Sucker's Portfolio A Collection of Previously Unpublished Writing

by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Available to readers for the first time, Sucker’s Portfolio showcases a collection of seven never before published works from Kurt Vonnegut, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Short, sardonic, and dark, these six brief fiction stories and one non-fiction piece are consummate Vonnegut with piercing satire and an eye for life’s obscene inanity. Also available for the first time is an unfinished science-fiction short story, included in the appendix.

These stories trace trivial human lives and mundane desires, which is precisely where Vonnegut’s inimitable perspective as a humanist shines, illuminating his alternating hopeful and dismal outlook, although undoubtedly focusing on the latter. Here as in his greatest novels, Vonnegut’s writing takes us to the darkest corners of the human soul and with wit and humor, manages to remind us of our potential to be something greater.

Episode List
This book was initially released in episodes as a Kindle Serial. All episodes are now available for immediate download as a complete book. Learn more about Kindle Serials

Episode 1: Released on November 20, 2012. 25 pages. A young artist, grieving for his recently deceased wife, becomes obsessed with traveling back in time in an attempt to regain the love of his life and the happiness they once shared.
Episode 2: Released on November 27, 2012. 20 pages. A small town amateur theater group casts a naïve young woman in a role that will transform her performance and her life.
Episode 3: Released on December 4, 2012. 10 pages. A delicate and devastating story of innocence and love at the crossroads of adolescence and maturity.
Episode 4: Released on December 11, 2012. 18 pages. A young man begins to squander his life savings as his investment manager attempts to ward off disaster – both in the man’s finances and in his life.
Episode 5: Released on December 18, 2012. 13 pages. Two men find their lives entangled by the capriciousness of the beauty of women. For one, possible redemption; for the other, destitution.
Episode 6: Released on December 24, 2012. 20 pages. Three couples from very different stages of life find themselves in the same train car from London to Paris and although the couples lead strikingly distinct lives, they share a common bond: marriage. Which marriage will survive three days in the City of Light?
Episode 7: Released on December 31, 2012 (Final Episode). 48 pages. In a non-fiction essay, Vonnegut touches on a range of topics as he ponders life from a lonely cottage on Long Island, New York. Also included in the appendix is an unfinished science-fiction short story.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Classics, Essays, Ebooks

154 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Kurt Vonnegut, Junior was an American novelist, satirist, and most recently, graphic artist. He was recognized as New York State Author for 2001-2003.

He was born in Indianapolis, later the setting for many of his novels. He attended Cornell University from 1941 to 1943, where he wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Vonnegut trained as a chemist and worked as a journalist before joining the U.S. Army and serving in World War II.

After the war, he attended University of Chicago as a graduate student in anthropology and also worked as a police reporter at the City News Bureau of Chicago. He left Chicago to work in Schenectady, New York in public relations for General Electric. He attributed his unadorned writing style to his reporting work.

His experiences as an advance scout in the Battle of the Bulge, and in particular his witnessing of the bombing of Dresden, Germany whilst a prisoner of war, would inform much of his work. This event would also form the core of his most famous work, Slaughterhouse-Five, the book which would make him a millionaire. This acerbic 200-page book is what most people mean when they describe a work as "Vonnegutian" in scope.

Vonnegut was a self-proclaimed humanist and socialist (influenced by the style of Indiana's own Eugene V. Debs) and a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The novelist is known for works blending satire, black comedy and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973)

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

“…the bottomless well of human yearning.”

I am a huge Kurt Vonnegut fan, so a friend bought me “Sucker’s Portfolio” for Christmas. I had not even heard of it. It is an Amazon publication of 6 short stories, 1 essay, and 1 unfinished story of Vonnegut’s that were never published. For what it is, it is okay. Especially if you are already a fan.
The 6 stories are fine. None are brilliant, none are awful. Most are solid.
My favorite selection in the text is the essay, “The Last Tasmanian”, which Vonnegut wrote in 1992. It suffers from the bitterness that enveloped Vonnegut’s late life, but he is not completely bitter yet in 92. In the piece he lambastes his usual targets, but he also acknowledges his own hypocrisy. He attacks those who he thinks are hurting society and the planet, all while acknowledging that he is a part of the problem. In this current age dominated by “wokeness” and moral superiority because of one’s views, being reminded of what intellectual honesty looks like is refreshing.
Ironically, the unfinished story is the one I was most drawn in to, but it literally ends in mid-sentence. Ugh.
If you are a Vonnegut completest then “Sucker’s Portfolio” is a quick and easy read and should be on your “to read” pile.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sucker’s Portfolio is a collection of previously unpublished short fiction and essays by Kurt Vonnegut.

