Kaethe

1982 January 6
2014 October 3

Where I Live - Keenly observed. I wonder what an update would be like 50 years on?

Harrison Bergeron - This one has aged a bit, but it's still good.

Who Am I This Time? - I vividly recall the American Playhouse production with Susan Sarandon and Christopher Walken. Magic.

Welcome to the Monkey House - Likewise aged, not that there aren't people who would be delighted to see the sex drive killed for everyone else, but those people tend not to be in favor of birth control or assisted suicide.

Long Walk to Forever - This is the story that made me want to reread the collection particularly.
 
    "A walk?" said Catharine.

    "One foot in front of the other,"said Newt,"Through leaves,over bridges--"

Vonnegut repeats that line "through leaves, over bridges" several times, and it is amazing how much emotion he manages to convey in that utterly prosaic phrase. It kills me. As does Vonnegut's preferred title, "Hell to Get Along With", which should probably be the title of every proposal story ever.

The Foster Portfolio - Heh.

Miss Temptation - "I’m not Yellowstone Park!” she said. “I’m not supported by taxes! I don’t belong to everybody! You don’t have any right to say anything about the way I look!”

Vonnegut understands and conveys, in 1956 mind you,a point which still continues to elude many supposed adults even today.

All the King's Horses - A rather dark musing on war, but not too dark.

Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog - Just perfectly amusing.

New Dictionary - Would go well paired with David Foster Wallace's review of dictionaries.

Next Door - Oh, my.

More Stately Mansions - This is another one that has lived long in my memory. It's a very kind and accepting and loving sort of story about a quirky, possibly annoying-as-hell character. And also, the obsession with having the perfect home has only become stronger and more widespread.

The Hyannis Port Story - Another really sweet story that still manages to be cynical and funny.

D.P. - Vonnegut writes children so well, so real. Not at all like Salinger's improbable paragons. A most unusual war story.

Report on the Barnhouse Effect - Interesting to compare this with LeGuin's <i>Lathe of Heaven</i> in focus and tone and characterization.

The Euphio Question - Amusingly presented.

Go Back to Your Precious Wife and Son - Oh, I love this, the contrast between the couples, the shower enclosure. Why doesn't anyone write stories from the point of view of storm window installers these days?

Deer in the Works - I'd say this one has exerted a small but deeply felt influence over my whole world view.

The Lie - Vonnegut can be warmly sympathetic to unlikely characters.

Unready to Wear - No question that I love this story.

The Kid Nobody Could Handle - An appreciation of the importance of finding one's home, in every sense.

The Manned Missiles - Perhaps the world didn't go this way because Vonnegut warned us against it? Interesting note: he thinks Earth will look green from space.

EPICAC - Unlike some of his peers, Vonnegut can easily imagine a brilliant mathematician who happens to be a woman.

Adam - Another sweet story that isn't sentimental at all.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Boy was the population explosion a big deal.

It's been more than 30 years since I first read this book, and a while since I've read anything else by Vonnegut. But rereading, I can't help notice how completely I've absorbed the Vonnegut mindset into my own. Most of my favorite authors these days I love for their humanism, their warmth, their sympathy, and their humor. Most of that must have come from Vonnegut, since I can't recall any one else I read in high school who was similar, except Douglas Adams. These are not bad people to have been raised by.

Kindle library copy