Pity the Reader

On Writing with Style

By: Kurt Vonnegut, Suzanne McConnell

Narrated by: Karen White

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

The art and craft of writing by one of the few grandmasters of American literature, a bonanza for writers and listeners written by Kurt Vonnegut's former student.

Here is an entirely new side of Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut as a teacher of writing. Of course he's given us glimpses before, with aphorisms and short essays and articles and in his speeches. But never before has an entire book been devoted to Kurt Vonnegut the teacher. Here is pretty much everything Vonnegut ever said or wrote having to do with the writing art and craft, altogether a healing, a nourishing expedition. McConnell has outfitted us for the journey, and in these 37 chapters covers the waterfront of how one American writer brought himself to the pinnacle of the writing art, and we can all benefit as a result.

Kurt Vonnegut was one of the few grandmasters of American literature, whose novels continue to influence new generations about the ways in which our imaginations can help us to live. Few aspects of his contribution have not been plumbed - 14 novels, collections of his speeches, his essays, his letters, his plays - so this fresh view of him, written by a former student, is a bonanza for writers and listeners and Vonnegut fans everywhere.

©2019 Trust u/w of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Loved it!

Great advice and encouragement for writers. Write because you love it, be happy with what you've created for you have created something that no one else on the earth could.

Brilliant

Valuable insights to an important writer, and well narrated . And here is the 15 words minimum …. So much for brevity

The best book for the most people’s benefit. According to my assessment.

The greatest book on the craft for the greatest number of people of all trades. The representative of the writing trade instructs all the trades by describing the method of creation itself. Suzanne McConnell dances her melodies with Kurts melodies like two jazz master buddies riffing with a band.
Suzanne perspective as an editor, writer, and coconspirator with ‘Kurt’ .
Thank You Suzanne for bringing all of Kurt and students’ of Kurt’s knowledge and humorous wit, wisdom, knowledge, & harmony to life in this book.
Funny Welcoming Joyful Encouraging as hell, like having a friend in the car with you exploring the intelligent creator in every one of us.
Anyway I really like this book ok?
And if you even scarcely like Vonnegut’s books you will notice how good it feels to dig into the mud with this book.
MFW

Buy the hardcopy or Kindle version

The knowledge, insights, and anecdotes are great. The narration is absolutely horrendous. Like a primitive android doing a parody of a New England snob. Insane that this was released like this. But the content itself is mostly very good, particularly if you are familiar with Vonnegut’s work and interested in creative writing. I recommend getting a non-audio version to better enjoy the content.

Annoying narrator

This information might have been useful but I had to stop halfway through because the narrator was making my skin crawl with their over stylized way of speaking.

Overall pretty nice and full of useful tips

Overall pretty nice and full of useful tips on writing – now I really want to dig more into Vonnegut's books as well – but it was so hard to listen to. Painfully hard and I applaud everyone who made it to the end of the book.

Learning through story telling

There are plenty of good tips for writers in here, and many of them come to you through the stories of Kurt's life and the author's life, as she learned from Kurt. It's about how writing is a way of life, a way to express yourself and work through the details and plot lines of your own life. To do that, the author demonstrates the lessons, and how they played out in the life and times of Kurt Vonnegut. I took some notes, but much of was just absorbed through listening.

McConnell makes this Exceptional! White 👍!

Wow! If I had a writing class like this…. They couldn’t have made a better choice, than to let McConnell take this ball, and run! And, run her ass off she did! She is a force to be reckoned with!
She brings both Vonnegut, and herself to the table! A Gloves-off Feast! White puts the Cherry on Top with narration balls to the wall! 🥰 Loved it!

Please re-record this

Excellent book and advice but the performance was halting and oddly robotic. Someone commented that it sounded like an android, and I agree! I would suggest re-recording this book to do it justice

Like a Good College Class

Imagine taking a creative writing course in college focused on what we can learn from celebrated author Kurt Vonnegut. Imagine the course being structured and taught by a competent professor who is herself an author and was a student of Kurt’s. If this appeals to you, you will love this book. It is filled with direct quotes from Kurt’s writings and interviews and excerpts from his books put in context. I believe most writers and lovers of Vonnegut’s work will enjoy this. Now, if you are looking for a book directly written by Kurt Vonnegut this is not it. I enjoyed the course in audio book form and recommend it.