Published in 2012, this compilation features six short stories, an essay, and the beginning draft of a story that ends midway through a scene. Several of the stories have the feel and tone of stories published in Welcome to the Monkey House, his collection of short stories published in 1968.

Those stories were first written in the 50s and 60s, but I am unsure when the stories from Sucker’s Portfolio were written. My favorite story was “Paris, France” which seems to pull together the charm, humor, and devilish powers of observation that Vonnegut used to mastery.

“The Last Tasmanian” a rambling essay about the sins of Western Civilization written in 1992 seems familiar to me, I may have read it in a magazine some time ago, but it served up a healthy portion of Vonnegut’s acerbic wit and political cynicism.

The draft of the story “Robotville and Mr. Caslow” showed promise, using themes similar to those from The Sirens of Titan.

Not his best, but like pizza and sex, less than best is still pretty good. A true fan will smile and laugh and enjoy another visit with our favorite old mid-western curmudgeon.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars for Sucker’s Portfolio: A Collection of Previously Unpublished Short Stories (audiobook) by Kurt Vonnegut read by Luke Daniels.

The stories are interesting but I can see why they weren’t published previously. But it’s fascinating to see what else great minds have worked on so I think it’s worth giving this book a try.

[Bea · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I bloody loved this. Knowing the last story was unfinished physically tugged on my heart, I want to know more!

[Kuszma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Én olyan régen olvastam utoljára Vonnegutot, hogy szerintem akkor még ő sem élt. Akkor viszont szisztematikusan az egész életművet – fan voltam, na*. Az egész a Bálnák ki a partra Kispál-albummal kezdődött, aminek borítóján egy formás kis idézet szerepelt a szerzőtől, én meg abban a stádiumomban még a Hegel-összest is elolvastam volna, ha Lovasi azt ajánlja. Aztán nagynénémék polcán véletlenül rátaláltam A Titán szirénjei-re, és onnantól kezdve nem volt megállás.

Ezt a személyes előhangot főleg azért voltam kénytelen idebiggyeszteni, mert magukról a novellákról nehéz akár rosszat, akár jót mondani. Én a legtöbbről meg nem mondtam volna, hogy Vonnegut írta őket, kivéve Az utolsó tasmán c. tanulmányt, ami igazi Vonnegut-hőbörgés, de a gyengébbek közül való. Nem olyan inspiratív módon csapongó, mint a többi esszéje, hanem csak úgy szimplán. Mondjuk ha nem is jöttem volna rá ránézésre a többi műnél, hogy a Mester keze munkája, azért meg se lepődtem volna ezen – egy kivétel azért itt is van, mégpedig a címadó Éden a folyónál, ami annyira nem Vonnegut, hogy még. Viszont csodás – annyira személyes, annyira érzékeny, igazi mestermunka. De a többi is megjárja. Jólesett.

Ui.: Amúgy meg nem gondolom, hogy megint és megint kiadni mindent, ami csak fellelhető a szerzőtől, sírrablás volna. Vonnegut olyan jelentőségű alak a XX. századi irodalomban, hogy még a dohányos krahácsolásaiból készült válogatás is a kiadók érdeklődésére tarthat számot. Nem is csak önjogán, esztétikai okokból, hanem mert minden új, amit róla megtudunk e kötetekből, fontos adalék egy életúthoz: a munkamódszerekhez, a témák és víziók alakulásához – a Vonnegut-univerzumhoz. Amúgy meg úgyis a vásárló dönt, végső soron. Illetőleg a pénztárcája.

