God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian
 

God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian

by Kurt Vonnegut

In what began as a series of quirkily characteristic ninety-second interludes for New York's public radio station, Kurt Vonnegut asks, on behalf of us all, the Big Questions. Could death be a quality? A place? Not an ending but an occurrence that changes those to whom it happens?
As a "reporter on the afterlife," Vonnegut bravely allows himself to be strapped to a gurney by his friend Jack... (read more)

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Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

P0$T
  • Rated 5 stars

Loved it. The interviews were pretty spectacular.

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Didn’t Like It

JoeIsReading
  • Rated 1 stars

And God would have blessed you too, Mr. Vonnegut, if you had stuck to your retirement as promised.

JoeIsReading’s full review »
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Community:
  • Rated 3.877907 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4 stars
 

Newest Comments

  • rconroy

    rconroy said:

    A black black sad day for all humanity: the passing of another of god's chosen spokesmen, another visionary in the ground, another hero taken down.
    Kesey, Hunter Thompson, Cash, now Vonnegut. The world grows dark and cold.

    Now we are left with men of a younger generation,
    men whose fathers I would have disdained
    to put with the dogs who kept my flock.
    So now my soul is in turmoil within me
    and misery has me daily in its grip.

    Rise up, ye sons of Molech, ye sons of Mammon.
    Do you not hear the Lord's voice crying in the wilderness?
    Do you not hear the foe break upon the flanks of the sanctuary
    Like the ocean burst its shores in the dead of night.
    Who will lead us, oh Lord, who will lead us now?

    posted Thursday, April 12 2007
  • HemingwayHeroine

    hemingwayheroine said:

    Oh, I'm sorry. As soon as I heard, I jumped on Shelfari and started a discussion thread. But, I guess Vonnegut deserves more than one memorial thread. For some reason, I don't remember too many details about many of the Vonnegut books I've read. Which is sad really, because they are among my favorites. His books are mainly considered "science fiction" but you are right, there is so much truth to each one. I should also make a plan to reread those that I own and make some headway in reading those that I haven't.

    The more memorable ones for me were Cat's Cradle, God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (Hitler says, he's sorry! C'mon!) and Breakfast of Champions. Breakfast of Champions has a significant importance to me. I believe I was reading a passage that either stated, or made me think about how seemingly insignificant moments can really change your life in a big way. I was sitting in a hospital cafeteria, waiting for my dad to get out of surgery on his leg. Just then my phone rang and it was a wrong number. The wrong number interrupted me from my reading and caused me to look up and see my friends mother. And so Breakfast of Champions and the insignificant wrong number will forever be connected to my friend's suicide. I don't know why I'm sharing this, but that book just holds a lot of meaning for me, and I don't think I could read it again without applying that moment to its every page.

    posted Thursday, April 12 2007
  • Michael L

    michael l said:

    I have a similar thread going with Cat's Cradle. That is my favorite too, although I also loved Slaughterhouse Five, Player Piano, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater and Breakfast of Champions. His vision of a world of chaos and cruelty and the hope of human kindness resonates deeply with my experience growing up in the sixties. The idea that certain people are in your life for cosmic reasons has also always made sense to me. I think Mr. Vonnegut was a writer who was paying attention to what was really real for him and so even though he wrote fiction, it was filled with insight and awareness applicable to real life. Rereading those books now makes sense to me and I am going to make a plan to do so.

    posted Thursday, April 12 2007
  • HemingwayHeroine

    hemingwayheroine said:

    God Bless You, Kurt Vonnegut (1923 - 2007)

    What is your favorite Vonnegut book? What did it mean to you? Why do we Vonnegut fans devour his novels, one by one?

    Discuss.

    posted Thursday, April 12 2007
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