What do you think?
Rate this book
Unstuck in Time: A Journey Through Kurt Vonnegut's Life and Novels
In Unstuck in Time, Gregory Sumner guides us, with insight and passion, through a biography of fifteen of Kurt Vonnegut’s best known works, his fourteen novels starting with Player Piano (1952) all the way to an epilogue on his last book, A Man Without a Country (2005), to illustrate the quintessential American writer’s profound engagement with the "American Dream" in its various forms. Sumner gives us a poignant portrait of Vonnegut and his resistance to celebrating the traditional values associated with the American Dream: grandiose ambition, unbridled material success, rugged individualism, and "winners" over "losers." Instead of a celebration of these values, we read and share Vonnegut’s outrage, his brokenhearted empathy for those who struggle under the ethos of survival-of-the-fittest in the frontier mentality—something he once memorably described as "an impossibly tough-minded experiment in loneliness." Heroic and tragic, Vonnegut’s novels reflect the pain of his own life’s experiences, relieved by small acts of kindness, friendship, and love that exemplify another way of living, another sort of human utopia, an alternative American Dream, and the reason we always return to his books.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1996
26 people are currently reading
178 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 6, 2019
Author Sumner tells the story of Kurt Vonnegut's life in reference to his published works, those being primarily his fourteen novels, all of which are summarized. Other works, plays, movies, essays and short story collections, are noted briefly.
I entered this book with the expectation of being reminded of texts read over the course of five decades, beginning with Cat's Cradle in high school, and in the belief that I'd read them all. Not so! Dead-eye Dick was new to me--an omission to be remedied eventually.
I'd avoided Vonnegut as a kid as I'd avoided many of the most popular books circulating amongst my friends--avoided until importuned by two girls, one the sister of my best friend. I'd thought Vonnegut would be slight and silly, not to be compared to my favorite author, that being Albert Camus back then. Well, he was very different--relatively very easy to read and a heck of a lot more entertaining. Then, beyond that, he was relevant, relevant to the concerns of the our times and place, not, as with Camus, to the concerns of decolonialization and German occupation.
From there I went, over the decades, from one title to another, continuing, in college, with The Sirens of Titan and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, then proceeding book by book as I'd encounter them in used bookstores or on the shelves of friends or as they were published. Then, of course, there were the filmic versions as well, some made for television (not so good), others for the cinema, namely Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night and Breakfast of Champions.
The appeal of Vonnegut extends to matters ethical and, derivatively, political. He was, so far as I've been able to discern, a good man, a very good man, both well-intended and productively active. Like him, and independently of him, I too had come to regard Eugene Victor Debs as the most admirable national politician in the history of the U.S.A. Like him, I read The Nation newsweekly (and didn't he join with other writers in bailing The Nation out?--a matter not mentioned in this book). Like him, I was, I am pessimistic about the chances for the human experiment succeeding, but try to act in support of the ever-diminishing possibility of our civilization not only enduring, but actually becoming civil.
I entered this book with the expectation of being reminded of texts read over the course of five decades, beginning with Cat's Cradle in high school, and in the belief that I'd read them all. Not so! Dead-eye Dick was new to me--an omission to be remedied eventually.
I'd avoided Vonnegut as a kid as I'd avoided many of the most popular books circulating amongst my friends--avoided until importuned by two girls, one the sister of my best friend. I'd thought Vonnegut would be slight and silly, not to be compared to my favorite author, that being Albert Camus back then. Well, he was very different--relatively very easy to read and a heck of a lot more entertaining. Then, beyond that, he was relevant, relevant to the concerns of the our times and place, not, as with Camus, to the concerns of decolonialization and German occupation.
From there I went, over the decades, from one title to another, continuing, in college, with The Sirens of Titan and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, then proceeding book by book as I'd encounter them in used bookstores or on the shelves of friends or as they were published. Then, of course, there were the filmic versions as well, some made for television (not so good), others for the cinema, namely Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night and Breakfast of Champions.
The appeal of Vonnegut extends to matters ethical and, derivatively, political. He was, so far as I've been able to discern, a good man, a very good man, both well-intended and productively active. Like him, and independently of him, I too had come to regard Eugene Victor Debs as the most admirable national politician in the history of the U.S.A. Like him, I read The Nation newsweekly (and didn't he join with other writers in bailing The Nation out?--a matter not mentioned in this book). Like him, I was, I am pessimistic about the chances for the human experiment succeeding, but try to act in support of the ever-diminishing possibility of our civilization not only enduring, but actually becoming civil.