* Amúgy szerintem a szépirodalmat olvasók 67,6%-a** átesik életében a Vonnegut-perióduson. Ami valószínűleg annak tudható be, hogy a szépirodalmat olvasók között felülreprezentált azok aránya, akik szkepszissel tekintenek az emberiségre, és hát Vonnegutnál szebben, bölcsebben kevesen beszélnek a szkepszisről. Ráadásul a Mester elképesztően jól kezeli azt a paradoxont, hogyan lehet egyszerre megvetni az emberiséget, ugyanakkor szeretni magát az embert.
** A Hasraütés Intézet adatai alapján.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 6 fiction stories and 1 non-fiction essay that Amazon published in serial format under its "Amazon Serials" imprint. The appendix includes an unfinished science fiction story. It's complete now, so buying it gets you a finished book. Shorter than Vonnegut's other story collections, but as of this writing it's still $3 for 154 pages, so it's a good deal.

I've rated each story in the section below, but overall I'd say there's enough strong material to be worth the asking price. Two out of eight things I really loved, another four I liked, and just two clunkers.

Stories contained:

Between Timid and Timbuktu - Okay, I guess. It was a fast enough read. It seems clear enough to me why it would make it this long without being published, it's a little rough and not quite fully formed. C-

Rome - Enjoyable story. Vonnegut manages to use concise writing to make each of the characters interesting in a short amount of time. Some good laugh lines. B+

Eden by the River - Shorter than the other two. A very sweet tale about a boy and a girl. A lot of good writing about feelings, and an ending that made me immediately go back to reread the beginning. A

Sucker's Portfolio - The title story of the collection is another good one. Fascinating story told from the perspective of stock portfolio manager, which is not the kind of story you get all of the time. The mystery elements are good, but the ending is a little sloppy. B

Miss Snow, You're Fired - This one's a miss for me. Plot by the numbers, characters that don't get the depth they did in the previous stories, and serious "of-the-time" sexism that just don't add up to something worth your time in 2012. D

Paris, France - An interesting story about three couples of different generations that meet on a train to (and from) Paris. Interesting turns for everyone involved and a very sweet ending. B+

The Last Tasmanian - This non-fiction essay is worth the cost of admission for the entire collection. Vonnegut moves through a series of topics as if he's just writing as it comes into his head, but it is fantastic, smart, and relevant. It's mostly about Native Americans and Germans and Columbus and garbage day. All seen through the prism of Vonnegut's amazing voice. A+

Robotville and Mr. Caslow - I'm torn about this one. I'm extremely happy that I got to read even some of this tale. I'm equally sad, though, because it is such a fantastic story that is cut off literally in the middle of a sentence, at what seems to be the key point in the narrative. The second person doesn't do as much harm as you'd think, and even in the short contents the world-building is so detailed and fascinating. B+

[Adam Floridia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Maybe it's because I haven't read a book in four months.

Maybe it's because it's Vonnegut.

Whatever it is, this is one of those rare times where I really enjoyed a short story collection. I'm now realizing that, annoyingly!, none of these never-before-published stories had a date of composition on them. I only mention this because I guess I just assume they were all early works (I mean, that makes sense since short stories represented KV's first foray into fiction and since literally anything he wrote post Slaughterhouse-Five would have been published). So assuming these are all precursors to Vonnegut's big works, it is just awesome to see nascent ideas that would come to beautifully dominate those big works. In one story, he has the beginning of the Tralfamadorian concept of Time, just without his staple aliens themselves (maybe he hadn't come up with an anagram for "fatal dream" at the time). In another, he predicts his final complete novel, Timequake (a personal favorite!), in that characters prefer to go through life as unthinking robots on autopilot, so to speak. Finally, other stories have characters that are too stock, beginnings that are trying too hard for a "hook," and endings that are just "blah." And for me, those are some of the best; it's like seeing an author develop his craft. The writing may at times be clunky and the BIG ideas are just taking shape, but you just know that it's the kindling that will serve for a brilliant, blazing, beautiful conflagration.

[Hande Kılıçoğlu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yazarın insanın açgözlülüğü ile ilgili yazdığı samimi makalesi ve sona eklenmiş yarım kalan bilimkurgu öyküsü dışında kitaptaki tüm öykülerini vasat buldum açıkçası. Kitabın arka kapağında bu öykülerinin daha önce hiç yayınlanmadığı yazıyor, demek ki bunların bu zamana kadar yayınlamamasının bir sebebi varmış diye düşündüm kitabı bitirdikten sonra.

