"Look at the Birdie" is a collection of fourteen previously unpublished short stories from one of the most original writers in all of American fict...
read full description
reviews
Dec 08, 2010
JSou
rated it: 
Kurt Vonnegut has always been one of my favorite authors; he was one of the very first writers that was able to change the way I think. I had always loved books, but after my first encounter with KV in high school, I amazingly realized what a novel could actually do. But it's more than than that. Vonnegut has always reminded me of my grandpa, though thinking about it, I'm not really sure why. The only things I know of that they had in common were their age, WWII, and Pall Mall cigarettes.
More...
12 comments
like
(24 people liked it)
Feb 19, 2010
Erik
rated it: 
I'll try to avoid spending too much time dwelling on what's already been said about how amazing it is to read for the first time this collection of stories written while Vonnegut was still working for GE. But for just one small point: it is, in fact, important to note that the raw materials with which Vonnegut worked throughout his career -- especially the elements of disillusionment with larger Systems of which his characters find themselves a part; and, unfortunately, themes of some distorti
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 28, 2011
William Thomas
rated it:
When I was 16 and started working my way through the Vonnegut library, the man could do no wrong. That is, until I turned 22 and read Jailbird. What an awful piece of shit that book turned out to be.
And now that I've read all of his major and minor works, save some of his post-Timequake work, I can stand back and analyze it without being so starry-eyed as I was in younger years. Even though he was my first literary love, and will always be number one in my heart, I can honestly say that these w More...
And now that I've read all of his major and minor works, save some of his post-Timequake work, I can stand back and analyze it without being so starry-eyed as I was in younger years. Even though he was my first literary love, and will always be number one in my heart, I can honestly say that these w More...
3 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jul 28, 2011
Derek
rated it: 
The 3 stars, if I am honest, are padded out with sentiment. Am and always have been a massive fan of Kurt Vonnegut but seldom enjoy reading short stories. Some of his, in Welcome To The Monkeyhouse for instance, are fine...but I think there were probably sound reasons why these ones were "previously unpublished..."
One clue might be the reproduction of a letter from Kurt to a friend written in the 1950s which prefaces the stories. The gist of what he says is "I write because it ea More...
One clue might be the reproduction of a letter from Kurt to a friend written in the 1950s which prefaces the stories. The gist of what he says is "I write because it ea More...
Jun 03, 2011
Christine
rated it:
Disclaimer: If you’re new to Kurt Vonnegut and his canon, Look at the Birdie is not where you start. These are short stories that went unpublished during his long life and illustrious career. Vonnegut wrote 14 novels and several short story collections: if you are familiar with those, then this is where you continue your reading.
He died in 2007; some of his short stories were never published, whether by accidental omission or by virtue of his disdain for them. I found one bit of t More...
He died in 2007; some of his short stories were never published, whether by accidental omission or by virtue of his disdain for them. I found one bit of t More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 09, 2010
Mandy
rated it: 
I have been a Vonnegut fan for years, and just recently received and read this collection of his earlier short stories. And though the San Francisco Chronicle commented that "it seems Vonnegut is working out the kinks in these early attempts," quite frankly, I think it may be my favorite Vonnegut work, and to think it went unpublished for so long is astonishing. Unlike many of his stories, which I find well-written, ironic, hilarious, and cynical, this piece is well-written, ironic, hi
More...
Nov 29, 2010
Derek
rated it:
There was an article in the Washington Post a couple weeks ago about the estates of prominent authors (in this case, Douglas Adams, A.A. Milne, and Bram Stoker) hiring folks to write "authorized" sequels. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con... God help us if Vonnegut's estate ever follows this path.
That being said, how can the world not be made a better place by the publication of more Vonnegut? His incredible wit, intense humanism, and insight into the human character More...