June 13, 2012
Well I had to throw in the towel on this one. I love Vonnegut. I have his words tattooed on my skin and he is the author I turn to to first for most anything. This book made him seem flat. I fear that Kazak will pop out of the mists of time and bite for writing such a heretical words. This book is a mixture of long boring high school book reports mixed it with snips of biographical data. Every time I thought i was about to get new insight or new perspective on Kurt I was sorely disappointed. For the casual Vonnegut fan who wants to know a bit more about the man himself: check it out you will learn. For the Vonnegut devotee, read Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons or any of his collections of essays, or Like Shaking Hands with God. You will learn far more about him than you will get. A teacher once told me that great authors pen their characters with drops of their own blood and soul. Vonnegut uses streams and measures by the gallon. Just read his novels and you will know him better than this book displays him.
I don't hate it all. The author does his best, and it is truly an admirable job, of trying to connect the events in Vonnegut's life to his work. It should have been a three volume set and deleted a lot deeper.
I don't hate it all. The author does his best, and it is truly an admirable job, of trying to connect the events in Vonnegut's life to his work. It should have been a three volume set and deleted a lot deeper.
April 11, 2022
This is a fun introduction to the life and works of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. It's easy to read and moves along well, just like Vonnegut's famous novels. There's not much effort to see anything negative about Vonnegut's world view, however. The contempt for women, the unrelenting and over the top sexism is pretty much ignored. A sympathetic approach is fine, but it is possible for a biographer to be too sympathetic.
December 8, 2011
This is the only time in my life I have ever wished that Kurt Vonnegut wrote fewer books! This "journey through [his] life and novels" should be subtitled "a summary of his novels." There is little/no analysis of any of the novels and what little there is is one passing sentence. "You need to go deeper! Explain your ideas" is what I'd write on my students' papers.
I really do want to re-read Vonnegut's canon. I really didn't want to read someone else's summary of his canon.
I really do want to re-read Vonnegut's canon. I really didn't want to read someone else's summary of his canon.
Read
June 9, 2025How nice it was to visit the life and the novels of Kurt Vonnegut once again
November 30, 2015
I think part of why I didn't enjoy this is that it isn't meant to be read alongside the novels. It's meant to be independent of them. That said, I enjoyed reading the novels a lot more than I enjoyed reading this.
The most uncharitable description is that this is a sequence of 15 book reports (14 novels and Man Without a Country). That's probably not fair, but the thought crossed my mind.
The most uncharitable description is that this is a sequence of 15 book reports (14 novels and Man Without a Country). That's probably not fair, but the thought crossed my mind.
December 18, 2012
You need to have read more than Slaughterhouse-5 to enjoy this book. I tried to like the text, as it was written by a former prof of mine, but I just couldn't get into the writing because I'm not a 60's science fiction writer.
January 24, 2012
Surprisingly dry accounting of a great author. Try "Kurt Vonnegut and the Centrifugal Force of Fate" instead.
November 8, 2024
Gregory Sumner’s “Unstuck in Time’” examines the American dream through a biographical analysis of Kurt Vonnegut’s 14 novels and his final book “A Man Without A country.”
Seventeen years after Vonnegut died in 2007 at the age of 85, his funny, creative and insightful books are still being read, printed in new editions, finding new readers, and proving relevant to a country as confused and in search of answers as America today.
Summer surveys each of the books chronologically through the eyes of Vonnegut’s life, from his struggles to get published past a global explosion of interest in him when he finally wrote his great World War II novel, “Slaughterhouse-Five”, 25 years after being a German prisoner of war in Dresden when the allies bombed the non-military target into oblivion, and to what he wrote afterward about a nation that always seemed to disappoint him.
Despite his great success and nearly 40 years of public adoration, especially among my generation that came of age in the 1960s, Vonnegut’s books reflected his rejection of such traditional American values as unbridled material success, rugged individualism, and “winners" over "losers."
Sumner’s in depth look at Vonnegut’s books celebrate Vonnegut's empathy for those who struggled to find happiness and purpose and his efforts to encourage kindness, community, and friendship with each other
Vonnegut fans will find this level of analysis a very rewarding way to review great novels by one of the undoubtedly best 20th Century authors.
Seventeen years after Vonnegut died in 2007 at the age of 85, his funny, creative and insightful books are still being read, printed in new editions, finding new readers, and proving relevant to a country as confused and in search of answers as America today.
Summer surveys each of the books chronologically through the eyes of Vonnegut’s life, from his struggles to get published past a global explosion of interest in him when he finally wrote his great World War II novel, “Slaughterhouse-Five”, 25 years after being a German prisoner of war in Dresden when the allies bombed the non-military target into oblivion, and to what he wrote afterward about a nation that always seemed to disappoint him.
Despite his great success and nearly 40 years of public adoration, especially among my generation that came of age in the 1960s, Vonnegut’s books reflected his rejection of such traditional American values as unbridled material success, rugged individualism, and “winners" over "losers."