[Deniz Balcı · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kurt Vonnegut şahsına münhasır bir yazar. Zeki ve canlı bir anlatımı var. Bu kitabında da yedi öykü bir de yarım kalmış bir bilim-kurgu yazınının ilk sayfaları yer alıyor. İçinde dikkat çeken birkaç öykü var ancak öykücülük çizgisinde zamanla silikleşebileceğini düşündüğüm birkaç öykü de var.

Kitabı basan yayınevi Nora Kitap ise yeni bir yayınevi ve çabaları başarılı bir sonuç vermiş. Diğer kitaplarını da ilgiyle edineceğim.

6.5/10

[Serpil Çelebi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arkadaşımın (Kristal Kitap) önerisiyle kitap fuarından aldığım öykü kitabımı büyük bir keyifle okudum ve çok sevdim. Öykü, sevdiğim türler arasında yerini aldı.
İçinde 6 kısa kurgu öykü ve bir kurgu dışı makale bulunuyor. Çok tatlı bir okuma seyriydi.
Benim gibi yeni türler denemek isteyenlerinize tavsiyemdir.

[Guzzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro póstumo de Kurt Vonnegut donde encontramos unos cuantos relatos, un pequeño ensayo y un relato de ciencia ficción incompleto. En general, con un toque irónico y socarrón en todos ellos, aunque, el que más me ha gustado ha sido el ensayo que hoy por hoy sigue estando de actualidad.

Recomendable.

[Venkat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book primarily contains short stories by Kurt Vonnegut, including an unfinished sci-fi one. They were pretty good - they are short, sweet, rich reads - but not as impactful as his novels that I've read, which is more a limitation of the format than any fault of the writing. It is still worth a read in my opinion.

The part of the book that I enjoyed the most is the essay written by Vonnegut himself in 1992 (the 500th anniversary of the finding of the West Indies by Columbus) that talks about history and the human condition, where in the process he covers almost every problem that humanity faces today.

"We are incorrigibly the nastiest of all animals, as our history attests, and that is that," is a quote from the essay, and that gives an idea as to what the tone of the essay is like.

[Beste Bal · Rating 4 out of 5]

7 öykü, şaşırtıcı kurgu, sade anlatı.
Türkçe baskısı da çok yakında!
Benden söylemesi :)

[Tobias Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hvad der til forveksling kunne ligne en asterisk på forsideillustrationen af denne Vonnegut-novellesamling, er ikke en asterisk. Det er et røvhul. Og i dette tilfælde kan du få lov at trutte i det, når du har læst bogen.

Og ja, det er rent faktisk et numsehulshul. Vonnegut har selv tegnet det og benævnt det som sådan i hans med længder bedre roman Breakfast of Champions.

Sucker’s Portfolio er simpelthen bare de absolut sidste rester af noveller fra Vonnegut’s forfatterskab, der ikke var blevet gennet sammen og genudgivet endnu. Det er lidt ligesom kun at måtte lave mad med de grøntsager, der har ligget og soppet i den gruopvækkende væske, der har samlet sig i bunden af dit køleskab.

Det bliver teknisk set et måltid.

Ligesom det her teknisk set er en novellesamling. Men også kun lige. Den sidste novelle er ikke engang bagt færdig, den stopper midt i en sætning – og det er måske endda stadig samlingens bedste historie, for den bibeholder i det mindste sit potentiale. Resten af novellerne præsterer cirka ligeså godt som Raygun gjorde til OL i Breaking.

Ny litterær regel: Lad vær at læse bøger, der har en bar røv du ka’ trutte i på forsiden.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

People say you can't learn anything from social media, but I have learned from Goodreads about normal behavior, which otherwise exists in my life mostly as a rumor. Specifically, I have learned that many people read more than one book at a time, apparently remembering each of them individually. This strikes me as an intellectual feat on a par with Mr. Memory in “The 39 Steps”, who amazed music hall audiences by recalling random facts, such as the distance between Winnipeg and Montreal, on demand.

