Customer Reviews

Welcome to the Monkey House (Dell #9478)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a collection of 25 short stories. They are simple but you can if you want read great depth in them. These stories would make good starters for a reading group or circle. They are professional but not extraordinary or unique.

"The year was 2081, and everyone was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal in every way."

I bought this book for one story in particular "Harrison Bergeron"; I bought the movie with Sean Astin and thought even if the story was fleshed out to be more like "This Perfect Day". So I thought it would be time to read the story. Unfortunately the short story can not hold a candle to the movie. It never really gets off the ground and comes to a curt conclusion never resolving the conflict.

Harrison Bergeron

My favorite Vonnegut book, of those I have read so far (including some of his non-fiction essays, which are terrible, his most well-known novels, which are mixed, and a couple of other short story collections, which are okay). The title story---about a future society that has outlawed sexual pleasure---and "Harrison Bergeron"---a brilliant satire of egalitarianism (which is strange, considering Vonnegut's own egalitarian leanings)---are great, and there are several other good stories, and none that are really bad. Definitely worth the read.

I've loved Vonnegut's books, but never read his short stuff until this. According to the introduction, these stories were written to finance the novels. Anyway, it's full of the wit and challenging ideas Vonnegut is known for. Science fiction, but not really. Incidentally science fiction is all. Loved The Eupio Question.

Collection of short stories, some within the science fictional mold, others more mainstream in content. A rather focused way for me to look at the strengths and weaknesses of Vonnegut as a writer, and assess my own ambivalence with him. I've enjoyed almost all his books yet have rarely made an effort to seek them out, generally picking them up when I'm around. I find him amusing but less insightful than he seems to think he is, creative but often too awkward in what he's trying to do that the larger project falls apart. By fame and general influence he's certainly a major figure in twentieth century writing, but on the strength of my own reading I wouldn't place him in that category, as with Gunter Grass but to a greater extent I find him lacking some quality that would allow real excellence. Part of that has always been my dislike over his self-marketing and scampering away from genre lables 'yes my books have time travel and aliens but they're literature, not that science fiction trash'. As with Margaret Atwood, there's something about that basic attitude that I see as either very calculating or very ignorant and dislike in either case. Strictly speaking that's not a valid issue to bring against their writing, which should be assessed for its basic effectiveness and not the labels attached to it.

The stories in Welcome to the Monkey House are a mix, and a lot of specific stories I'm deeply ambivalent about. They're engaging, maintain a fast pace, and a very good talent in quickly establishing character and situation. At times they also provide some great creativity and imaginative use of some unconventional setups. At the same time I've got more than a little kickback to most of them. They often seem too impressed with their own cleverness, for one thing, playing up thier position as hilarious in a way that sets my teeth on edge. Additionally, in terms of actual stories the sequence of events is rather predictible, I was frequently able to predict the next step several pages in advance. Vonnegut has significant skills, but the way he uses them I don't find altogether fitting, and after a number of stories in a row I grew rather alienated from the (consistent) tone of the narrative voice. I definitely prefer Vonnegut's novels, and this reading has made me interested enough to try to finish reading his main corpus, but I retain some sizable reservations.

Worse than: A is for Alien by Caitlin Kiernan
Better than: The Deceitful Marriage and other exemplary novels by Miguel de Cervantes

As said above, both a fun and educating read. it describes the stupidity, foibles, and just plain dumbness of the human specie.