Sumner’s in depth look at Vonnegut’s books celebrate Vonnegut's empathy for those who struggled to find happiness and purpose and his efforts to encourage kindness, community, and friendship with each other
Vonnegut fans will find this level of analysis a very rewarding way to review great novels by one of the undoubtedly best 20th Century authors.
June 30, 2024
A competent guided tour of Kurt Vonnegut’s life and novels, some of which I haven’t read in thirty years and should pay the respect of reading again. I’m thinking mainly of the early sci-fi ish ones: Sirens Of Titan, for example, and some of the mid to late novels like Deadeye Dick.
I’m appreciative of this book but it never broke out of the straitjacket created by chronology, highly ironic given the title of the book.
A thematic expedition would have been bolder and, while riskier, might have been a grand success. I’m reminded though of Vonnegut’s often low opinion of his own works and insistence that much of it ought not to be taken seriously.
I’m appreciative of this book but it never broke out of the straitjacket created by chronology, highly ironic given the title of the book.
A thematic expedition would have been bolder and, while riskier, might have been a grand success. I’m reminded though of Vonnegut’s often low opinion of his own works and insistence that much of it ought not to be taken seriously.
March 27, 2023
Tailor-made for superfans, this sometimes touching and always passionate biography + analysis did something I'd've called impossible, namely made me love Vonnegut even more. Sumner outlines all the work, all the risk, all the heartache that went into the crafting of fourteen deceptively simple-seeming novels.
4 stars if you love Vonnegut, 2 stars if you don't.
4 stars if you love Vonnegut, 2 stars if you don't.
August 19, 2025
A great biography/retrospective of Vonnegut’s novels. Read how he found his voice, find out how he gradually lost hope, thrill as you realize he saw everything happening now coming a mile away.
March 23, 2015
Hello, babies. I recommend this book to every one of you planetary citizens, assuming you're already familiar with some of the works of the late, great Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. If not, get thee to the library and read Slaughterhouse Five now! But don't stop there, because Vonnegut reuses characters and themes throughout his major works.
Maybe I'm biased in favor of Vonnegut because he's from my Midwestern USA home state, or because he uses people and places from his own life in his novels like I do. Still, in this volume, Gregory D. Sumner (another one of our fellow Hoosiers) manages to showcase the brilliance in every one of Vonnegut's 14 novels, written between 1952 and 1997.
Just the novels, though. This book does not get into Vonnegut's memoir Palm Sunday, his other non-fiction works, his collections of short stories or his plays. Still, if you want to get into a thorough discussion of the heart of what Vonnegut will be remembered for, then 'Unstuck in Time' is indispensable.
Maybe I'm biased in favor of Vonnegut because he's from my Midwestern USA home state, or because he uses people and places from his own life in his novels like I do. Still, in this volume, Gregory D. Sumner (another one of our fellow Hoosiers) manages to showcase the brilliance in every one of Vonnegut's 14 novels, written between 1952 and 1997.
Just the novels, though. This book does not get into Vonnegut's memoir Palm Sunday, his other non-fiction works, his collections of short stories or his plays. Still, if you want to get into a thorough discussion of the heart of what Vonnegut will be remembered for, then 'Unstuck in Time' is indispensable.
February 9, 2015
Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorite writers. Two of his novels, Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle, are among my top few all-time favorite books. Gregory Sumner’s fine review of Vonnegut’s life and novels was a treat. It allowed me to revisit the Vonnegut novels I have read, it has nudged me to read the ones I have yet to read, and it helped me to become better acquainted with one of my favorite writers.
April 18, 2015
This is a very well-researched and presented literary exclusion through Vonnegut's life and writing. It was fascinating to see the interconnections between the early works and Vonnegut's life. However, when it got to the books that I had not read—that is, after Breakfast of Champions, I stalled out and it was;t that interesting. So, LIS—Life Is Short.
Read on a Kindle.
Read on a Kindle.
September 18, 2016
This is a decent book that gives some incite into the life of Vonnegut during each of his novels. I like that there is a chapter for each of his novels. It took me a while to read this, because I would read the actual book first and then read the corresponding chapter. The information is pretty good, though the book I don't find all that memorable.
December 24, 2011
A good reading guide to the novels of Kurt Vonnegut. However, if you've read most of his autobiographical works (Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons, Palm Sunday, etc.), don't expect a whole lot of new information about his life.
June 14, 2014
I didn't finish this book as I found the long summaries of Vonnegut's novels to be dull and lacking any critical insights. The introductions and background on the author's life that began each chapter was interesting but not enough so to motivate me to skip though 20 or more pages of dullness.
April 21, 2012
If you haven't read all or most of Vonnegut's novels, this wouldn't be the book for you. If you have, though, I think you would find it excellent.
October 6, 2014
A very good biography and synopsis of Vonnegut and his books.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews