false 9595 19 Dr. Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain, centenarian, the last President of the United States, King of Manhattan, and one-half (along with his sister, Eliza) of the most powerful intelligence since Einstein, is penning his autobiography. He occupies the first floor of a ruined Empire State Building and lives like a royal scavenger with his illiterate granddaughter and her beau. Buffeted by fluctuating gravity, the U.S. has been scourged by not one, but two lethal diseases: the Green Death and the Albanian Flu. Consequently, the country has fallen into civil war. (Super-intelligent, miniaturized Chinese watch the West self-destruct from the sidelines.) Swain stayed at the White House until there were no citizens left to govern, then moved to deserted New York City, where he writes a thoughtful missive before death. <p> In <i>Slapstick</i>, Vonnegut muses on war, man's hubris, and the awful, crippling loneliness humans are freighted with--but, miraculously, the book still manages to delight and amuse. Absurd, knowing, never depressing, <i>Slapstick</i> kindles hope--for the possibility of wisdom, perhaps; for human resiliency, surely. <p> It's best to end with a quote from the prologue wherein the author discourses on The Meaning of It All, or at least This Book: "Love is where you find it. I think it is foolish to go off looking for it, and I think it can often be poisonous. <br> I wish that people who are conventionally supposed to love each other would say to each other, when they fight, 'Please--a little less love, and a little more common decency.'" <br> Amen. 815535 book 1976 Slapstick total:6167|5:1633|4:2392|3:1710|2:365|1:67| 6167 23660 7605 278 5 2 false false Wed Feb 04 16:35:31 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 07 01:17:23 -0800 2009
That said, I stepped toward this reading tentatively, with visions of the horrible Jerry Lewis movie from the 1980s in my head. It was a rental: "Hey! This movie's go...more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri May 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun May 11 20:12:07 -0700 2008 Sun May 11 20:17:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Aug 28 21:05:55 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 28 21:14:40 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 24 15:18:24 -0700 2007 Wed Nov 14 16:47:49 -0800 2007
The narrator happens to be the President of the United States---the LAST one, as a matter of fact.

Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain and his sister, Eliza, have got to be two of...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 24 22:01:23 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 19 21:45:42 -0700 2007
This books reads as a perversion of all four themes.

To me.

Usually Vonnegut's works see...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Dec 14 10:39:04 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 14 10:43:53 -0800 2008
Slapstick stradd...more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon May 14 20:11:41 -0700 2007 Wed May 16 06:09:44 -0700 2007
Really, when compared to the similarly-themed Cat's Cradle and The Sirens of Titan, this one just doesn't hold up as well. ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 17:03:23 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 17:49:07 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 true false Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 07:37:35 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 09:32:19 -0700 2009
The "King of New York" (island of death), who happens to be the last Pres...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jan 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 01:32:18 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 01:36:33 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Jun 25 19:47:58 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 19:47:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat Mar 14 19:37:56 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 03 23:00:24 -0700 2009
Vonnegut makes insanity seem sane.

And "Slaughterhouse 5" is one righteous document. How, Vonnegut asks, does a reasonable Man/Woman respond to un-godly, un-reason...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Jun 30 06:17:45 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 30 06:17:45 -0700 2007
Read this book to clarify your notion of what it means to be a decent human being.

This is one of the four, "If you're only going to read Vonnegut once, this is one to read".]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 14:44:06 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 14:49:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jul 26 10:29:42 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 26 10:31:39 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Sun Sep 09 00:00:00 -0700 1990 Fri Nov 28 05:17:53 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 05:22:47 -0800 2008 4-6 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Aug 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 05:22:15 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 17:24:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Dec 08 14:32:08 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 20:55:06 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 14:32:09 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Mon Feb 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 17:32:14 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 10:52:20 -0800 2009 God Bless You Mr. Rosewater.

Considering that good ol' K.V. is my favorite author, I find it hard to believe that he could write a book so atrociously uninspiried, bland, and blase. I don't feel like looking it up, but I think that I read on Wikipe...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jan 25 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 13:25:46 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 13:58:10 -0800 2009
Though this isn't Vonnegut's best work, it reminded me a lot of Mark Twain, though not because of any stylistic similarities; people forget how bitter both...more...]]>