Remembering Kurt Vonnegut 1922 - 2007

His books are always worth the price of admission. What he mercifully DOESN'T traffic in is superfluous fanciness. He lays everything out on the line and then - wham - there will come a line that will strike my core:

"The purpose of any human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."

"I suppose they will all want dignity."

And, then there are the doodles of assholes.

Refreshing, unflinching, meaningful. Got to love him.

I grew up reading Vonnegut. I remember back in the day when there was talk of censoring him. I was never disappointed in any of his books. Not many authors I can say that about.

Read many of his books in my early 20's. He had the strangest group of characters, but they all worked. Loved "Breakfast Of Champions".
He was a true individual.

I met the man once, in Indiana, by chance. I posted my reflection on my Gather page.

He knew the power of words, the ways you could switch meaning, intention by ordering things just so. I have read every one of his books and now have introduced him to my son, age 12, who has become an even bigger fan than I.

I'm so sorry to hear about this. I feel that he is one of the great writers of all time. Slaughterhouse Five was one of my favorite books among others. He definitely will be missed.

I met Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., once, at a book signing at the Elliott Bay Bookstore in Seattle. I brought in my already-purchased copy of Hocus Pocus and he signed it "For Roger Winters" with his scrawled signature including his meaningful asterisk. Like him, I grew up in Indianapolis. Perhaps that's what drew me to his books initially. I remembered Vonnegut Hardware stores, particularly one on 38th Street near Keystone, not far from home. That was a family enterprise he had little to do with. I didn't get myself very deeply into his works until I was teaching political science at Central Washington State College (now "University") in Ellensburg, in the geographic center of my new home state. I loved his iconoclasm, his anti-utopian visions, and his readiness to challenge the establishment, government, and pretension of all kinds. I was given the pleasure of creating a "special topics" summer school course I called "The Political Ideas of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." Perhaps a dozen students joined me in a love fest reviewing books I thought most closely relating to my field of political philosophy. "Cat's Cradle," "Player Piano," "Slaughterhouse 5," "Breakfast of Champions," "Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons," and a few other things were on the reading list. Three times a week for the summer quarter, my students and I immersed ourselves in an hour-long exposition of his ideas. I related them to the history of political philosophy whenever I could. He was not the systematic political theorist who would become part of the typical political theory class, but he was decidedly political and a great example to students of the importance of independent thinking and questioning authority.

As an aside: I always loved "The Sirens of Titan," and then was pleasantly surprised to run across a little paperback called "Venus on the Half Shell," by Kilgore Trout. I heard later that the ghost writer was Philip K. Dick. Whether true or not, "Venus" is a delight and very very hard to find anymore, I think.

I had to buy every book he wrote as soon as I learned it was coming. Only Hocus Pocus would bear his mark. One of my favorite "finds," though, was locating his short story, "The Big Space Fuck," in a thick compendium of science fiction stories. It may since have been reprinted elsewhere, but was available only there - this was the mid-1970s.

The Indianapolis connection was always powerful for him, and for some reason it works in me as well. He attended Shortridge High School, for many years the only secondary school with a daily newspaper (of some quality, too). Attending school some 23 years later, I went to Broad Ripple High School (with David Letterman a Freshman during my Senior year), arch-rival to Shortridge. He greatly appreciated his schooling there, as I did my own in the (still-segregated) Indianapolis Public Schools of the late '50s and early '60s. The Broad Ripple HS that Letterman and I attended was lily-white, due to some skillful gerrymandering by the Indy School Board and a lot of social pressure for blacks who were inside the catchment area to stay away from 'Ripple.

Vonnegut's generation was destined to fight World War II; mine was Vietnam. I was saved from the draft by my grandmother, who years before had engineered my skipping a grade. When I got to grad school, I had 5 years' academic deferment; the next year's class had only one year of deferment, and a number of them got low draft lottery numbers and off they went (to 'Nam or Canada). In those tumultuous times, the stark perspective on war that came through Vonnegut's writings helped strengthen the resolve of all of us who joined march after march until our ultimate withdrawal. His witnessing the destruction of Dresden gave him the courage and determination to share what he saw with the world - through his own voice and that of Billy Pilgrim.

I am glad that he wasn't, after all, killed by his unfiltered PallMalls. He made them such a part of himself. I even tried them for a while during my years as a smoker (long ago). But I can see him now lighting up as he sits down with Billy Pilgrim and Montana Wildhack out there on Tralfamadore, remembering the time through which he himself has traveled. His journey through our planet was a great one, indeed, for which we have all been blessed with more freedom of thought than we might have had otherwise, more laughter, too, and certainly more images of asterisks and wide-open beavers than we would have imagined on our own.

He was a hero of sorts for me, and I shall miss him. His books have left a legacy and most of them are timeless. They will help open young minds to clearer thinking for generations to come - so long as we remember his lessons and don't let our world crumble into a totalitarian, anti-intellectual parody of life on this great planet of ours.

"God Bless You...Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.!"

I have only read a couple of Vonnegut's books (Man Without a Country, Slaughterhouse Five), but they were VERY moving, very REAL and darkly humorous. I also saw him on the Daily Show and he was such a PERSONALITY...he cracked me up, and he is also very insightful. I was sad to hear he was gone, but glad he was with us for so long and leaves so much of himself behind to be enjoyed for generations to come!

