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Oct 23, 2008

Dusty rated it:

I had a friend back in Pittsburgh who was incredibly smart and very kind and funny, but had a tendency toward literary snobbishness. (I know: can you imagine such a person?) Once he had something disparaging to say about Kurt Vonnegut, I can't remember exactly what. Some well timed comment that pretty much wrote him off as a hack, and I recall being almost hurt by it, seeing as how Vonnegut wrote so much stuff I loved as a teen.

And I guess that's maybe the rub. I loved Vonnegut as a More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2008

Carrie rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Eunji rated it:

i learned that kurt vonnegut wrote a play called happy birthday wanda june.
this book is, i think, the culimination of certain ever present themes that exist in vonnegut's work. and thus, the best impression of vonnegut that vonnegut would ever do:
fuzzy morality that is really quite clear.
sadness wrapped in a humor so dry that it's almost not palatable, but somehow, so genuine...oh i dunno--
i just really like this one. who knows? maybe because the women are so haunted and More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2008

Patricia rated it:

I began this book with uncertainty. I couldn't decided whether I liked Vonnegut's style or whether I hated its dry humor. I apporached the plot with morbid curiosity. The protagonist is a trainwreck, and I couldn't tear myself away from the book. it seems that this is the authors intention. I was uncomfortable watching Mr. Rosewater's life fall apart, until I realized that Rosewater enjoyed it. He is a an insane philanthropist, iresponsible with his money. But by the end of the book their is so More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2008

Madeline rated it:

Once I realized and accepted the fact that I will never completely understand what Kurt Vonnegut writes, it became a lot easier for me to read his books. My first attempt at reading his work - Cat's Cradle resulted in me staring at the page, mentally shouting at Kurt Vonnegut, "What are you even TALKING about?" Reading Slaughter-House Five went slightly better, and by the time I read Mr. Rosewater, I was completely at peace with Vonnegut's "maybe this all has deep meaning and mayb More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Jan 24, 2008

Bonnie rated it:

It seems like loads of people think this book is pro-socialism, but it seems to me like more of a hopeless rant against society with no attempt at positive suggestions. Don't get me wrong--his style is entertaining: sincere but at times surprisingly blunt and humorous.

However, the content falls short for me, and Vonnegut comes across as one of those people who are always whining about what he/she dislikes about society and then never does anything to fix it. I'm an amateur though, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2010

Michelle rated it:

Like most of Vonnegut, this was a pretty quick read for me. I tend to lean towards his spacier works (like everyone else, I read Slaughterhouse Five first because it's so famous) and this one relegates that sort of stuff to mentions of Kilgore Trout novels.
Instead of speculations of Earth's hopeless future, Vonnegut sticks to questions of what we qualify as insanity in this one, a question which makes it worth reading if you've got some time, but otherwise I would recommend other Vonnegut More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Jesse added it

I've never been very good at patting my head and rubbing my stomach (or is it patting my stomach and rubbing my head?) at the same time - which is why, I think, I had to read "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater" twice. It takes both brain hemispheres to follow Vonnegut's often-meandering plot, and then you just might miss a line like this: "Like all real heroes, Charley had a fatal flaw. He refused to believe that he had gonorrhea, whereas the truth was that he did." Stay alert!

Whic More...

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Dec 11, 2007

Gregory rated it:

so pretty much this is supposed to be some kind of funny novel and so on and so forth, I'm a little more than halfway though and still waiting for my first laugh, should be coming any minute now... pretty much it's for all these so-called educated people who think they understand the nature of man and how life is. Very cynical and while not a complete bore not one I'd recommend. I guess the moral was pretty good. but honestly could've been said in a couple sentances so it was pretty boring.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 18, 2012

Lily rated it:

Out of all Vonnegut's novels, this is by far the best. One reason is that there are no sci-fi trappings, no silliness about time travel or aliens, nothing but a real study of American history and the impact of wealth and greed on the ideal of democracy. While short and exceedingly easy to read, the book feels like an epic narrative, since it sweeps from the very rich to the very poor, from the battlefields of the Civil War to the modern sailing playgrounds of the very rich. It feels much longer More...

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Aug 04, 2011

Hankrose rated it:

Mr. Rosewater is a fictional character that the world needs desperately. He doesn't see the point of having too much money and is so devastated by the world he sees around him that he becomes an alcoholic and travels the country visiting smalls towns, trying a very novel idea for the rich: helping people. He is the heir to the Rosewater Foundation, which is worth millions. What do you do with a millionaire who tries to selflessly help people? You try and get them committed, of course! Thoug More...