I possess barely enough gray matter remaining in the old coconut to retain the ongoing action in a single book. This is possibly a result of repeated exposures to the delightful chemical concoctions of the Jameson family of County Cork, or maybe it's just the run-of-the-mill ravages of time. Whatever the reason, I rarely assay a new book unless finished with the old one.

However, it is my strange and not-unpleasant fate in life to be periodically served up with blocks of time of happy isolation in remote lands, freed from both the seemingly unbreakable din of popular culture (e.g., the latest brayings of those who hope to grab political power) as well as the tyrannical necessities of fashion (e.g., having to wash one's own clothes). In these happy moments, I am able to seize upon one of the many great doorstops of Western literature and plow through it, secure in the knowledge that, if any of the oxen I see daily get obstreperous, I possess the means to render the beast non compos mentis.

But there are inevitably times when one cannot practically carry a volume such as the one I am working on now, whose main text is 980 pages, many of them without so much as a new-paragraph indentation, followed by 100+ pages of 8-point digressive footnotes that would have Natty Bumppo reaching for the Visine. At these moments, it is fine to have a book like “Sucker's Portfolio” (you see now? I actually am going to get to the point – someday) on hand, waiting patiently on the tiny e-gadget of choice in your pocket to be produced in hotel bars and airport waiting-areas to spare you the horrifying possibility of conversation with others. Since the contents of “Sucker's Portfolio” are largely (not entirely) short fiction, it can be picked up and abandoned at will. The contents of the stories are by far from the author's best, which is probably the reason none of them saw the light of day until the literary executors determined it was time to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip.

I don't mind reading minor works by well-known writers for many reasons, among them: it's reassuring knowing that even the well-regarded had off days, it's interesting to compare the best work by a writer with less-than-best (what works? what doesn't? why?), sometimes a writer reveals more in failure than success. Also, the lightweight nature of the book and its contents allow you to quickly return and (incoming mixed metaphor) plow the needed furrows in whatever literary doorstop has currently caught your fancy.

I enjoy reading the opinions of others here at Goodreads. Just as I sometimes do in many areas of endeavor in real life, I find the judgment of other readers inexplicable. In this case, I felt that the long non-fiction piece “The Last Tazmanian” was by far the weakest piece on the book, although many others stopped to praise it in these electronic pages. In my opinion, this essay is the sort of prolonged old-codger get-off-of-my-lawn cane-on-the-floor-banging that well-regarded writers tend to indulge in when they are well after their prime and the world continues to spin off on its disastrous course with supreme indifference to the distinguished career of the writer. It's actually an embarrassment to read even if (especially if) you agree with the opinions expressed therein about Christopher Columbus, the sad fate of indigenous peoples, the pernicious effect of television, and other topics. I can imagine Vonnegut looking at this essay and saying “What a mess! I'll put this in the bottom drawer and see if I can improve it in a few months”, but never quite getting back to it.

It's a shame that there isn't any more information in the book or (as far as I can tell) online about when the fiction might have been written – the reader is left to guess by piecing together clues from the make of cars and type of telephones, for example, the characters are using. It's my guess that most of the stories (including the unfinished fragment at the end) came from the pen of a much younger writer. They are more cheerful, vigorous, and straightforward than the cranky 1992 essay. Some readers here complained that they are “dated”, which I think might be some sort of codeword I have not noticed previously for views (in Vonnegut's case, about women) OK at the time but now considered unsuitable (the views, not the women). Since I was not expecting a model of enlightened thought, I guess it didn't bother me much, but then again it might have had I been a member of the group being represented in a manner which might charitably be called “unflattering”, but also could be accurately called “insulting”.

I got this ebook for $1.99 as a Kindle Daily Deal, and I have noticed that on Amazon.com, as elsewhere in life, what goes around comes around, meaning, if you are willing to check back nearly every day like a little lambkin, it may return to Daily-Deal-dom and you might be able to pick it up cheap, too. If, like me, you are a practicing cheapstake, it is worth the effort.