I found Mr. Vonnegut's work after returning from the war. I was trying to make sense of the world. I was looking for answers. He gave me the answer in Slaughterhouse Five. The answer was "there is no why".

Thank you Kurt for helping me to find my way back.

I will be eternally grateful to the best college professor I ever had, Dominic Consolo at Denison University, for introducing me to Kurt Vonnegut in the late 60s. After reading "Cat's Cradle" and later "Mother Night" in a course of his, I became an instant Vonnegut fan, to the point that I did a senior research project on the author. I have continued to read his work since then and have often thought, as have many others, that he seemed like the reincarnation of Mark Twain. Interestingly, both authors were born in the month of November and died in the month of April. Should we look for another incarnation to enter the world in November of 2019? If it were to happen, I'm sure that Vonnegut would merely observe "So it goes."

God bless you Mr. Vonnegut

I saw Vonnegut speak once at Trinity University in San Antonio and it was one of the funniest, most touching, interesting, self-effacing talks I have ever been to....the man was a genious who knew what he was good at....I'll really miss him...I hope he seeks out my Dad in the big sky to pal around.

I owe a lot ot Kurt V. The first book I ever read cover to cover was Slaughterhouse Five and it's been a fire hose ever since. He finally is going to get to see what is on the other side, or if there even is one. It was an issue he spent much time pondering although he was a self proclaimed "President of the Humanists". I know he'll be missed, definitely by this reader.

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, was a turning point in my life. Never again would I strive to be deep, "chlorinated, and painted blue..."

Thank you Kurt Vonnegut for making me laugh out loud so many times.

I'll always think about the role that Kurt Vonnegut played in my life - in connecting me with my dad and then my own son. My father introduced me to his writing when I was just 13. "This is a guy I went to high school with. I think you'll like his stuff." I had no clue. That was 1966. Before "Slaughterhouse" and his fame. My dad handed me "Cat's Cradle", I read it over a camping trip north of Bishop, up 395. I read all of his works through BreakFast and then got too busy to read much more.

Last year my son came to me with a school project. He was to read a book simultaneously with a family member and trade emails as they read. Later he was to put the emails into a journal. The family member - me - had to pick the book. I picked "Slaughterhouse Five". I think this was my third reading of it in three decades. It seemed different this time somehow, beyond the context of youth, being closer to the age at which Vonnegut wrote it. The accident of the homework assignment allowed me to pass Vonnegut on to my son.

There is a scene in one of his later works where Vonnegut speculates about how two stars, thousands of lightyears apart, have not seen each others light, but that they are somehow connected by the thoughts of a person gazing into the night sky. Vonnegut played that role in connecting my father with my son - through that telepathy of words on the page that great writers possess.

You'll be missed, Mr. Vonnegut. You'll be missed.

The only two novelists I can think of that I've read every novel of are Walker Percy and Kurt Vonnegut, and, of the two, Kurt Vonnegut was clearly far more prolific. I was doubly saddened by word of his passing, first at the sorrow of his passing itself, but also sorrow that i would now never get a chance to get to see him in person, as i was so looking forward to finally getting a chance to go see him in June when he was going to come to LA to give a talk.

His imaginative vision and biting sense of humor were truly inspiring, and he will be sorely missed!

I started reading his books when I was in eight grade in 1975. I shared an interest in Kurt Vonnegut with a boy I had a crush on. The first one I read was "Cat's Cradle", then moved on to "Breakfast of Champions" then "Slaughterhouse Five", etc. etc. Whenever he came out with a new book, I would grab it. One of the good things I remember about adolescence - the literature of Kurt Vonnegut!!!

I first read "Slaughterhouse Five" in tenth grade in 1986. I fell in love with the book--"They're actually letting us read this?" I kept asking myself--and I wrote Mr. Vonnegut a letter of astonishment and praise, to which he replied with a poem about apples and oranges and a discombobulated pen-and-ink drawing of his profile.

Now, as a high school English teacher, I convinced my department a few years ago to make "Slaughterhouse Five" required reading for all 11th graders. It's always students' favorite book of the year, and they, too, ask, "They're actually letting us read this?" This is my gift to my students and to Mr. Vonnegut.

Thank goodness that Douglas Brinkley is not a professor of English. Cigarettes are not "laying on a coffeetable". They are LYING on a coffeetable.

These are wonderful tributes in remembrance of a great American. Kurt Vonnegut was a profound influence on me in High School and remains a major impact on my adult thinking. The world will miss this most inventive and compassionate writer.

This is depressing news! I grew up reading Kurt Vonnegut, and he never failed to make me think about ordinary things in new and exciting ways. His prose was provocative, funny, and beautiful, yet it never pulled its punches. It is said that when a great soul passes over, the wind blows hard; I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but the wind was howling here the past two days. Rest well, Mr. Vonnegut, and thanks.

Depressing is an understatement. Kurt Vonnegut made a reader out of me. Nothing before Slaughterhouse Five ever lit a fire under me. I, too, have read every book. I was so glad there was someone out there writing whose sadness made me laugh. The combination of whimsy and melancholy was so new to me (in 1970) and it fit really well. And, when he made the point (in A Man Without a Country) that music proves the existence of God, well he had me again. I knew exactly what he meant. God Bless you Mr. Vonnegut.