That being said, how can the world not be made a better place by the publication of more Vonnegut? His incredible wit, intense humanism, and insight into the human character More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Mar 15, 2010
Joel
rated it:
A posthumous collection of short stories by a master of the form, this book is at worst a collection of solid B-sides from your favorite band. I can't help but feel Kurt wouldn't have published these himself, striving for perfection as he did, but I'm plenty thankful to have them.
If I had to call out weak pieces, they would be 'Shout it from the Housetops' and 'Hall of Mirrors'- that still leaves you with 12 stories ranging from good to incredible in this compact volume.
R More...
If I had to call out weak pieces, they would be 'Shout it from the Housetops' and 'Hall of Mirrors'- that still leaves you with 12 stories ranging from good to incredible in this compact volume.
R More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 27, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
This Saturday, I read Kurt Vonnegut's "Wait for the Birdie" (or some similar Title, I read it on the Train between Frankfurt and Munich, and I have given it away since), and I really enjoy how Vonnegut enjoys the Make-Believe, the Masquerade, the Roles People Play, and how he is wildly tempted and almost, but just barely amost, crosses the border of introducting honest-to-god magic into 'reality', as he writes it, because he can, and if I was a writer, that would be the greatest thing,
More...
Jan 02, 2010
Adam
rated it:
It's hard to believe that a person could be such a brilliant, en pointe writer for so very long. Many of the stories (if not all?) in Look at the Birdie seem to have been written later in Vonnegut's life. The illustrations are all from the few years before Vonnegut died in April, 2007. Somehow, incredibly, these works are as mesmerizing, as darkly humorous, and as meaningful as any of his previous works - including Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five. I have more experience with Vonne More...
May 07, 2010
I couldn't do it. This collection was published posthumously. Vonnegut had an incredibly discerning sense of what would/should/could publish, and to have this sent out there - short stories from his early days; even some from before he left GE - feels like an invasion of privacy. If he'd wanted these published, he would have made sure it happened. Can't finish this. too much respect for this incredible, precious and brilliant author.
5 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Nov 06, 2009
Mferg912
rated it:
First of all, I should just say that I will read anything written by Vonnegut, and I will like it. I was really excited for this collection and it's one of maybe 5 hardcovers I've actually bought at the time of on sale in the last five years. I really enjoyed reading it, and I'm glad that I have this beautiful book on my shelf.
If I'm trying to be objective, though, these stories are not Vonnegut's greatest. In almost every case I could understand why they hadn't been previously pub More...
If I'm trying to be objective, though, these stories are not Vonnegut's greatest. In almost every case I could understand why they hadn't been previously pub More...
Oct 21, 2011
Matt
rated it:
Sometimes you wish families wouldn't release writers' work posthumously, but in this case, it was a beautiful thing to do.
Here's a collection of short stories from "Early Kurt." Nothing is told in first person, and the familiar voice of his well-known books is barely there. But if you know his work you'll spot a few things: the unmistakable "um" given as a response by a character to ominously dumb statements (at least three times in this collection). The surprisin More...
Here's a collection of short stories from "Early Kurt." Nothing is told in first person, and the familiar voice of his well-known books is barely there. But if you know his work you'll spot a few things: the unmistakable "um" given as a response by a character to ominously dumb statements (at least three times in this collection). The surprisin More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 17, 2009
George
rated it:
There are two reasons to be skeptical of this collection of short stories: 1. The stories are from early in Vonnegut's writing career, and even the best writers need some time to develop their skills, and 2. It's a posthumous collection of previously unpublished work, which means that for various reasons, the stories were never selected for publication, whether it was by the choice of the author or the publisher, during his lifetime. Like a good B-sides collection, there are some gems hidden her
More...
Oct 20, 2010
Jeremy
rated it:
I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this up, simply because it's a collection of posthumously published/previously unpublished work. Typically that means it was never finished or the author didn't think it was good enough to publish during his/her lifetime. Vonnegut is just enough of a contrarian to make me wonder if he didn't publish these because they were *too* good, that he liked them *too* much to distribute them to a wider audience.
I've read three of Vonnegut's story col More...