[António Matos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Para o que é (uma colectânea de escritos nunca publicados do Vonnegut), é bastante bom: cerca de metade dos contos (e um artigo de não ficção) aqui são adições perfeitamente aceitáveis, ou até boas, à bibliografia do autor. Gostei particularmente da história titular, da "Rome" e da "Paris, France", assim como da peça de não ficção, "The Last Tasmanian".
Mas, no final de contas, o livro é o que é: as últimas criações vonnegutianas que faltava editar, e, portanto, já não se pode dizer que seja o melhor do espólio do autor. Vale a pena para fãs, mas não me parece que alguém que não conheça e aprecie o autor vá ficar com uma impressão particularmente fidedigna dele via este livro.

[Guillermo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seis cuentos que dejan mucho que desear y parecen obra de un principiante y que parecen también antiguos. Una nota con motivo de los 500 años pasados desde 1492 más al estilo del Vonnegut consagrado. Un cuento que se interrumpe. La traducción es al español peninsular en modo coloquial y no aporta nada bueno.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice collection of unpublished short stories, some of which pack quite an emotional punch. The penultimate entry is Vonnegut going on about his pessimistic and cynical world view, with the US taking the brunt of his criticism, but even this has some grumpy-old-man charm.

The last entry, an appended short story that Vonnegut apparently left unfinished has an intriguing premise but isn’t developed enough to see where he was going with it.

All in all, very well worth the short time it takes to read the book.

[Brendan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This "book" is actually a collection of assorted Vonnegut writings: 6 short stories, a long commentary essay and a fragment of a science fiction story (it literally ends in mid-sentence). The stories are average. Many of them have "twist" endings that are not surprising because the misdirection before the twist is so obvious. The most interesting parts of the stories are the elements that show up in other Vonnegut writings. The Indiana Hoosiers from Cat's Cradle make an appearance and there are themes and sci-fi aspects that reminded me of Slaughterhouse Five in other stories. Those are the only Vonnegut books I have read, so I am guessing the similar elements are far more apparent to those who have read more of his work.

[Adrián Ciutat · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful

[Preeti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read much Kurt Vonnegut yet, though I'm trying to rectify that. So far, I've just read Slaughterhouse-Five, though I have a bunch more of his books on the (endless) to-read list. This particular book was free to borrow on the Kindle, and who doesn't love free!

This was an interesting collection of stories. I liked most of them and thought one or two were duds, but overall they didn't blow me away.

However, the final non-fiction essay - that blew me away. It was absolutely brilliant and made me want to read more of his rants. (Do these exist?) I found myself nodding and highlighting passage after passage. I think the book is worth it for this essay alone.

I would have rated this 3 stars, but bumped up to 4 just for this essay.

Completely forgot to mention the unfinished scifi story at the end - there was definitely some great build-up and I wish we had gotten to read the entire thing!

Bunch of my favorite highlights (all from the non-fiction essay):

We like to pretend that so many important discoveries have been made on a certain day, unexpectedly, by one person rather than by a system seeking such knowledge, I think, because we hope that life is like a lottery, where simply anyone can come up with a winning ticket. Paul of Tarsus, after all, became the leading theologian of Christianity in a flash, while on the road to Damascus, didn’t he? Newton, after being hit on the head by an apple, was able to formulate a law of gravity, wasn’t he? Darwin, while idly watching finches during a brief stopover on the Galápagos Islands during a voyage around the world, suddenly came up with a theory of evolution, didn’t he? Who knows? Tomorrow morning, some absolute nobody, maybe you or I, might fall into an open manhole, and return to street level with a concussion and a cancer cure.

Our friend Kirkpatrick concludes in his book that Europeans came ashore “in what they dimly realized was the land of Paradise…but all they ever found was half a world of nature’s treasures and nature’s people that could be taken, and they took them, never knowing, never learning the true regenerative power there, and that opportunity was lost. Theirs was indeed a conquest of Paradise, but as is inevitable with any war against the world of nature, those who win will have lost — once again lost, and this time perhaps forever.”

“Behind every great fortune lies a great crime,” said Balzac, alluding to European aristocrats who imagined themselves to be descended from anything other than sociopaths. Count Dracula comes to mind. Yes, and the coinage of every Western Hemisphere nation might well be stamped with Balzac’s words, to remind even the most recent arrivals here from the other half of the planet, perhaps Vietnamese, that they are legatees of maniacs like Columbus, who slit the noses of Indians, poked out their eyes, cut off their ears, burned them alive, and so on.