Atticus R's comments reflect my own feelings. I read Vonnegut in High School. For a time, it seemed like I always had a copy of Slaughterhouse Five, or Cat's Cradle, or Sirens of Titan jammed into my jacket pocket. Some of the ideas he explored were ones I'd never considered before. That you might exist everywhere on your time line at the same time - That you were always being born, living, dying - it's still a wow concept. Or that you had a circle of people who were destined to be a part of your life, and that you could always find a way to connect them all if only you knew where to look for the dots. Plus, he was funny. And ironic. And he often had great titles. Repent Harlequin, said the Tick Tock Man. That was a great story. Or the one where everyone was given a handicap, so no one would be better than anyone else. He really did have an imagination unlike any other author I've read. Though its been probably more than 20 years since I've read his books - I remember them, talk about them, and appreciate them still.

Anthony...Kurt didn't write "Repent Harlequin." That was Harlan Ellison. He *did* write Harrison Bergeron, where everyone is just as good as the rest of the society.

News of Kurt's passing made me miserable. I'm a high school English teacher, and I wore all black and told all of my students about it today. Kurt's my favorite author. Because of him, I know my purpose in life:

To be
the eyes
and ears
and conscience
of the Creator of the Universe
You fool.

It just made perfect sense to me. I have founded excellent friendships upon discussions of his books. I teach Science Fiction, and his stories always had a place in my class.

Last year, I found out that Kurt had a Myspace. I tend to stay far away from it, but when I found out that he was so easily accessible, I wanted to write him and tell him how much he had inspired me. I couldn't do it, as I told one of my students, because I felt unworthy and was afraid of what he might say. I know now that that was ridiculous. I wish I would have told him how much he meant to me and how much goodness he had brought to my life.

This is a quote from him:
"I am, incidentally, Honorary President of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in that totally functionless capacity. We had a memorial service for Isaac a few years back, and I spoke and said at one point, 'Isaac is up in heaven now.' It was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, 'Kurt is up in heaven now.' That's my favorite joke."


Well...Kurt is up in heaven now. I miss him already.

Kurt Vonnegut saved my life. When I started reading his novels in my twenties, I discovered that there was a voice out there that matched my own. If I hadn't have purchased a copy of BLUEBEARD at Ames, I probably would have passed on Vonnegut. I'm thankful that I found him (or he found me) at the right time in my life. After reading BLUEBEARD, I couldn't get enough of Vonnegut's philosophical ramblings and existential plots. I read everything of his that I could get my hands on. I consider myself blessed to have met Mr. Vonnegut at Chapman University in Orange, California. His hand felt like a dead fish when I shook it, but at least I had the opportunity to touch the same hand that wrote CAT'S CRADLE and BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS. If I had one thing to say to Mr. Vonnegut for his contribution to world literature and my life as a whole, it would be this: GOD BLESS YOU, MR. VONNEGUT.

Kurt is up in heaven now.

Hearing that Kurt Vonnegut died made me glaringly aware of the fact that it has been many, many years since I have read his works. Somehow, I have moved on to other authors and other styles. And yet, I can't say that I have ever encountered his equal in combining what appears to be an effortless narrative style that nevertheless suggests hard truths about human nature and society. What fun to read his stories, and what revelation to realize that his fantasy enfolds what is often harsh reality. Even his dystopias are palatable since they border on the ridiculous - and yet doesn't that suggest our world today? I almost think of him as Einsteinian in the complexity of his thought as well as in the distress of his hair style.
I have read the dramatic and moving accounts posted here about meeting Mr. Vonnegut, and wish I could say that I too had that honor. The best I can do is say that I once saw him speak in person. I was surprised at how tall he was - why would that impress me, I wonder? At any rate, I believe that the best I can do to honor his memory is to reread his works and experience them from the context of the 21st century. I want to see how he reads today. I am confident that his genius will hold.
If past, present, and future all exist simultaneously, then he still exists somewhere.

Damn, how can he be so sorely missed so soon.

I started reading Vonnegut by accident. I picked Cat's Cradle from a list of about 50 books for summer reading. I instantly fell in love with his style. Since I read Cat's Cradle I've read seven of his other novels and plan to read the rest. I am only 17 and somehow I found my voice in his. He is my literary idol, his writing has inspired me and will continue to do so. I really wish I could have somehow met him or spoken with him before he died, this is something I will always regret.

Kurt Vonnegut's name will be on bookshelves in 100 years, thanks to his wry, to-the-times, and almost futurist views of the twentieth-century back home.

It was just monday when we finished disscussing Slaughterhous-five in one of my classes. The Ironic thing is that the class is called Literary Responses to Death and Dying. His death made if kinda weird. He was an extrodinary man.

"Kurt is up in heaven now."

Thank you. Glad somebody said it.

