A Man Without a Country

Any Vonnegut fan will appreciate this satisfying, if uneven, collection of mostly auto-biographical essays. Now past 80, Vonnegut seems to have entered the "curmudgeon" phase of life (or perhaps he always was in that phase), but his observations are still amusing, cutting and mostly insightful. His description of how he still prepares his texts using the "primitive" method of typing, editing, and then having the final manuscript prepared by a professional typist (possible the last such member of that profession in North America), is a gem! And its nice to know he and "Kilgore Trout" are still speaking. Great narration, too. Norman Dietz clearly studied and captured Vonnegut's voice. Shortly after listening to this book I heard an interview on NPR with Vonnegut. His voice was weak and halting. I was shocked at how rapidly he had declined since recording this book last year . . . then I remembered that Dietz, not Vonnegut, had narrated the book. That's how closely Dietz was able to copy Vonnegut's accent and style.

Not sure. It seems more geared towards malcontents.

Cat's Cradle, so this book doesn't ruin the great man for me. The sooner, the better.

I think he did a good job with the material he had.

Definitely sadness. Here is one of the great comedic writers of all time and he's just complaining about modernity. It was like watching your favorite athlete come out of retirement to look foolish.

This is a 2 hour rant on how horrible everything about America is, and how much better we would be as socialists.... I am a conservative, and found only about 15 minutes of redeeming value in the 120 plus minutes of America/Capitalism bashing...

This book was filled with self-loving and self-promoting comments and opinions. Here, VOnagut wasted my time telling me about his artisian wife, doctor son, adopted children, war experiences, role as head of the humanitarians, after Issac Assimov of course. He brags about his successful family, drops names of famous "close" friends, etc... He keeps telling us what a wonderful, influential writer he is, how funny he is...I haven't found anything funny. THis reminds me of my Dad when he is on a self-righteous rant. Very disappointing, very irritating. I cannot believe i bought this. I have never read Vonnegut and now do not plan to.

I consider myself on the liberal side of political ideology, but this was WAY too much unsubstatiated liberal ranting for me. It started off interesting with a look at Vonnegut's personal history and unconventional road to writing, but after that it went downhill as it turned into a rant about why Vonnegut thinks the United States is a terrible country. I'm not easily offended, but I was at least substantially bothered by the implications that Christians only act benevolently because they think they will be rewarded in the afterlife and by the explicit equating of Christians with white supremists. Being a Christian, I found it particularly offensive and was irritated by his complete lack of understanding (or deliberate misrepresentation) of the subject he was disparaging. I felt he approached other subjects in the same way, by oversimplifying them and then offering unsupported criticism in a "witty" manner. I think the style could have been interesting if I took everything he said for granted (in this case, I think I would need to be much more liberal), but as it is, I was simply not amused and the sarcasm dripping from the narrator's voice was grating on me by the time I decided to stop listening, which was about 30 minutes or so from the end. I do not recommend the book.

I LOVE Kurt Vonnegut. I have read every book multiple times, and listened to audio versions of all I could find. I have seen Slaughterhouse-Five about seventeen times.

However, perhaps he shouldn't read his own prose. He's entitled to do anything he wants to at this stage of his career, but I don't have to listen. His voice drove me nuts, and I'm usually a fan of authors reading their own work.

Too bad.