Another native German Heinrich, Heinrich Böll, a great writer, and I became friends even though we had once been corporals in opposing armies. I asked him once what he believed to be the basic flaw in the character of Germans, and he replied “obedience.” When I consider the ghastly orders obeyed by underlings of Columbus, or of Aztec priests supervising human sacrifices, or of senile Chinese bureaucrats wishing to silence unarmed, peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square only three years ago as I write, I have to wonder if obedience isn’t the basic flaw in most of humankind.

When I was in Sicily, accepting a prize for my book Galápagos, which argued that human beings were such terrible animals because their brains were too big, everyone was suddenly talking about a story that had just appeared in the papers and on TV. It said that American troops with bulldozers had buried alive thousands of Iraqi soldiers in tunnels where they were hiding from our shells and bombs and rockets. I answered without hesitation that American soldiers could not be found who would do a thing that heartless. Wrong again.

So the wake of North American TV is something like the wake of a bulldozer, in which everything has been made nice and neat, dead level and lifeless and featureless. But a better analogue of TV’s wake in the space-time continuum is a black hole into which even the greatest crimes and stupidities, and indeed whole continents, if need be, can be made to disappear from our consciousness.

Let us give poor old Columbus a rest. He was a human being of his times, and aren’t we all? We are all so often bad news for somebody else.

But TV is making the weapons disappear by having us look elsewhere.

Back then, I still believed, as I do not believe nowadays, that the human condition was improving despite such heavy casualties. We are incorrigibly the nastiest of all animals, as our history attests, and that is that.

[Gavin Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm... There's not much to this. Certainly nothing that would ever have seen publication during Vonnegut's lifetime. The short stories are pretty rough, throwaway things that cover themes better written in other works. The non-fiction piece The Last Tasmanian is an interesting read with a lot packed into its stream of consciousness prose but it is difficult to see where it belongs or, really, what it's about. Really, the most interesting thing about this collection is the insight it gives into how a Vonnegut story takes shape. It's a little like looking at an artist's sketchbook. I could honestly only recommend it to Vonnegut completists.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first taste of Vonnegut. I am feeling Luke-warm about this. I didn't have strong opinions really. Sort of good. Sort of meh. Wouldn't avoid books by Vonnegut in the future - but I also would not seek them out. Yeah. Just kind of meh.

[Zeynep Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

"'Dr. Boyle'un ofisi.' Hemşirenin sesiydi. Kadın ses tonuyla, arayan her kimse ve konuşacağı konu her neyse, son derece önemli bir kuruluştan basit bir şey isteniyormuş etkisini yaratabiliyordu." 24

"'Yapamam Sally Hanım, hele ki seyircilerin karşısında.'
'Şey,' dedi Sally.
'Babam insan içinde öpüşmenin hayattaki en iğrenç şey olduğunu söylüyor.' Bunu diyen babası, komşularını ve ülkesini altı milyon dolar dolandırmakla suçlanıyordu." 35

"Yirimi yıl kadar önce sistemimizdeki ayların, asteroidlerin ve diğer gezegenlerin yaşama uygun olmadığından ve üzerinde yaşadığımız gezegeni viran edersek gidebileceğimiz yedek gezegenler varmış gibi davranmayı bırakmamızın akıllıca olacağından bahseden bir makale yazmıştım ve New York Times tarasından yayımlanmıştı. Okuyuculardan mektup yağdı; mektupların çoğunda Kristof Kolomb'a evinde otur diyecek türden biri olduğum yazıyordu. Anlayabildiğim kadarıyla, Kolomb olmazsa biz Avrupalıların Batı Yarıküre hakkında bilgimiz olmayacağına, General Motors'un yetmiş bin işçiyi işten çıkarmayacağına, Los Angeles'ın suyunun bitmeyeceğine, bir lise öğretmenini yörüngeye yerleştirelim derken öldürmeyeceğimize vesaire yürekten inanıyorlardı." 110