I read a lot of Vonnegut when I was a teenager, and I loved him then because it resonated with my teen angst, but while I like to think of myself as having matured a little since then, I love him even more today. I rediscovered Vonnegut a couple years ago, reading his newer books on the train while I was working in a marketing job that I found very phoney and unrewarding, and it was like being reborn into the human race. "Bluebeard" especially changed the course of my life and inspired me to quit that job and go back to art school. Of all the things that he embodies in his writing, the greatest is humanity. Time makes fools of us all but Kurt Vonnegut's dignity and compassion for the universe willl last forever.

Rest eternal grant him, O Cosmos,
and let not light disturb his sleep.

KV was required reading in my undergrad. I compared his Slaughterhouse Five to Mother Night....and what I believed were his thoughts concerning predestination and free will. It was then that I realized how adept this man was in writing.

I have never agreed with his liberal views, which it was, but he was a master writer.

For anyone who missed this priceless appearance (or just want to see it again:

Kurt Vonnegut on The Daily Show 9/13/05

Mr. Vonnegut -

It's been real.
We thank you.
Rest - in eternal peace.
Goodbye.

My husband was just saying the other day how excited he was that our son would grow up in a house with many Vonnegut books... Thanks for the good times Mr. Vonnegut!

I'll remember *the secret night*. As for your life dear friend...*so it goes*

I was introduced to Kurt Vonnagut at a party at my friend Bob Katz's house a couple of years ago. I was thunderstruck to be shaking hands with this monumental author of "Slaughterhouse Five." I had nothing to say because his presense was so awesome to me. I am saddened this he is gone.

Kurt's Slaughterhouse-Five produced more conversations in my life than any other writing. It took me awhile to catch-on but once I got it, I was hooked. What a life! What a survivor!

As Vonnegut taught us, he may be dead in one dimension, but in another place and time, he is perfectly fine.

I met Mr. Vonnegut a few short months ago , before his accident. Remembering reading about his love for gardening , I brought him a "bouquet" of carrots from a local farm sale. I told him about how I joined the Border's Books discount club and how that ever since , my email has been bombarded with spam. We laughed about how Borders never featured Kurt as an author in their spam email , both knowing after he died they would take full advantage after the fact. Mr. Vonnegut then told me to shove the bouquet of carrots up my ass - but - to save one for the spammers at Borders. I'll never forget his sense of humor.

Kurt Vonnegut gave me hope. The hope that there were others out there who think like I do, that mankind isn't all just a bunch of morons whose big brains do nothing but cause trouble, that maybe, just maybe, things weren't all that bad. Although I never met the man, he was closer to me than most of my family. He left a great legacy of literature and thought. I sit here sad tonight. And yet still, no damn cat, no damn cradle.

I awoke to the voice of Kurt Vonnegut this morning. (an old interview) I was thrilled until the announcer said, "he was 84".....to which I immediately said, "Oh no". My pyschology prof required us to read "Cat's Cradle" in 1971. Thank you. I own more of his novels than any other author. I will try what several others have done---introduce my 13 year old son to Mr. Vonnegut.

I found out Vonnegut had died last night online. In high school I remember having been assigned to read "Cat's Cradle" for a class ... and never read it, probably for that reason - I had to. But as a Science Fiction fanatic I ended up reading that and about everything else he ever wrote around that time. "Sirens of Titan", "Slaughterhouse Five", etc. I absolutely loved reading Vonnegut, a less slick but more human Gary Adams, whom I also later read.

I always thought of Vonnegut as the Science Fiction Mark Twain, since he looked a little like him and had great wit, intelligence and heart.

It is just funny that as I get older now and people are starting to die ... some of them my heroes, I just feel like they are so much more weighty, human, intelligent, broadminded than the people I read about today ... does everybody feel that way about the people they grew up with? I suppose so.

Anyway, another of my favorite icons fades from my world and I start to fade a little bit too each time .... it just sucks that people have to die.

Good-bye Kurt

"I love you, Paul."
"I love You, Anita."

"Sirens of Titan" - an absolute wonder. "Slaughterhouse Five" - such honesty. Thank you. Mr. Vonnegut. Be at peace.

He truly had the last of the original ideas. We have lost a GREAT literary presence of our time ; HE will truly be missed.

I first discovered Kurt Vonnegut a little over a year ago. I quickly fell in love with his sense of humour and I quickly bought and read everyone one on his books I could get my hands on including his short story collections and and his self reflection style books (such as "timequake").
Mr. Vonnegut's way of being a complete pessimist and yet finding humour in that pessimism was something I came to admire.
Though he would disagree I believe that Kurt Vonnegut was one of the best philosophers of our time and he will be sorely missed.

I remember reading 'God Bless You Mr. Rosewater' with tears in my eyes. I had never experienced a deep belly laugh from a book before. I also remember something he said in a recent interview. He said something to the effect that the internet had accomplished what the mob had been trying to do all along. It put a slot machine and a loan shark in every household in America.

I finished reading "Man Without A Country" two days ago and was hunting through my bookshelves for the rest of his books because I was reminded of how much I loved Kurt Vonnegut as a writer. His writing made me laugh about our current administration and the war - a topic I which usually makes my stomach hurt with anger. It saddens me greatly to know that he is no longer on this earth, we have lost one of our best writers/humanatarian/political critic. I will miss him in the way of a close friend and thank god that he didn't become a chemist so that I still have his words for company... I hope wherever you are, you are happy Mr. Vonnegut.

