Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007)

When I was in my 20s and 30s, I read pretty much everything ever written by Kurt Vonnegut. I loved his writing style. For reason unknown, I never read his most famous work, Slaughterhouse Five. I rectified this through purchase of the audiobook on Audible.

Slaughterhouse Five follows the adventures of Billy Pilgrim throughout his life, which consists of intermittent time travel, from his experience as a prisoner of war during the fire bombing of Dresden, to his life as a wealthy optometrist in Ilium. New York, to his kidnapping and captivity at the hands of Tralfadorian aliens.

Vonnegut has a very distinctly irreverent and informal writing style. I suspect you either love him or hate him. I enjoy his books immensely. I suspect I will revisit his other novels through this audio format.… (more)

According to Kurt Vonnegut, the two things that have ruined mankind are big brains and hands. Our big brains give us dangerous ideas and our hands enable us to carry them out. His solution to make mankind less dangerous is that humans must evolve (devolve?) into a simpler animal that will no longer have access to these troublemaking tools. This novel deals with this hypothetical situation by showing it in action- a virus prevents people from reproducing all over the world except for a clan of stranded tourists on the Galapagos islands. Though they are unaware of it, they alone must repopulate the planet to ensure the continuation of the human race. We learn they were successful because the narrator tells us the story from a million years in the future, where the human race are happy fisherfolk based in the Galapagos. This narrator, a ghost who died in a Swedish shipyard accident building the boat that would bring the future of the human race to the Galapagos, is named Leon Trout and is the son of the infamous Kilgore Trout. Kilgore makes an appearance, yelling at his son from the blue tunnel of death to join him in the afterlife. He pessimistically warns his son to stop wasting his time caring about stupid humans, but Leon chooses to stay. Unlike his father, he thinks there is something worthwhile about people. This novel certainly portrays people as fucking idiots (ie. feeding a steak to a dog during a famine), but it's also very telling that the epigraph is the lovely/sad Anne Frank quotation: "In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart." JEEZ, if she can think that, anyone can! We're not perfect, but there is something worth saving. Ah, the glimpse of Vonnegut humanism buried underneath the cynicism.

There is a lot of jumping around in the plot as we learn about the past of the survivors, the present story of how they get from Ecuador to the Galapagos, and the future of human life on the island. It's an interesting assortment of people who end up there- a hot-mess German captain, a pregnant Japanese woman, a blind American girl, some Ecuadorian tribe girls, and a high school science teacher also known as Mother Nature personified. I would've liked more of conman and false Canadian James Wait AKA Willard Flemming (fun fact- Bunny Hoover's real father), but I thought it was hilarious that Mary revered him the rest of her life not knowing how sketchy he was!

There were some quirky stylistic features, such as putting a star before a character's name in anticipation of their near death and including lots of famous quotations provided by the fictional Mandarax, a hell of a lot like a smartphone of today! This isn't one of Vonnegut's standout novels in my opinion, but it's still an enjoyable read. Like most of his works, it's funny, sad, and makes you think.… (more)

Bluebeard is structured as the autobiography of the Armenian, one-eyed painter, Rabo Karabekian. You may remember him from his cameo in Breakfast of Champions, although he's a lot older in Bluebeard. It's a clever idea to take this minor character and then spin out an entire backstory- and what a life! This book deals with his Armenian genocide survivor parents, apprenticeship with a famous, but mean painter, being a soldier in World War II, two marriages, and his involvement in the Abstract Expressionist art movement. It also functions as a journal for his present life, which has been turned upside down by a pushy pill-popping widow named Circe Birman. There's even a mystery pushing the plot forward, as Rabo refers to a secret he is keeping in his potato barn that he does not want shown until after his death. I've read this book before, but I completely forgot what was in the barn so I was still curious. Based on the title Bluebeard you might expect it to be his dead wives, but you just have to wait and find out…

Rabo writes in a voice remarkably similar to Kurt Vonnegut's and he also writes in the same broken up style, but I can forgive it since I like Vonnegut's style so much. Like Vonnegut, he's also a world weary, cynical, curmudgeonly old guy, but still sees the beauty in people. He believes humans are made of meat and souls and it is our meat which makes us do terrible things. But if you can look past it, there is a beautiful soul in everyone.

I thought for the first time in a Vonnegut novel that there were some strong female characters. Circe Birman is kind of crazy, but her opening line "Tell me how your parents died" is amazing. Her dynamic with Paul Slazinger was also funny, as he'd patronize her without knowing she was a bestselling author. Marilee is also interesting. I like how going to MOMA with Rabo was more offensive to her husband than sleeping with him would be. She takes a turn to feminism following WWII, which I guess is kind of before "feminism" was a thing. Rabo expects a booty call when they reunite in Italy, but instead she teaches him about how cruel and dangerous men can be. It's nice to see a woman who before couldn't understand Nora in 'A Doll's House' get her independence.

This novel also deals a lot with art. It makes fun at how ridiculously expensive some modern art is by having Rabo's expensive paintings completely disintegrate and peel off the canvas. His legacy is reduced to failure, unlike his buddy Jackson Pollack. It also explores technical skill and how it's not enough to make a great painting. Rabo rejects his excellent drawing skills because he feels it's too easy and turns to the Abstract Expressionist style. You'd think throwing paint around would be easier, but apparently not! The painting in the potato barn uses his excellent technical skill but combines it with emotional subject matter. The massive painting depicts the valley Rabo was released to with thousands of other prisoners in World War II. What makes the painting incredible is the detailed backstory that Rabo has given to each person. It's amazing to think that each person in a crowd is not only a beam of awareness, but also a complicated individual. I wish this painting existed, but I guess it probably couldn't live up to how everyone can imagine it in their heads. It also makes you think of what everyone is hiding in their own metaphorical potato barns. It's like everyone has all these great talents but we keep them hidden because we're afraid of people's reactions. This novel was a really enjoyable reading experience and I consider it to be one of Kurt Vonnegut's best.… (more)