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Jul 03, 2011

Paul rated it:

Vonnegut is one of the last crazies of American lit. This is hardly his masterpiece, but it has great ideas. It is the novel about the Rosewater fortune and also about Capitalism itself. One can so easily read this and see all the evils of today's world. The working man has become irrelevant, even more so to today's economy. And charity is still seen by our own ruling class as being an insanity that hurts society. The Ayn Randian ideas of the Republican party rule our political system irre More...

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Jun 30, 2011

Mark rated it:

Reading other reviews of this book I see a lot of talk both positive and negative about Vonnegut's intentions. Is the purpose anti-capitalist, does the moral triumph socialism with a punchline, is Vonnegut as ambitious in scope and style as preceding works?

I don't care. This isn't Slaughter House Five so why should I compare it? What I want to know is can it stand on its own, are the characters honest, will it make me feel something (anything)?

Yes.

I don't care abou More...

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Apr 04, 2011

John rated it:

While most critics would probably say Slaughterhouse Five is his finest work, due to its compassionate plea for humanity (tinged of course with bleak determinism), it is God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater that is arguably Vonnegut’s most artistic novel.

The plot isn’t driven by narrative gimmicks in chronology, or philosophical aliens appearing deus ex machina, or accidents of history, but rather (largely) internally by what is his most cognitively and morally conflicted (but not totally amor More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 07, 2009

Matthew rated it:

Compared to other Vonnegut books, this one just doesn't work as well. The writing style is clearly Vonnegut, but it lacks a compassion for its characters that his other books have. When I was reading it, I was convinced that was one of his first books, because you can see the ideas and style that appear in his better books. I figured he just hadn't found his voice yet.

It turns out he wrote Rosewater between Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five. So much for my theory.

I thi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Rhys rated it:

A classic Vonnegut novel from 1965. It’s a sustained, funny and poignant attack on the ‘American Dream’ of free-enterprise and self-sufficiency. The Sunday Times review sums up this novel very neatly by declaring it to be “filled with irony and black humour and a woozy bonhomie.” The main character, Eliot Rosewater, is in charge of a Foundation that generates $10,000... per day; the way he chooses to spend this money is in direct opposition to the desires of his father, a Republican senator who More...

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Dec 17, 2008

Caroline rated it:

okay, so this being my third kurt vonnegut book in a read in two weeks, it's amazing that i'm not exhausted of his writing style! this is the funniest of all the books i've read thus far, wackiest, zaniest, kurt vonnegut the comedian at his finest. i love how the reader is introduced to new characters constantly, even 10 pages from the end of the book - splendid!

mr. rosewater is an insane billionaire, distributing his wealth in ways the reader can only imagine. a grant to a whino, More...

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Sep 17, 2007

Ashley rated it:

I'm currently reading this one. So far, so good. Vonnegut's sociopolitical beliefs are coming through loud and clear, as usual. It's witty, it's funny, and the female characters are all shallow, materialistic bitches, which seems to be a running theme for Kurt. That is my one big gripe about the author. His female characters are largely undeveloped, except for being spoiled, frigid, and stupid. I'll keep reading his stuff until I prove myself wrong, though.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

nicole rated it:

the director of our student television station gave this to me when i worked for him around christmas my freshman year of high school. i didn't read it until i was a senior in college but if ever there was a book to read and say, that's so nicole. there's no robots or music, but there is a guy whose generous heart makes him a little looney in the eyes of everyone else. and he's an volunteer fire fighter, which is two sidesteps from floor fire warden in my book.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2011

Chris rated it:

I just finished all of the first six Vonnegut novels (except for the early Player Piano). It has been quite an experience over three weeks.

In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Vonnegut clearly and relentlessly makes his case for Humanism. As a cry for all of us to love one another without reservations, and without expectation of material rewards for such love, the book is effective. However, as a work of engaging literature it falls short. I tired of the many pages of the Rosewater family More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 22, 2010

Dennis rated it:

One of the characters in the story (actually, a character in a story written by one of the characters in this story) asks, "What are people for?". This questions remains on one's mind while reading this story, as Elliot Rosewater carries on throughout the story, loving without reserve people with no obvious purpose.

Vonnegut's novels always appeal to me on several levels. I love his writing style, I love his quirky storylines, I love the humour-in-despair feel that he alway More...