When I had heard that my cousin K had passed away, my thoughts went to the first time I had heard stories from my mom about her growing up with the Vonneguts two blocks away in Indy. She and K were the same age, and it appears that through the years they turned out the same. I was there with my mom when she and K last visited in NYC at his home, and he was as gracious in person as he is through his books. I will always remember the twinkle in his eye when he talked about his cameo in Dangerfields movie. He was quite the character. And I am glad to see that we not onlyh have his books, but the movies of some of those books that will last forever. He loved life. And perhaps the greatest book written about this generation's Twain was written by his second wife about the period of his life when he was adopting his sister's kids. I must find that movie again and make it a part of my collection.
I suppose God needed a straight talker in heaven...thats why he took the best.
Be at peace cuz...our lives are much better off for having you and your writings in it.
Aloha

I love Vonnegut.He had an amazing life. I remember reading about him before he was famous - he was a hack writer, trying to support a family, writing, SF, of all things....Not sure if he wrote the story about the computer that falls in love, that was featured in the Scholastic Reader circa 1963, but he might have been.

My editor in DC grew up with Vonnegut, and went to school with him, where the 'better families' go, in the words of my editor.

And so it goes.

I'll have to read the selection in your link.

"It is said that when a great soul passes over, the wind blows hard; I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but the wind was howling here the past two days."

The wind's been howling here in los angeles all day today, as a great soul truly has passed over!

Hear Here! Kelly said that best. It has been howling here too. May he rest in peace.

"so why were we put here just to suffer and die?"

"why not?" (remember Venus on the half shell?)
Kurt, i share your existential angst...perhaps you are free of it now and happily zooming about the cosmos just taking it all in. i look forward to reading what you write about that when i'm zooming too. i love your spirit and soul and i miss you on this earth. peace to you and to your wife and family.
you might enjoy the irony of us having snow snow snow here in april...xoxo

I did not sow, I did not spin and thanks to pills, I did not sin. I love the crowd, the stink, the noise, and when I peed, I peed turquoise. I sit beneath a roof of orange, swinging with progress like a door hinge. 'Neath purple roof I come today, to piss my azure life away. Virgin hostess, death's recruiter. Life is cute, but you are cuter. Mourn my pecker, purple daughter. All it passed was sky blue water. How is my memory, Vonnegut fans?

I adored Kurt's works, including his very surprising cameo appearance in Rodney Dangerfield's movie "Back to School." It was a great gag!

Kurt wasn't the most prolific writer or the most eloquent. It wasn't just about his books or writings. The loss for me is that he was one of the seemingly few who really "got it." He was one of "the few saintly people among us." He was a human and understood what it meant to be human.

Kurt Vonnegut was my hero when I was a teenager. I lived in Russia and read almost all his books in Russian. NOw when I compare Russian text to the original I am delighted to see that the translation was excellent, which made Kurt V. accessable to many in Soviet Union. Kurt Vonnegut is an American writer, but his works were understood in every part of the world regardless of cultural differnces. This is the evidence that he was the man of the world and wrote about all-human concerns and joys.
I was so sad to learn about his death. It is hard to believe that just two days ago he was here among us, and now he is gone.
Rest in peace our beloved friend.

Could not get enough of his books as a senior in HS in '75. Will miss him and his wit and writings. Beautifully written threads that always came together as a good book. So it goes!

One time on a road trip I read Slaughterhouse Five aloud with my husband.
Thank you Kurt Vonnegut for the conversation and deep silences which we shared during that trip. Best road trip of my life.

I hate what Douglas Brinkley wrote in Remembering Vonnegut. I find it patronizing and condescending. And WORST of all, he disparages or ridicules what Vonnegut says about oil, Bush, etc. as if it weren't true, while simultaneously tries to make HIMSELF seem more important by being associated with Vonnegut (see last excerpt). I think Brinkley is hypocritical and disgusting. Excerpts below:

"Add to that doomsday scenario Vonnegut's notorious bouts of chronic depression, daily doldrums, and suicidal longings, and you get a literary Cassandra of the first order."

AND

"There was only burning dissent about the way hyper-technology and global capitalism were usurping the last gasps of goodness from honest laborers' lives. And he was dead serious. But then Vonnegut started coughing, clearing his throat of phlegm, grasping for a half-smoked pack of Pall Malls laying on a coffee table."

"AND HE WAS DEAD SERIOUS"?!! CAN YOU BELIEVE??!!
AND:

"As a writer, Vonnegut, who uses simple sentences and short paragraphs to hold his readers' attention, is never dull. Repetitive, yes. Too cutesy at times, sure."

YES MR. BRINKLEY, YOU ARE A SECOND-RATE HISTORIAN OFFERING LITERARY CRITIQUE OF A MULTI-DECADAL INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER WRITER...

AND

"Vonnegut is a master of practical jokes, for making people respond emotionally to something that isn't going on. Vonnegut pulls us by our lapels and insists that we're all collectively culpable for hideous crimes against our fellow humans."

