A Man Without a Country

Looking forward to reading - thank you!

Kurt Vonnegut is a giant in American literature-- this is his memoir which turns out to be funny, thought provoking and a strong POV from Kurt on art, politics, war, peace and even ecology. Amazingly intimate and yet universally interesting even if you're not a Vonnegut fiction fan-- you may find this fascinating. His first book was PLAYER PIANO and probably the most known are Cat's Cradle, Mother Night, Slaughterhouse-Five, Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane, and Breakfast of Champions. There are about a dozen other books too...he talks about the writing and the reader response to his books in this memoir and illustrates it with some amazing illustrations that have a style all of their own. Did you know he was once a car dealer owner? Yep, a Saab dealership. There's probably lots you didn't know about Vonnegut. What makes the book so amazing is that he uses both a 'stream of consciousness' style and even breaks the 4th wall by talking with you not at you. Humanism-- it's what makes Vonnegut tick...and good old Midwestern outspoken talk -- after all he's from Indiana and much of the book happens there. Enjoy-- it's a great book for writers, teachers and scientists and technologists-- lots of kewl comments about science and tech.

In my review of "Timequake," I labelled Vonnegut as "Novelist Emeritus," noting that his writing is still enjoyable, you read it with half a smile on your face. But you are laughing and smiling with polite respect towards the old master. I picked up "A Man without a Country" at the Coop and opened at random, and read this paragraph: "In case you haven't noticed, as the result of a shamelessly rigged election in Florida, in which thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily disenfranchised, we now present ourselves to the rest of the world as proud, grinning, jut-jawed, pitiless war-lovers with appallingly powerful weaponry- who stand unopposed." He continues on in this vein, and draws parallels between the current worldview of America and the way the world viewed Germany as the Nazis rose to power. He has the clarity and honesty to refer to the characters running the Bush administration as psychopaths. Wow! I take it all back. Perhaps, in "Timequake" he was burdened with the artifact of a failed novel, but wanted to make something out of it, colored it with his unique perspective but ended up with a softer version of his usual fare. It felt a little lazy, like Vonnegut imitating Vonnegut. But here, freed from the artifice of fiction, we get classic Vonnegut. In fact, more than a return to form, but better than ever. This book finds him clever and witty, but also very angry and indignant, and righteously so. I have the same concerns and emotions but lack the ability to formulate it and express it in words so beautifully. So it's refreshing to read Vonnegut, and it's inspiring to know that he is not the doddering old professor but a wise old lion with still plenty of bite left. I won't try to tell you it's all great, that there are none of the soft, self-indulgent moments that detract from his later novels, but there is plenty of greatness on display. Buy it, read it, enjoy it. Thank you for listening.

After reading Mr. Wolfensburger's review, my Vonnegut juices got stirred up. How is it possible for a person to be "educated" in this country through college and not have even heard of Kurt Vonnegut Jr, much less having never read any of his books? Start off with "Slaughterhouse Five", then "Breakfast of Champions", then any and all of the rest of them. After you finish Vonnegut, continue with Joseph Heller's "Catch 22", and go on to Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". After these warmups of how this country functions, you can begin your education.

Kurt finally concludes the half-century journey on which he has taken us with this hilarious, heartfelt, charming epilogue. Vonnegut gives us literary polaroids of his childhood and day-to-day life, places us at the dinner table with Mark Twain, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, and Eugene Debs, and manages to answer the question: "What does it mean to be human?" All the while single handedly battling George W. Bush, H-Bombs, and the "Guessers."