Slaughter-House Five, Or the Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance With Death

 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut x2

Weight: 12 oz

Method of Disposal:  Gave to a friend who gave it back and then I donated that copy and another to Goodwill

I cannot guess how many times I have given away this book, and it is not my favorite Kurt Vonnegut book at all.  I am not even all that keen on it, though I do respect it.  It is impossible not to see it as important when you think about Vonnegut's time in WWII at Dresden, and the years he said he would right a book about it and finally did.  With that lens, it becomes even more powerful.  And with all that said, it is a Slaughter-House Five quote that I have tattooed on my back.  I got it after working at an animal shelter and losing some part of myself that felt pain, love, and passion intensely.  After losing so many dogs, cats, and people.  The sad stories and the tragedy occurring every day, over and over and over and over and over again.

 

The friend I had given it to now has Stage 4 lung cancer and has returned the book and says she loved it.  She does not even know what her treatment plan is, two chemo sessions in, because our medical system has grown too large and distant.  A life is so important and there are so many important lives.

Today, a coworker that I have known for 15 years lost his person and his kids lost their mother.  She was young.  It was unexpected.  He has been receiving treatment for cancer, in addition to the treatments he already receives for MS.  He is one of the hardest working people I know.  He is a great dad and a kind person.  She sounded like she was amazing too, and she made him happy.

The world is so heavy.  It is so beautiful and so painful.  It is so meaningful and so meaningless.  We all are clinging on in the balance.  We believe we are important.  We are important.  To us.  To some people.  We come slowly, and we go quickly, unless we go slowly, and there is no happy ending.  Though, a lot of happiness can be packed in before The End.  It is what it is.  Until it impacts you.  Then, it is so much more.  And, once you have been impacted over and over and over again, you have to decide whether to lean more into meaning or meaningless or everything and nothing.

Happy Birthday, Wanda June

Happy Birthday, Wanda June by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
1975
Weight: 2 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving Away

This was definitely not my favorite Vonnegut read.  It is hard to imagine it as a movie!  It must have been shocking for its time.  There is sex, violence, racism, war, all sorts.  There were definitely moments that I enjoyed.  I liked this line, in the About the Play section before the play, "I felt and I still feel that everybody is right, no matter what he says."  And so, in that vein, this play is both terrible and wonderful, depending on who you talk to.  I am a few steps up from terrible and maybe a couple more than a few down from wonderful.

Jailbird

Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut
1999
Weight: 9.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving to Mom

There is nothing better than reading Kurt Vonnegut when you are disappointed in people and the state of the world.  He makes the deplorable sound lighthearted and funny, in a dark, poignant way, of course.  I was reading this book and thinking, "I wish I had a Kurt Vonnegut book about life in a pandemic.  That would bring me some joy right now."  I guess Galapagos is the closest I can think of to that, but it is not what my hopes and dreams are made of.  Instead, I have moved on to Happy Birthday, Wanda June. I have never even considered a Vonnegut play.  I am a little unsure about how that will go.

I have received word that there is one named Slapstick!  Or, Lonesome No More that I need to check out.  I am excited about the idea of that because I do not own it, nor have I read it.  He was so prolific that, even when I think I have read them all, another can be found by going down the Google search rabbit hole of "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr."

At one point, while reading Jailbird, Harry asked me what it was about.  I read her the back cover, and her eyes glazed over.  She just began laughing.  Once she was through with her fit, she said it sounded like the most boring book around and thought it was funny that I was reading it of my own free will.

So, here we go.  It is a history of America!  It includes Sacco and Vanzetti, Watergate, McCarthy's hunt for Communists, the Cleveland Massacre.  You briefly meet immigrant laborers and coal miners, labor union organizers and women who work and die due to their work in factories.  Even a of those women!  There is so much packed into one novel, as is common for Vonnegut.

It is not that this is my number 1 top favorite Vonnegut of all time, but he has a way.  Whether I love his books a little, a medium, or a lot, they still have me laughing and just feeling connected in some way to someone else.  I am not sure who so do not ask.  He is the master of witty and one line can just pop up and stick with you forever.  Truly.  I have one tattooed on my back, maybe not forever, but for a lifetime.

This book was about greed, capitalism, America, politics, and power told through the life of a poor man raised as a wealthy man--a Harvard man--named Walter Starbuck.  Who would think that could be a "fun" read?  Thank God, for Kurt Vonnegut.  That is all I know for sure.

Timequake

Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
1998
Weight: 8.8 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

Okay.  After my previous post ranting and raving about how truly awesome and amazing and easy to read Kurt Vonnegut is and has always been, I read Timequake.  Soooooo.....not so great.  There were still many witty Vonnegut moments, snippets that made me laugh out loud, and, yes, even things I might consider tattooing on my body but, overall, not so great. 

Also, after recently talking about some of the delightful feminism I found in a couple of his other books, I was not feeling it so much in this one.  Not that he was overwhelmingly kind to men or women.  I was about done with all the penis jokes and imagery about halfway through the book.  While he is known for being blunt and fun and, so I do not fault him for this or think he does not have every right to do so, I was going to vomit if I had to hear anymore about anyone ejaculating in someone's birth canal--particularly in the instance of rape, which was clearly described as such but never called rape. 

I guess my advice to you is that you should read this if you love Vonnegut and are not too squeamish or "square" as they say, but it is absolutely not the first Vonnegut book I would recommend you pick up.

Bluebeard

Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
2009
Weight: 9.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

Another Vonnegut book to delight me!  And it did!  I appreciated the Vonnegut-ness, the humor, the title, the art commentary, and most of all the feminism.

Thank you Kurt Vonnegut for still being one of the most fantastic authors and always a delight to read, even when it gets so incredibly depressing!

Galapagos

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
1999
Weight: 9.3 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

I loved Kurt Vonnegut most of all when I was in high school and read just a little in college.  After graduating and working at PAWS for several years, I got my second tattoo, which ended up being a Kurt Vonnegut quote.  It surprised me when I decided on it almost impulsively.  I had never stopped liking and respecting Vonnegut, but I never read his books anymore and the quote I chose was from one of my less favorite Vonnegut books.  "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."

I was excited to pick up a Vonnegut book I hadn't read about a week ago.  It was like reaching for a glass of water after drinking only soda for days.  It was a pleasant relief.  I knew it would be an easy, quick, entertaining, and still meaningful read.  I bought Galapagos when I was working at Waldenbooks 15 years ago and just read it now.  It was written the year I was born.  That took far too long, but I wasn't disappointed.  It was an amusing commentary on humanity.  Still, not my favorite.  I would tell you what my favorite is, but I really feel like I need to re-read them all before I decide.  Back when I was 17 years old it was Cat's Cradle.