AREN'T WE??!! AND FINALLY

"After a few hours of fine conversation, Vonnegut and I headed out for Lasagne Ristorante, his favorite nearby eatery. We walked down 3rd Avenue in suffocating heat, the air pollution level felt lethal and for a couple minutes, Vonnegut just kept coughing. Perspiration beads formed on our brows. Vonnegut's good humor dissipated. He was back on his "Perils of Oil" soapbox, insinuating that the evil slime had gushed into our lives via the River Styx, courtesy of Hades."

My husband is NOT a reader. When faced in high school with a long list of summer reading to choose books from, he for some reason tried Slaughterhouse Five, and he fell in love for the first and I think only time in his life with a book. It spoke to him as no other book ever did before or since. For that reason if no other I mourn this death.

Hey Kate .... "Venus on the Half Shell" was written by Phillip Jose Farmer under the pseudonym of Kilgore Trout. Trout was a character that Vonnegut made up in his books, but I think Vonnegut had nothing to do with "Half Shell".

My first novel by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was Slaughterhouse Five, at the age of nine. I fell in love from there. I devoured EVERY novel I could find with his name on, and believe me, I had at my disposal quite a few as my father was an avid fan. I read Welcome to the Monkeyhouse, read Galapagos, read Breakfast of Champions, read God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. By the time I was 13 I had read every Kurt Vonnegut novel published at that time, and all the short stories I could find.
Finally there was another voice in print like the one in my head saying to me that it was alright to laugh at the seriousness of life and alright to point out every one else's hypocrisy. To date, my favorites are Dead Eye Dick and Cat's Cradle. Without them, I don't think I would have made it through junior high.
R.I.P. Mr. Vonnegut JR. So it goes

When I heard about Kurt Vonnegut, the first that came to mind was Harrison Bergeron, a short story I read in college that stayed with me since that time. Every time I pick up a newspaper and watch a program that attempts to censor or stifle someone's expression, this story of extreme political correctness comes to mind. In fact, while I find Don Imus's insults hurled at the Rutger's Women despicable and stupid. The backlash immediately made me think of Kurt Vonnegut's story Harrison Bergeron days before he even died. He was definitely a literary visionary for our time.

Thanks, Rich, for this insightful look into the life of Kurt Vonnegut. It is a befittingly funny characterization of the funny, incisive and humanizing author: He smoked Pall Malls; his writing was pell-mell.

May his soul rest in peace.

I liked the cover of "Cat's Cradle" and so I bought it, my first Kurt Vonnegut book. I wasn't sure what to make of it until that bed fell into that ocean and my brain spun. Ah, so this is the kind of author Kurt Vonnegut was...! And I've read and enjoyed everything else. My favorites are Bluebeard and Timequake. The concepts of seeing everyone as a band of raceless light or as part of your artificial extended family -- or asking a stranger at a party how their parents died to start a conversation, rather than about the weather -- have become part of the philosophy of kindness I teach to my son. Thank you, thank you, Kurt Vonnegut, for these books that have become teaching tools and tutorials for a better way to enjoy life.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was my hero. The themes of his stories spoke directly to my soul. I was deeply saddened for the world when I heard that he had left us. There was a man whose completely unique intelligence, honesty, forthrightness, insightfulness and sense of humor will never be seen again in this crazy, clueless world.
I was introduced to Vonnegut by my older brother in the seventies. I read half of Breakfast of Champions over his shoulder before he finished with it himself and agreed to let me borrow it. It was an earth-shaking piece of literature for me because I did not know that such books existed. I had no idea that anyone else saw the world this way. When I realized that I was not alone, what joy!! I sought out others who had been enlightened or entertained with his works and we read anything Vonnegut that we could get our hands on. My reports in high school were on Vonnegut books or were about the author.
To my conservative mother's horror, I turned out to be a liberal. She blamed the public school system, but she was wrong. My liberal thoughts and deep-seated distrust of authority and society existed long before I left Catholic school in 1975, subtly planted by cartoons like "Kimba the White Lion," carefully nurtured by Beatles songs like "All You Need Is Love" and "Imagine" and cemented by the works of Vonnegut.
Thank God for Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He is in heaven now.

I read Vonnegut's books in chronological order - it seemed to make more sense and enhanced the experience of seeing all his wonderfully quirky characters just pop up.
I met Kurt Vonnegut in an unusual setting - he had accompanied his wife, photographer Jill Krementz, to an exhibit of her photographs at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, NY. He went off by himself to sit in a darkened auditorium but a group of students and myself found him out and spent a delightful afternoon talking to him.

Slaughterhouse Five was the Vonnegut novel I had read. I was 15 or 16. Little did I know what reading that novel would start. It completely blew me away. At that time, he became the only author that mattered to me. He was dark, provocative, funny and had a distinct slant on life: everything that my warped teen-age imagination could relate to. To this day, 20 years later, he is still one of my favorite authors and his influence on my writing style is very evident. I've read nearly everything he has ever written, although some were better than others, he still managed to bring something new into literature. I started to read Cat's Cradle last night, because it has been so long since I have read it.
I saw him speak once at IUP, shortly after I was out of high school. He was brilliant. Afterwards, there was an opportunity to meet him, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. I was merely a little pissant, and he was a literary god.
So, thank you, Mr. Vonnegut, for corrupting the smalltown sensibilities of this girl and helping open my mind. My life would have been a lot poorer without Vonnegut's works in it.

