Anyone here a fan of his work? He had a very distinct style, but was one of the easiest and most enjoyable "sci-fi" writers of the 20th C. Still, 84, and a chimney smoker of pall-malls, not bad going...
Posted by sam (Member # 884) on :
I only really knew Slaughter House-Five through the book and film, and I read Cat's Cradle ages ago but only half remember it. He was a humanist and I liked that because it's the closest I come to a life ideal but I don't know too much else about him. 84 and a good enough life isn't too bad.
You a fan?
Posted by Nathan Bleak (Member # 1040) on :
quote:Originally posted by sam: 84 and a good enough life isn't too bad.
Yeah, he got to find out what it was like to be a prisoner of war, witness first hand one of the greatest atrocities of modern warfare and spend the eighties bankrupt and doing cameos in Rodney Dangerfield films to try and pay the bills. The lucky fuck. I bet he had to laugh like hell.
I've read Slaughter House Five and Cat's Cradle, and I think another one of his. Got quite into him when I was 22. I remember there was some puzzle in Slaughterhouse 5 that involved a number on a gravestone at the end. What was all that about?
Posted by Boy Racer (Member # 498) on :
Vonnegut is absolutely one of my favourite writers.
Aside from his fiction writing, of which Slaughterhouse 5 and Galapagos are my favourites, I'd throughly recommend Fates Worse Than Death - a compendium of his essays and speechs from the eighties.
I should really get round to reading A Man Without A Country too.
Posted by mart (Member # 32) on :
quote:Originally posted by sam: I only really knew Slaughter House-Five through the book and film
Rather than what? The video game?
Posted by sam (Member # 884) on :
quote:Originally posted by Nathan Bleak:
quote:Originally posted by sam: 84 and a good enough life isn't too bad.
Yeah, he got to find out what it was like to be a prisoner of war, witness first hand one of the greatest atrocities of modern warfare and spend the eighties bankrupt and doing cameos in Rodney Dangerfield films to try and pay the bills. The lucky fuck. I bet he had to laugh like hell.
That's me slapped down.
[prickly defensiveness]I said good enough. A hell of a lot of people live through shit and it's good enough if they aren't maimed and get to live to a ripe old age with respect and their minds and integrity intact. Are you suggesting he was miserable for his entire 84 years and died a despairing man? If not, maybe it was good enough.
I am not a total ignoramus thank you.[/prickly defensiveness]
Posted by Benny in the East (Member # 903) on :
quote:Originally posted by sam: You a fan?
I am, I guess - read quite a few of his books. I got a friend onto his stuff, and he is a bigger fan - but I like him, yeah.
Posted by sam (Member # 884) on :
quote:Originally posted by mart:
quote:Originally posted by sam: I only really knew Slaughter House-Five through the book and film
Rather than what? The video game?
It's not very clear is it? I just meant I have only read those two books of his and the only one I really remember is SH-5 because of the film as well as the book.