dots and connect the phrase to the death of a character (or, comically, an inaminate object) - and it starts to hit you just how much tragedy and death there is beneath the fantastical surface of the novel.  It's a masterful trick.

[Chesire Cat]

Good or bad thing about him is if you've read one KV book, they are all pretty much the same.

Its like Tim Robbins, the first Tim Robbins book is etheral experience, then you read a second one and ask yourself... Is this a sequal with completely different characters in completely different settings somehow doing hte same thing.  Its a little like Lost, except Lost is what happens to all the Tim Robbins chars.

[sjbrot]

I read Slaughterhouse Five and Player Piano, and I didn't really find that they were all that similar. But maybe those two are the exceptions.

I found his use of absurdism in Slaughterhouse and Player Piano to be great, and fit right in with the tone of both books. I wouldn't say he's a master writer. But, he's still right up there.

[Dr Jason]

Good or bad thing about him is if you've read one KV book, they are all pretty much the same.

Its like Tim Robbins, the first Tim Robbins book is etheral experience, then you read a second one and ask yourself... Is this a sequal with completely different characters in completely different settings somehow doing hte same thing.  Its a little like Lost, except Lost is what happens to all the Tim Robbins chars.

That's one of the reasons I'd say I'm a fan. You could pick up one of his books without knowing the title or author or be able to tell it was him.

[Borondir]

Inlander, you basically described one of the things I love so much about Vonnegut, or more particularly Slaughterhouse Five. We have become so used to violence, and through his absurdist brilliance, he constantly reminds us why we should not get used to violence.

[soap]

i read slaughthouse 5 years ago when i was still at school, and remember thinking it was fantastic.
last time i looked for it to re-read i couldn't find it, i've got a horrible suspicion i lent it out to someone and they didn't give it back

[Kai]

Kurt Vonnegut is pretty much one of my faovrite writers ever.

[Sean C]

He was the first author I read in school that actually made me go out and find more of his work. Anyone ever read Welcome to the Monkey House?

[Omnicide]

Eh. I always found him a little too close to Kilgore Trout himself- great plots but not much of a writer. His stories don't ever seem to go anywhere and end when things get truely interesting (Cat's Cradle, anyone?) Still, respect to the man who wrote Galapagos- best thing he ever did in my book.

[Kai]

He was the first author I read in school that actually made me go out and find more of his work. Anyone ever read Welcome to the Monkey House?

Oi. In terms of his shorter stuff, I liked Wampeters Foma and Gramfalloons, but those are essays rather than stories, so.

[_]

Eh. I always found him a little too close to Kilgore Trout himself- great plots but not much of a writer. His stories don't ever seem to go anywhere and end when things get truely interesting (Cat's Cradle, anyone?) Still, respect to the man who wrote Galapagos- best thing he ever did in my book.

With Vonnegut, the first and foremost thing is the emotion. Everything else takes a backseat. Read Mother Night and see if you don't walk around for the next two days feeling sick to your stomach and ashamed.

[Omnicide]

With Vonnegut, the first and foremost thing is the emotion. Everything else takes a backseat. Read Mother Night and see if you don't walk around for the next two days feeling sick to your stomach and ashamed.

The gauntlet has been thrown down!

[Schmendrick]

I saw this and I think I am in love with Dr Jason for starting it!

I think that Kilgore Trout is an amazing character and Omnicide I understand what you mean by him being too close to the Vonnegut himself, but I find that most good authors, whether they mean to or not, put a biographical element into their works because afterall when you write you should write about something you know to make people understand it better and what do you know better then your own emotions and your own self?
Vonnegut uses comedy in the way that comedy is used in so much of life. He uses it as kind of release. You are laughing at his writing and suddenly you realize how perfectly tragic it is. I know when I'm upset I tend to laugh at my problems because facing them head on is much too intimidating.

[Hat]

Good or bad thing about him is if you've read one KV book, they are all pretty much the same.

Because a story about the chance meeting of a science fiction author and an insane used car salesman is pretty much the same as a story about the entire planet repeating their lives, and a story about the journey of an ex-billionare around the solar system as a result of bizzare "coincidences" etc etc.

I mean, stylistically, he is pretty consistant, and in Slaughter-House 5, he toys with some ideas that are also in Time Quake, but considering how deranged his novel plots are, its a bit silly to say they're all the same.

Also I read Welcome To The Monkey House a few weeks ago and it was pretty awesome, but did anyone find it weird that there are all these fantastic, bizzare stories, and smack bang in the middle is just one of the sweetest love stories you've ever read?

[Chesire Cat]

No, I am very definately saying stylistically the books are all the same.  They are good books, but you arent going to be as wowed by any of his books as by the first one you read.  Doesn't really matter which.

*VERY* Tom Robbins esque.

[rive gauche]

Tom Robbins is just a Kurt Vonnegut wannabe.

He is pretty nifty too, though.

[butmyrobotloves]

Vonnegut always remains one of my favorites, mostly because I know that I'll fall in love with whatever writing of his I pick up.

This comic actually explains why I love Kurt Vonnegut pretty accurately.

[AceGun]

I have nothing new to add to this other than my agreement.  Go Vonnegut.  You rule.  Still one of the only authors that can make me read a book all in one sitting.

[Kai]

Also I read Welcome To The Monkey House a few weeks ago and it was pretty awesome, but did anyone find it weird that there are all these fantastic, bizzare stories, and smack bang in the middle is just one of the sweetest love stories you've ever read?

I can't recall the name of it, but is it the one where they go off for a walk, or the one with the actor/phone company lady?


also, butmyrobotloves, that is pretty spot on.

[Chesire Cat]

<3 Dinosaur Comics.  Best comics this side of Whiteninja

[pig nash]

Oh man, I love Kurt.  I've been on a Vonnegut kick ever since I read his new one, Man Without A Country.  Anyone else read it?

[Hat]

I can't recall the name of it, but is it the one where they go off for a walk, or the one with the actor/phone company lady?

The one how they go for a walk. The actors one is pretty sweet as well, but its fairly early on, and still has a fairly interesting Vonnegut style of story to it, while the one I was talking about is just quite tender and very mushy.

Also I am making my way through Gallopagos. It is pretty awesome, but I am barely keeping track of what is going on with the weird jumping around of narrative tenses it has.

[no one special]

No one has mentioned Galapagos - I loved the hell out of that book.  

Also, Galapagos and Mother Night (the other Vonnegut book I have read) were pretty damn different.  Both were great books, though!

[Omnicide]

I think that Kilgore Trout is an amazing character and Omnicide I understand what you mean by him being too close to the Vonnegut himself,

I means what i says. Like Trout, Vonnegut come up with great plots, but I don't think he's particularly gifted at the sentence to sentence business of writing. He's fairly repetitous in his books, his characters are often one-dimensional misfits and his plots go out with a whimper. He's like Assimov- such an imagination but shoddy writing, in my own opinion, but that's the internet for you. SO much love for Old Kurt I might as well critize Lovecraft for all the difference it makes.

PS: Read Mother's Night. Here he got it right.

[Kai]

I will agree that his writing style isn't fantastic. It's not super descriptive or breathtaking. It does get what needs to be done and I think the general absurdity of it holds it up. Take Cat's Cradle. Not wonderful writing by any means, but the story was out there and interesting enough that I could totally dig it.