I first read his work back in the 70s when i was in commuinty college. I thought then as i do now that he is one of our greatest writers. I will miss him. May he rest in peace.

Thanks to the High School teacher (who's name I forgot long ago) in the early 70s who made one of KVs books a reading assignment. She probably never knew what an effect it had on me. At the simplest level, it invigorated my joy of reading, gave me an author whom I thought of as "mine." as others have also expressed here. But, more importantly, he let me know that I wasn't alone, or more accurately, I was alone, but those thought didn't mean I was crazy, others had them too. Thanks, Kurt, I'll take time and acknowledge when I happy.

Subjuect to eternal,
Immovable laws,
We all must fulfill
The circles of our existence.
Man alone is able to do
What's seemingly impossible.
He discriminates,
Chooses and judges;
He can make the moment last.

He alone may
Reward the good,
Punish the wicked,
Heal and save,
Join to utility all
That's erringly rambling.

Kurt Vonnegut

I never used to read. I always thought that people who wrote books had a fantastical imagination about what humans were really like and they needed too many of those knights in shining armor that were never realistic to make their story succeed. It wasn't until I picked up my first Vonnegut book, Breakfast of Champions, that reading excited me.

I don't think it was the story so much as it was his hidden philosphy that was burried in every single moment in the book. His ideas about Free Will, Fate, Religion, Politics... it was right in line with how I viewed the world too. For many years I thought I was alone in my thoughts, mostly because I was living in Indianapolis surrounded by church goers and Republicans. If a freethinker wants to feel out of place, just go to Indiana, it will set you right there.

After Breakfast of Champions... it was Cat's Cradle then Mother Night. God bless you Mr. Rosewater, then Slaughterhouse Five. I have all his books now, and have read them all too. I was even lucky enough to have him sign some of my favorites. I'll cherish them.

Anyway... aside from all that... I'm so sad today that he is gone. Usually when a "famous" person passes there's a tinge of regret but no tears. There are tears this time. Tears for being thankful for all of his words, for making me feel like I belonged, for those times where I'd say outloud as I was reading... Oh My God, that's so Right! The mind opener... the missing piece of the puzzle. That was Vonnegut for me. There are also tears that there won't be anymore of his brillance to hear, especially in this day and age. Vonnegut was the last of a dying breed. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. So it goes...

I wonder if messages from Myspace end up in heaven... and I wonder if Kurt has found Ben Franklin so he can ask him, "How the fuck do you talk to God?"

Long Live Free Will

Kurt Vonnegut's writings would be viewed differently depending on the context of the reader. I have read his works in different phases of my life and had widely varying thoughts provoked...

His gift to me was to make me laugh at my own pretentions.

Although he was also first and foremost a wordsmith without equal.

I've picked up so many copies of his books at yard sales and estate sales and flea markets....just to be able to give them to those who were unfamiliar, to share the treasure that I had found so long ago. I had the honor of seeing him speak three times and was struck by how powerful his words were when spoken by the man.
I've kept newspaper articles, magazine articles and clippings for over 30 years that were tributes to this country's greatest author. He was our conscience, he was a mosquito that never quit biting at polititions when things were wrong (and aren't they always?). I remember pictures of him in Africa, walking amongst the poor and the starving and thinking that he not only spoke the truth, he went to see it for himself and to try to right the injustices in his own way. It is ironic that we write in his honor using a computer.....we should have used a manual typewriter.
He is still my hero...and so it goes.

My first and only son's name is Wesley Vonnegut Laws, Kurt Vonnegut made such an impact on my life it's hard to even describe. But when my husband and I were deciding on names for our son we wanted to give him a namesake that would tell him a little something about what was important to his parents, and how we landed on our value system. "Breakfast of Champions" is my favorite of his books.

"His situation, insofar as he was a machine, was complex, tragic, and laughable. But the sacred part of him, his awareness, remained an unwavering band of light."

I first met Kurt Vonnegut when I was in college. I took a class on Vonnegut and got a B in it. Anyway, I talked to Kurt for about thirty minutes after a book signing. After that, I started interviewing sci fi and horror writers, it was I am still interviewing them today.

Kurt and will always be one of the best science fiction writers -- although he hated that term.

I remember taking an Amercan Lit class in college and asking the prof if we were going to read any Vonnegut. He said no we were only going to read important writers. I knew then this man was an imbecile. Vonnegut was my mother and father when it came to social consiousness. I learned more from him than any teacher I ever encountered. I always meant to write to him but felt unworthy.

Unorthodox, iconoclastic and a great author!

Yes, I loved Vonnegut, too. He was an American character, a literary light and such a very sad man. His sorrow was palpable when I interviewed him at Indiana University in 1972, for the abbreviated summer Indiana Daily Student. He was there to recieve an honorary degree, an event he did not treasure, because what was a degree after all? He had walked away just shy of receiving a degree at Cornell, to join the Army and discover his destiny to become unstuck in time at Dresden. He couldn't help but shrug at the honor bestowed upon him here, at the official university of his home state.