I've read three of Vonnegut's story col More...
Dec 17, 2009
Caris
rated it:
It is hard for me to believe that anything Kurt Vonnegut wrote could have somehow remained unpublished after all this time. I have a feeling that his remaining family kind of uses his work as a sort of bank account dipped in time-release. Every time they need a significant chuck of cash, they must just dip into what I imagine to be a giant solid pewter trunk and pull out some of ol' Uncle Kurt's gold.
Because, let's face it, the man can do no wrong. These stories must not have been hi More...
Because, let's face it, the man can do no wrong. These stories must not have been hi More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 16, 2011
Keith
rated it:
This was my introduction to Vonnegut, and I'd say it was a good one. I've read quite a bit of 20th century short fiction, so it's hard to surprise me since the genre is given to certain formulaic tropes, but this one managed to do so if for no other reason that the twist at the end of several stories went in a completely different direction than I expected. I suppose this is a hallmark of what people call Vonnegut's inimitable style.
It's hard to really pick favorites here, as the qua More...
It's hard to really pick favorites here, as the qua More...
Jun 11, 2011
Zack
rated it:
i was worried picking this up: if it's posthumous, it must be the stories kurt didn't think were ready yet and probably show it. kurt is famous for his incredibly detail-oriented writing and re-writing and re-editing. the plus side of all that editing is that these stories, which regardless of whether or not KURT thought they were ready, all the stories herein are already incredibly well-honed and organized. FUBAR is easily my favorite in the collection - i'm a sucker for when kurt goes all opti
More...
Oct 23, 2011
Joe
rated it:
Look at the Birdie is a collection of short stories. The stories are excellent, but like the last book of Vonnegut's short stories I read (Armageddon in Retrospect - review forthcoming, I promise), I was left wanting more. As I said, the stories are excellent, but I wouldn't take Look at the Birdie over Hocus Pocus. It's probably not fair to compare a collection of short stories to a novel, but this is a two-for review, so I have to do a bit of comparison.
Basically, if you haven't rea More...
Basically, if you haven't rea More...
Jul 05, 2010
I have a rule about being on the internet past 10. I don't like to do it. BUT I'm worried I'm going to forget telling you how lovely and painful this book was for me to read.
I feel like a grave robber.
There is something horribly unsettling about reading something from someone I greatly admire, something he never wanted published, and now has no control over. My grubby hands could not hold onto it tight enough, and I ate up every word. "Autumn winds, experimenting w More...
I feel like a grave robber.
There is something horribly unsettling about reading something from someone I greatly admire, something he never wanted published, and now has no control over. My grubby hands could not hold onto it tight enough, and I ate up every word. "Autumn winds, experimenting w More...
Jul 25, 2010
Jesse
rated it:
I'm always wary of collections of "unpublished" work that appear after an author's death, usually because they contain mostly "unpublishable" stuff. This collection does have some weak stories, and the baseline of the whole thing is only about average strength for Vonnegut, but it really does underline his talent as a writer. Some stories (several, in fact) are totally formulaic almost all the way to the end, but his endings somehow manage to be reliably new and not disappoin
More...
Jun 24, 2010
Madalina
rated it:
Long lost, the glory of hope, 'tis a wonder to have it restored by sarcasm. Indeed, both man and fate have an extremely efficient way of getting back at the other.
My favorites have sadly been the happy-ending ones, since all the others tend to suffocate me with the manner they have been written, but this book, every story in it, is, tough not engaging, rather like a sneak attack on the basis of your prejudices and the axioms of your theories on life.
The best part? It's l More...
My favorites have sadly been the happy-ending ones, since all the others tend to suffocate me with the manner they have been written, but this book, every story in it, is, tough not engaging, rather like a sneak attack on the basis of your prejudices and the axioms of your theories on life.
The best part? It's l More...
