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“Favorite Stories so far:
Kellen Byrnes wrote this review 9 days ago. ( reply | view 1 replies | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
1-'Harrison Bergeron'
2-'Who am I this time?'
Excerpts:
'The public health authorities never mention the main reason many Americans have for smoking heavily, which is that smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide.'
”
“Fantastic, and gave me my Vonnegut fix in bite-sized doses”
cacophony wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This book was a collection of short stories about various situations. Most of the stories were somewhat realistic with either very eccentric characters or a twist that makes the story unbelievable. One example of this is the story with two men talking on a beach. This part was realistic but when the one man starts telling a story where he reveals that dogs are actually more intelligent than humans, and that it was Thomas Edison's dog that invented the lightbulb, it becomes unrealistic. My favorite short stories were the ones about how Kurt Vonnegut sees the future. These stories are the most far fetched out of all of them. The first story like this is about the government having gained full control of everyone and taking extreme measures to make sure that everyone was equal in beauty, personality, and brains. The government does this by placing chips in peoples brains so that the intelligent people are shocked when they have intelligent thoughts. They also take away ballerina's ability to dance so that watching a ballet becomes a complete bore, but at least the ballerinas are no better dancers than anyone else. I thought that this was a very funny book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes Kurt Vonnegut's work. The book did remind me of "Cat's Cradle" because of the way the narrator speaks and the way crazy situations are introduced so calmly as if they were completely normal.”
INGRID S wrote this review Monday, November 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Great. V's short stories are BETTER than the novels. ”
Susan H wrote this review Thursday, November 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“One of my favorites. Very futuristic and interesting. Some of the stories are slow or hard to understand, but there are some stories that are just amazing. I love Vonnegut, and this book is a big reason why. Page turner. ”
Rosi Z wrote this review Thursday, November 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“ John Gorman 5 out of 5 stars Welcome to the Monkeyhouse is one of his most amazing works. I'm particularly fond of "Harrison Bergeron" which drums up a horrific depiction of a newfangled world that strips out all feeling, sensation, and recognition. The pour parent's only have a shred of recollection of their fair-haired boy dancing on television before their senses are numbed.
Author, Author Shelf wrote this review Monday, October 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
"More Stately Mansions", also from the collection, is a testament to the versatility of the Big V's writing abilities. You would swear it was penned by another author. It could be Updike, Cheever, Irving, or even Lorrie Moore. It has Vonnegut's sense of irony, but non of the futuristic stuff that pigeon-holed him into being a so-called sci-fi writer.
And who doesn't love Billy the Poet, the Howdy Doody of rapists, from the title piece of the collection.
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“Appreciate his style of writing. Read majority but skipped a few depending on the topic. Nice collection of short stories.”
R T wrote this review Tuesday, October 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“One of the best collections of short-stories I have encountered.”
Leif wrote this review Sunday, September 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Some damn good essays here, some stinkers too.”
IVirOrfeo wrote this review Saturday, September 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I read this on a beach somewhere. I forget which friend brought it, but holy shit. My mind was blown. Finally, an author who wrote incredible things in such a logical, humorous, believable way. I didn't think he was full of shit. I rather liked him immediately. I've never read anything else of his. Strange. ”
emma k wrote this review Tuesday, August 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