He wasn't having fun, he wanted to make that perfectly clear. In fact, the writing life had become a chore for him, he said, and that's why he had decided to bring all of his characters together and kill them in "Breakfast of Champions." He was really sort of sick of them.

I didn't take him seriously, of course. This was the same sardonic voice that Vonnegut employed so often to skewer the pomposity of corporations and governments, and the brutality of war, the tyranny of consumerism. Surely writing has been fun, I ventured. What was his favorite book?

He hesitated a moment and said, "probably 'The Sirens of Titan.' That's when it was fun to write."

That was my favorite, and I told him so. He nodded wanly as I gushed about how much I appreciated his clarity, his vision, his humor, his sad eyes showing a flash of a smile, but still tired. He had recently turned 50, and he felt that life was almost over, thus his literary trick.

Luckily for us all, Vonnegut lived many more years, botching a 1984 attempt at suicide, building on a literary treasure trove that will surely inspire generations to come. I was struck by the simple, elegant page that remains on www.kurtvonnegut.com, a charcoal or crayon drawing of a bird cage, door open, empty.

Vonnegut wouldn't want any of us to think that he is in heaven. He just got out of this predicament. And so he goes on.

Kurt Vonnegut is the reason I read books. Discovering him was a turning point in my life. He helped shape my young mind more than all of my teachers. In him I knew I had found a kindred spirit and fellow traveller. Rest in peace Maestro.

His sense of truth, dignity, and conviction is missing from many. However, this message can be kept alive long after this loss. All it takes is an open mind. Honor his presence and gifts.
HarrietD

I saw Vonnegut give a lecture at Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, IN, over 20 years ago. In it, he explained how he had learned of a computer program that could write classic, timeless literature based on the math of the storyline. He proceeded to graph and explain Hamlet. It was a straight line. "Hmmm..." he said.

It was precisely this kind of "Kurt calls 'BULLSHIT'" insight that first won me over in "Breakfast of Champions" when I was 11. My extended family members have all been Vonnegut fans for all my living memory owing to his grace and candor. His forthright, sometimes smashmouth, approach to evaluating the human condition was and will always be relatable for the very young and very old. To that end, my children have known Vonnegut's work from the time they were very young, since as we travel, we are constantly accosted by members of our granfalloon of choice: we are Hoosiers. Just last week, I alerted two of my three kids that you cannot flee far enough on this planet without being "granfallooned" by Hoosiers. (On the beach in south Florida, both son and daughter were hailed by other folk from Indiana.)

"The Big Space Fuck" was originally written for Harlan Ellison's science fiction collection, "Dangerous Visions." The notion of a story so titled so offended my parents, that they confiscated the book. My father read it, and gave it back to me.

I wept openly when I learned of his passing. As John Hartford wrote of the Grand Ole Opry, "Another good thing done gone on, done gone on."

When I was about 12 I read "Breakfast Of Champions," and "Player Piano." I have been hooked ever since. His voice rang true to me then as now and have read and re-read all of his books and short stories.
As a child I felt a kinship with him because he treated his children characters with respect and intelligence. At 45 I like him for the same reasons. He can make me laugh out loud even when I re-read his stuff. I hope my two-year-old son will find him as laugh-out-loud funny as I do and I wish more writers would step up to join him in his intellectually farcical and whimsical path. Keep an eye on Christopher Moore. He seems to be cut of the same cloth and heading down the same road.

What a loss, but - wow - the man lived. If only each of us could do something to leave such a mark on the world as he did with his words.

My older sister gave me "Slaughterhouse Five" when I was in college (St. Mary's College, now University, Winona, MN) back in the 70's. I thought it was so funny and so sad. My kids have read it. We trade quotes over the dinner table from time to time. Vonnegut affected me on so many levels. What a great writer that he could affect different generations.

The Librarian at my highschool gave me Breakfast of Champions when I was a sophmore. I had never read for pleasure before. She told me she was not supposed to have it in the library because it was so contraversial, but she thought I would like it. I was a deadhead/hippie and somewhat lost at the time personally.

The thoughts that generated from those pages amazed me, tickled me and made me think for myself. I have read all of Kurts works, read 2 books for fun per week and am still somewhat of a hippie, but no longer a deadhead. I met him in Indianapolis at the art center for a show of his paintings and drawings. I ws lucky enough to purchase on e of them at the time. When we talked, I told him how he had effected me. He chuckled and asked me if i was sure it was him or the pot? He was a great human. He will be missed. HI HO

I too read Mr. Vonnegut's books when I was young. He was something of a literary genius, and will be missed. I have to say that it has been 5 years or more since I have read any of his works. I shall have to pull something out and dust it off.

I grew up before there was nintendo and pc's and tv was three channels and over by midnight signalled by the National Anthem. What I did do to excape was to read everything I could get my hands on and by the 7th grade I had discovered Kurt Vonnegut and read all of them! He was my hero; I read Slaughterhouse Five several times. He was the first author that could make me laugh out loud! I have moved several times over the years but have kept his books with me. I hope to meet him when I time travel in my silver combat boots to the other side.
Susan

I never laughed aloud reading any book more (or harder) than I did for The Sirens of Titan (and I wasn't high then, either!). Thanks KV for the laughs and the thoughtfulness behind all of your work.