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Sep 28, 2011

Anne rated it:

I feel like these early books are just warming up to the masterpiece - Slaughterhouse Five. I say this because I'm half way through Slaughterhouse Five. There are many pieces parts from his previous novels and short stories but they hold together far better. But let me focus on Mr. Rosewater.

This book has the debut of Kilgore Trout. A character I am always happy to encounter. But I feel that many of Vonnegut's books have a strong message in the beginning and a strong ending, but t More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Amanda rated it:

Here Vonnegut explores the issues he sees as innate in a system where some people have too much money and others not only have not enough but also are made to feel useless. He looks at a wealthy family--the Rosewaters--and what happens when the sole inheritor, Eliot, fights in WWII and comes back a bit insane, seeking only to love and help everyone.

I found this book to be far more heavy-handed in its message than other Vonnegut works I've read. I prefer subtlety, and I know Vonne More...

3 comments like

Feb 05, 2010

Jonathan rated it:

Typically humane Vonnegut farce on capitalism. It's not among the top tier of Vonnegut's fiction, though it is the origin of my favorite piece of Vonnegutian wisdom: "Dammit babies, you've got to be kind." And it made for a pleasant and diverting companion on my Greyhound trip home from Chicago.

The ideas are a little ahead of the writing here, and the characters are particularly thin, but you have to admire Rosewater's (and implicitly Vonnegut's) direct and simple solutions More...

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Jan 13, 2009

Elliot rated it:

Well, dare I say that I've found my least favorite Vonnegut book? I'm 13 books into his works, so I'll call myself a pretty certified judge. That being said, I'm a cynical 16 year old, so I suppose I suffer from the biases associated.

ANYWAY, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is excessively drawn out with unnecessary character developments and non-sequiters that don't advance the commentary to any noticeable degree. It's a bit odd that he wrote this between Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2010

abo rated it:

Si tratta del primo romanzo in cui compare Eliot Rosewater, ricco rampollo di una facoltosissima famiglia americana e amministratore unico della Fondazione, creata dai Rosewater per evitare il proprio patrimonio venga intaccato dalle tasse di successione.
Eliot rispunterà anche in "Mattatoio n° 5", in "La colazione dei campioni" e in "Hocus Pocus", ma è qui che ne abbiamo il ritratto più completo.
Filantropo, alcolizzato, ossessionato dai vigili del fuoco e con qualch More...

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Mar 15, 2011

soul rated it:

Имам малки забележки към превода на г-н Божидар Стойков. Някои остарели думи и форми на речта не дразнят толкова (и почти не се забелязват, все пак е работил през далечната 1982 г.), колкото бележките под линията. По-точно тяхната недостатъчност. Не съм убедена, че всеки средноинтелигентен читател е наясно кои са например Елза Кох или Клара Боу, които Вонегът е използвал в сравнения. Сега има гугъл, но в онези години как ли са се информирали хората? More...

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Oct 03, 2010

wally rated it:

just started this one, sept 12th. i believe i read it before, years ago. i'm on a vonnegut kick. i'd just finished the law of nines/terry goodkind. funny, how this story from vonnegut and goodkind's story have some of the same plot elements--a large sum, money to the tune of 87 million in v's story, land, lots of land, in goodkind's story.

i'm tempted to say, "there's something happening here, what it is isn't exactly clear..." as last week, i'd read steinbeck's of mice an More...

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Mar 04, 2009

Roxy rated it:

Easily one of my favorites of Vonnegut, up there with Breakfast of Champions. It is a story about capitalism, neurosis, and Kilgore Trout. Like all of his books, it is kind of hard to sum up the story exactly, but to put it one way, it really captures the sick, American thoughtlines in a satiric way. Mr. Rosewater is the inheritor of a large sum of money, but decides that everything he can do with it is quite silly, goes crazy and alcoholic, and creates a sort of suicidal hotline to help the imp More...

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May 31, 2009

M. D. rated it:

Another Vonnegut re-read. Rosewater County, Indiana...hmmm. Vonnegut's post-industrial rustbelt wasteland scenario is a tad too much like Orwell's Proles vs. Apparatchniks. It just doesn't really work this way...I say this after 16 years working at a factory in the lovely Waynedale part of Fort Wayne. Working class people (by which I mean only those Americans without college) are much smarter and more adaptable than Vonnegut gives them credit for. Except for the volunteer firemen, the inhab More...

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