J.P.'s review
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut
J.P.'s review
rating:
recommended for: literary/speculative fiction fans
status: Read in November, 2007
rating:
recommended for: literary/speculative fiction fans
status: Read in November, 2007
This one was one of Vonnegut's best. He was creating worlds here, folks. Most specifically, a world---ours.
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 the most sympathetic characters KV ever created. Their voices just envelope you and draw you in.
Some of Vonnegut's most ingenious devices & characters are in here---Green Death, the Hooligan (a thingie to communicate with those in the Afterlife), the Turkey Farm, tri-something-Deportamil, the super-feelgood drug Swain gets hooked on, the Raspberry family, Vera's teenaged Tourette's-afflicted son, the King of Michigan.
Yes, KV was firing on all cylinders here. Strange, then, that I found the ending to be something of a letdown. Then again, how could it be anything but?
If you have to read just one Vonnegut book, I'd say go for SLAPSTICK. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE has the reputation, but in m...more
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 the most sympathetic characters KV ever created. Their voices just envelope you and draw you in.
Some of Vonnegut's most ingenious devices & characters are in here---Green Death, the Hooligan (a thingie to communicate with those in the Afterlife), the Turkey Farm, tri-something-Deportamil, the super-feelgood drug Swain gets hooked on, the Raspberry family, Vera's teenaged Tourette's-afflicted son, the King of Michigan.
Yes, KV was firing on all cylinders here. Strange, then, that I found the ending to be something of a letdown. Then again, how could it be anything but?
If you have to read just one Vonnegut book, I'd say go for SLAPSTICK. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE has the reputation, but in m...more
