Kurt Vonnegut: Novels & Stories 1963-1973: Cat's Cradle / God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater / Slaughterhouse-Five / Breakfast of Champions / Stories (Library of America, No. 216)

Ever since I lost my collection of Vonnegut books to water damage some years ago, I've been looking for a nice omnibus edition of his novels. Well, the Library of America (LOA) has now come out with a collection of his work beginning with "Cat's Cradle" and ending with "Breakfast of Champions." In between those two, we also get "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" and his masterpiece "Slaughterhouse Five", along with a few short stories and some assorted minutiae. My problem with this edition is that, while it's nice to have these titles together, I question why the LOA didn't put his first three novels - "Player's Piano", "Sirens of Titan", and "Mother Night," in this collection first and save Slaughterhouse and Breakfast for a later collection (UPDATE: the LOA is planning on releasing a larger second volume of Vonnegut sometime in the near future with his first three novels and even more goodies). I was also hoping for more short stories instead of letters and speeches. Save the letters and speeches for a separate volume that you could devote to his essays (of which he wrote plenty). While this introductory volume from LOA is not a total letdown, it could've been much better! **UPDATE AS OF 6/20/2011: Having been taken to task in the Comments section for my supposedly "uninformed" comments, I now revise my review. While I still feel the same way as I did in the earlier review, I will say that this is still a book worth buying - especially if you want a nice hardcover collection of Vonnegut's material as opposed to buying the various soft cover editions. The ancillary material at the back of the book really does compliment the stories and the illustrations for "Breakfast of Champions"(done by Vonnegut himself) are reproduced with great clarity. The price (if purchased on Amazon) is great as well. LOA has never skimped on the quality of the material they publish; these books are worth every penny spent on them. While I'm not going to lose any sleep over what this volume does or doesn't contain, I will state that I will be buying more of these volumes of Vonnegut as they are released. If you're a lover of Vonnegut's work and want to see more of his material released by the LOA, support LOA by buying this and any future volumes.

I purchased this book and several other others that they are starting to ban in this country. It’s my way of sticking my middle finger up to authoritarianism.

Vonnegut.: what can I say. A literary marvel. A joy to read. Profundity & conscience with extraordinary humor and…something else… remarkably beautiful language that is succinct and inventive, and wildly imaginative. The book is made with special paper and exceptionally bound. Well worth the extra $.

Amazing author and collection of stories, his works are thought provoking and require the reader to constantly work on understanding it and there is so much sub-text that drives the narrative. Classic!!

There are a few things we should be required to read in our lives as ones living in America. My short list would be Walt Whitman’s Deathbed Edition of Leaves of Grass, Joseph Keller’s Catch-22, Alex Haley’s Autobiography of Malcolm X, Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon, Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. But this volume also includes Cat’s Cradle, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater and Breakfast of Champions, all of which are wonderful so read those, too! There’s obviously so much more to read, but this review is about this collection of books by Vonnegut. I guess the most favorable thing I could say is that although he’s writing about very serious issues, reading Vonnegut to me is always a vacation from the world. Funny, personal and exhilarating. Iliken it to Black Sabbath’s Paranoid- if that came out today it would be revelation to the here today, gone today music we find . These novels would be the same. What delightful messages from Tralfamadore, where the flying saucers come from. Peace.

Vonnegut is my favorite author of all time. So seeing so many of his works compiled in one book I thought was brilliant. The only thing that I was a little let down about was how few short stories were included. Notwithstanding, the books included are some of his best works and this is a great collection of his best works.

Primarily I buy books for the content, not the quality of binding, but this one by the Library of America offers both great writing and outstanding workmanship. I searched for Cat's Cradle at used and new book stores, had trouble finding it at a reasonable price anywhere, and finally waited for it from the library on my Kindle. After reading it in 2 days, I realized I wanted to own the book, and bought this one from Amazon. I prefer hardcovers because it's not as easy to read the small print of paperbacks any more, plus I want books to last for several possible future readings. Ordinarily I don't care if the book is used. The online used book stores typically cost $3-4, prepaid. This volume includes 4 novels plus more stories, notes and a chronology. The binding is sturdy, the paper is thin but good quality and acid-free for long life, the cover is made to last, even the dust jacket is thick, glossy paper with a list of other volumes available from Library of America. All that for a little more than the cost of used, and this book will become an heirloom for my grandkids.

This one volume has all my favorite Vonnegut works. Love it.

The book came in perfect condition and was shipped quickly. Everything you could ask for In a perfect transaction. Wonderful seller!

Loved this

Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist of “Slaughterhouse Five”, drifts though life. Through an unknown mechanism, he has become unstuck in time and has been taught by the alien civilization on the plant Tranfalmadore that the universe is entirely deterministic. What will happen has happened and always has happened according to their philosophy. Billy feels no happiness and no regret. The Dresden bombing in which thousands are killed is not a cause for upset to him. It is just an occurrence that always has happened. Death holds no fear for him not his nor that of any other person. Vonnegut bookends this novel with brief accounts concerned with his writing it as a reaction to the bombing that he witnessed as a POW. It is clear in this account that he was emotionally overwhelmed by WW2 in general and the mass carnage of the Dresden firestorm. It is difficult for him to relate that this raid was a carefully planned action in the rationality of war. Hos experience of the war is that there was no glory and no particular skill. Life and death were products of chance. Fatalism in the persona of Billy Pilgrim is a clear emotional reaction to this. I finished this novel in a single day’s reading that was interspersed with the labour of shovelling out after a major snow storm. I found it to be compelling reading. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” is social satire of the highest order. It is an examination of the human conflict between self-interest and altruism and how these are resolved in a society. The nature of any society is to resolve this conflict that is to bring into harmony the disjoint imperative of competition and cooperation. Vonnegut’s insight is that this is often resolved though a liberal application of hypocrisy and that strategies of naked self-interest and inherited privilege can be masked with hypocritical tenets of self-reliance. However, Vonnegut also shows that continual self-denial in the furtherance of a blind altruism is untenable psychically. This novel contains deep insights. It is also very very funny. It is well worth reading Cat's Cradle From “Cat’s Cradle”: “Beware the man who works hard to learn something, learns it and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.” “Cat’s Cradle” is a book full of wisdom. I worked for over 40 years in high tech and the Vonnegut’s observation about learning and ignorance jumped out at me from the page. For me, from my life experience, it is about the transience of knowledge and the transience of accomplishment. People spend years developing skills and expertise to find at the end that they have achieved only obsolescence. The world with its constant change has passed them by. Others are ignorant and oblivious of their accomplishments because these accomplishments no longer matter. T This is typical of the insight within this novel. It is social and poetical satire of the highest order. I had no inking of this degree of insight when I picked up the novel. It is open and accessible but in no way superficial.

Aunque no lo leí todavía, contiene todas las obras que me parecen más interesantes del autor, tiene una buena letra y la encuadernación y el papel me parecen excelentes

Wunderschöner Einband, genialer Autor, schönes Werk, das man im Regal stehen haben sollte! Libraray of America setzt sich für die Bewahrung wichtiger Werke der amerikansichen Literatur ein.