Dec 28, 2009
Brit
rated it:
This was a very pleasant collection of early short stories, and not just by "unpublished" standards. What's so nice about it is that Vonnegut was, at this point, just writing like mad. The stories here are not at all bogged down by the oft-espoused ideas of his later career; they are fresh and, in most cases, fairly mature. For those fans disheartened by Hocus Pocus and the like, this is a good place to return to. As for why these stories were unpublished, your guess is as good as Sidn
More...
Nov 15, 2009
Adam
rated it:
It was an excellent decision to publish this collection of early Vonnegut short stories. While none of them will likely reach the status of American classic, each stands alone as a well-constructed short story in its own right. Perhaps most importantly is that this collection really KV readers to see the progression of Vonnegut's style and ideas. At first, the many long sentences, happy endings, and even one anti-socialist theme may seem antithetical to his later works. And so they may be.
More...
Nov 20, 2010
Corey
rated it:
A fascinating collections of 50's era shorts prove that Vonnegut can be an excellent, simple story teller. Most visible in these shorts is the overwhelming humanity inherent in Vonnegut's personal philosophy, a trait that always seems to have men of conscience prevailing over the "evildoers" of the world. When compared with his end-of-life works (Timequake, anyone?) that seem to emphasize some sort of mental decline over everything else, these clear headed treatises scream out "se
More...
Jan 24, 2010
J. Argyl
rated it:
It is no secret that I am a huge Vonnegut fan and so I rushed out and got this book when it became available. Sadly this is likely to be the last of the posthumous releases from his estate—at least in terms of fiction. Although I am a huge proponent of his novels he has a great flair for the short story. The "Unpublished" in the title is in no way a judgment on the quality of the writing. These stories are compelling and sharp. They are also darker than most of his published short fict
More...
Nov 12, 2009
Greg
rated it:
I always approach posthumous books with a bit of trepidation. To be honest, I haven't really enjoyed the recent Tolkien books finished by his son, as I can't escape the feeling that these are just pure moneymakers.
This is the second volume of unpublished works (the first being a book of essays and primarily short nonfiction). This volume of short stories is a clear reminder of the lost age of the short story, of which Vonnegut was a master. While these may not be his best entries in More...
This is the second volume of unpublished works (the first being a book of essays and primarily short nonfiction). This volume of short stories is a clear reminder of the lost age of the short story, of which Vonnegut was a master. While these may not be his best entries in More...
Apr 23, 2011
Patty
rated it:
This collection of fourteen unpublished short stories by the late Kurt Vonnegut is rather hit-or-miss...some are quite good, others...well, you can see why they weren't published while the author was still alive. It's best if I rate these by the story, so here goes...
1. "Confido" - Centers around a small device that people can tell their deepest thoughts to, but what it says back is curious. [Three out of five stars]
2. "F U B A R" - A man's life is, um, M More...
1. "Confido" - Centers around a small device that people can tell their deepest thoughts to, but what it says back is curious. [Three out of five stars]
2. "F U B A R" - A man's life is, um, M More...
Feb 01, 2012
Meagan
rated it:
I originally got this at an airport - glad to have something of quality to sift through on the plane and equally grateful that these were short stories. I often have trouble staying with a book on a flight, given the somewhat distracting nature of the activity.
I enjoyed the next one even more than the last. This means, of course, that the last one, is seared in my memory as being particularly satirical and tongue-in-cheek. I promptly loaned it out, hoping that they would enjoy it as More...
I enjoyed the next one even more than the last. This means, of course, that the last one, is seared in my memory as being particularly satirical and tongue-in-cheek. I promptly loaned it out, hoping that they would enjoy it as More...
Jan 22, 2011
Neil
rated it:
I approached this book with the same trepidation as any posthumous work - I always have to wonder if there was some reason the author never had it published. Sometimes there was a good reason, sometimes it just wasnt finished, and sometimes there is just no reason whatsoever. Happily, this book falls into the latter category. Every one of these short (but clearly complete and finished) gems is vintage Vonnegut - hilarious and heartbreaking, attempting to conquer the senselessness of humanity wi
More...
