People may find fault with Vonnegut for his know-it-all, been-there-done-that tone in this memoir. People may not even find anything new or insightful in here since every person well-versed with current affairs and the nitty-gritties of international politics has at least a second-hand knowledge of America's present day troubles. But what people are certainly bound to appreciate is Vonnegut's mordant wit and his fine sense of humour.

And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say "Kurt is up in heaven now." That's my favorite joke.In a country that gets its feathers ruffled beyond all rational allowance should one commit the hell-worthy trespass of bidding someone else of unknown spiritual beliefs an all-encompassing, meant-to-convey-well-wishings-without-presumption "Happy holidays" and thus betray one's role as a covert hippie cog in the heathen machine that's making a religious majority feel increasingly insecu...

Kurt Vonnegut - the 'wise' uncle who tells stories that get you ready for life - one minute you are laughing...then BAM - you are hit in the gut with philosophical punch. Great 'overview' of where we are at today.

I find it funny how so many Vonnegut fans are able to gloss over Vonnegut’s flirtations with socialism, love Vonnegut as a writer and person (a Hoosier, ain’t he, dammit?), and yet have revulsive responses to others mentioning, questioning, and engaging with socialism. I know I’m remembering wrongly, but when I think of Vonnegut and his writing patterns, I imaginatively think that he mentions Eugene Victor Debs in the first 15 pages of all of his books. Certainly it happens in one of them, perha...

واخ واخ واخ، من چي كار كنم از دست تو خب...نميتونم پنج بدم بهش متاسفانه، فاقد المان هاي پنج-بگير بود... ولي منظورم چهار و نيمه، حتي شايد چهار و شش دهم! “If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don’t have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake.”

On April 11, 2007 ,at around 6am, I awoke to NPR news announcing that Kurt Vonnegut had passed away. Normally I would just go back to sleep, but I popped out of bed and went to my computer to confirm that it was really true (because you know how NPR gives false information all the time and shit).Then my next thought was to go to Half Priced books and buy every Kurt Vonnegut book there.So I set my alarm for 9am so I could make sure I was there when they opened the doors because I didn't want to h...

A Man Without a Country, Kurt VonnegutA Man Without a Country is an essay collection published in 2005 by the author Kurt Vonnegut. The extremely short essays that make up this book deal with topics ranging from the importance of humor, to problems with modern technology, to Vonnegut's opinions on the differences between men and women. Most prevalent in the text, however, are those essays that elucidate Vonnegut's opinions on politics, and the issues in modern American society, often from a deci...

“Many years ago I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of."Kurt Vonnegut's darkly twisted cantankerous humor mixed with genuine compassion for the human condition makes its way into A Man Without a Country. This book, apparently the closest thing to a memoir Vonnegut ever wrote, is a must read for Vonnegut fans (and I definitely count myself in that camp). Vonnegut has a way of looking...

A while back another writer, a reviewer, a critic, or whatever we are called, described a Kurt Vonnegut novel as another fun visit with Uncle Kurt. I really liked that description and have since plagiarized that avuncular idea to denote reading a Vonnegut book. Like another of my favorites, Robert A. Heinlein, who has also been described as a crazy old uncle you run into at a reunion, Uncle Kurt can make you laugh, make you a little uncomfortable, and most of all make you think. A Man Without A

I rarely read a book twice--there are just too many books to read in this world and not enough time to read them all. This is one of my exceptions, though, and I loved it even more the second time than the first. Vonnegut is incredibly interesting, down-to-earth, and funny as he goes on rants about America, people in general, and all the things he's seen during his life. Highly recommended for anyone who has ever read and enjoyed a book by Vonnegut, but also highly recommended for anyone who wan...

I have read much of Mr. Vonnegut's work over the years, and one of the things I always admired about him was how practical he was in what he said. He was an avowed socialist, while admitting that socialism has never worked, a professed crank, who saw the best in people, etc. I don't know what happened to that guy, but he was the not the guy who wrote this book."A Man without a Country" is so full of bitterness and bile that it clouds over some of the truly remarkable essays in this slim text. Th...

"Kurt is up in heaven now."If you've read A Man Without a Country, you'll know I'm fulfilling a wish Kurt Vonnegut made in this book.If you haven't read it, let me explain.At a memorial service for the great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, Kurt opened his tribute with the quip, "Isaac is up in heaven now". This of course elicited many chuckles. Mr. Asimov was atheist and probably no one in this room of humanists believed in an afterlife, whether it be heaven, hell, reincarnation, or floatin...

As seems to happen often, I became a fan of Vonnegut during college. It's been a few years since then and so to finally hear him writing in his own voice about his own thoughts, as opposed to getting to know him through the eyes of his fictional characters, was very cool. The sarcasm, the dry wit, that cynical-yet-hopeful view of the world...ah yes, if Mark Twain had a 20th Century doppelganger, it was Vonnegut.

"As long as there is a lower class. I am in it.As long as there is a criminal element, I'm of it. As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free."-- Eugene Debs, Quoted in Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country We use humor to dull the pain. We use drugs too, but humor often costs less and last longer. I think one of the reasons I've been so drawn to Vonnegut the last couple weeks is our recent election. Vonnegut almost seems to be a Rosetta Stone for our times. He wrote this, his last book...

I think it's a rule that you have to quote Vonnegut if you review his work. I've been bad about it in the past, but this book is essentially just a quotable book. What better time to start. :)Some of my favorite quotes from A Man Without a Country:"Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.""There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don'...

"But I am eighty-two. Thanks a lot, you dirty rats. The last thing I ever wanted was to be alive when the three most powerful people on the whole planet would be named Bush, Dick and Colon.”Well, I wonder what thoughts mr. Vonnegut would have after last year's elections...I don't want to review this book in detail - it's good, it's vonnegutian, it's funny and clever, and you should read it yourself, it'll take you a couple of hours, no more. And that was my only problem with this book - it was t...

Kurt Vonnegut is a national treasure. Period. It was my intention to expand upon my opinion of Kurt Vonnegut in this review but the above statement alone seems sufficient. I love Kurt Vonnegut. Fuck Fox News. I hate Fox News because they hated Kurt Vonnegut. What did he do wrong? He spoke the truth. He spoke without flourish or innuendo, straightforwardly, about things that are taboo. Fox would rather lie to you and discredit an honest man after his death than risk you going out and reading his

"Life is no way to treat an animal." (123)A Man Without a Country is a somewhat loose collection, thematically speaking, of writings and reflections by Vonnegut on everything from literature to sex and politics. It is written by a man near the end of life—Vonnegut was 82 at the time—reflecting on his life and career as well as the state of the world generally and the United States in particular. Needless to say (if you are familiar especially with the late Vonnegut) there is not much to be opti

The highest treason in the USA is to say Americansare not loved, no matter where they are, no matter whatthey are doing there.Whilst his novels can be enjoyed by pretty much anybody, I think some of his non-fiction, especially here in these short autobiographical essays, with themes such as warmongering presidential administrations and corrupt profiteering, will cut deeper with Americans. But still, he is always such a pleasure to read, can be real funny, but always with that deeper, more seriou...

Something of a misnomer, this title: “A Memoir of Life in George W. Bush’s America.” Hmm. No. In fact, Kurt’s final book is another collage of pieces taken from public speeches, and various articles commissioned for the publication In These Times. Michael Silverblatt described this book as a “response to a plea”—that plea coming from the editors of Seven Stories Press, who tickled Vonnegut into writing little chunks again. Any fresh writing from an eighty-three-year-old man is hard to come by, a...