"Pek çok keşif belirli bir günde, ansızın, bu bilgiyi arayan sistem tarafından değil de bir kişi tarafından yapılmış gibi davranmak hoşumuza gidiyor. Bana kalırsa bunun sebebi hayatın, herkesin kazanan biletle karşılaşabileceği bir çekiliş olduğunu ummamız. Nihayetinde Tarsuslu Pavlus, Şam yolundayken bir anda öncü Hıristiyan teolojisi uzmanı olmamış mıydı? Newton kafasına elma düşer düşmez yerçekimi kanununu formüle etmeyi başarmamış mıydı? Darwin dünyayı gezdiği bir yolculuk sırasında Galapagos Adaları'nda verdiği kısa bir molada tembel tembel ispinozları izlerken buldu evrim teorisini, değil mi? Kim bilir? Belki yarın sabah, hiçbir önem teşkil etmeyen bir şahıs, belki siz veya ben, rögardan içeri düşer ve sokak seviyesine bir cebimizde beyin sarsıntısı, diğerindeyse kansere çareyle döneriz.
Belch anlık keşiflere öyle tutkunuzdur ki şunu didaktik olarak belirtmem gerekiyordur: Aziz Pavlus, Newton ve Darwin, tıpkı Kolomb gibi, nihayet çözdükleri (veya çözdüklerini sandıkları) bulmacayı uzun süre incelediler ve bu çözüm arayışı sırasında kendileri gibi kafası çalışan insanlarla beraberdiler." 112

"... Benim her hafta ürettiğim çöp, davamı doğrulamaya yeter. Long Island'ın ucunda bulunan, Kızılderili dilinde bir ad taşıyan köyden her salı sabahı toplanıyor. Nereye götürüyorlar, bilmiyorum. Televizyonda iki gün önce önemliymiş gibi gösterilen şeylercesine bir anda basitçe kayboluyor. Her hafta üç kova çöpe iznim var. Daha fazla üretirsem daha fazlasını kendim atmam gerekiyor ve zaten üç kova çöp üretmişim. Ne yapmalı? Yarın sabah alacağım New York Times pazar gazetesi dördüncü kovayı kendi başına dolduracak kadar kalın." 113

"'Her büyük hazinenin ardında büyük suç yatar,' demiş Balzac, kendilerinin sosyopatlardan başka şeylerin çocukları olduklarını hayal eden Avrupalı aristokratlara gönderme yaparak. İnsanın aklına Kont Drakula geliveriyor. Ayrıca tüm Batı Yarıküre uluslarının paralarının üzerine Balzac'ın sözleri basılmalı ki diğer yarıküreden buraya göçenler, mesel Vietnamlılar, unutmasınlar: Bu insanlar Kızılderililerin burunlarını kesen, gözlerini çıkaran, kulaklarını koparan ve onları canlı canlı yakan Kolomb gibi manyakların torunları." 114

"Adolf Htiler'in Yahudileri, Slavları, homoseksüelleri, Yehova Şahitlerini, Çingeneleri ve daha bir çok insanı endürtriyel sayılarla öldürmekle görevlendirdiği Alman tavuk yetiştiricisi Heinrick Himmler bir keresinde, günler boyunca işkence eden ve insanları öldüren astlarına, onları insani hislerini, çoğunluğun iyiliğini sağlama yolunda kurban ettikleri için öven, dokunaklı bir konuşma yaptı." 115

"Bir diğer Alman yerlisi, büyük yazar Heinrich Böll ve ben bir zamanlar karşı karşıya gelen ordularda savaşmamıza rağmen dost olduk. Ona Almanların en temel karakter bozukluğunun ne olduğunu düşündüğünü sormuştum, bana itaat olduğunu söyledi. Kolomb'un astlarının, insan kurban eden Aztek rahiplerinin, bu satırları yazmamdan sadece üç sene önce Tiananmen Meydanı'ndaki silahsız, barışçıl protestocuları susturmak isteyen bunak Çinli bürokratların itaat ettikleri emirleri anımsadıkça, pek çok insanın en temel bozukluğunun itaat olmayabileceğini düşünmeden edemiyorum." 115

"Kirkpatrick Sale, toprağın verimi artsın diye Hristiyan putlarını toprağa gömen Taino Yerlilerinden bahseder. Yerliler dini onurlandıran bir şey yaptıysa da Kolomb'un kardeşi, Bartolome Yerlilerini canlı canlı yaktırdı. Birkaç kere İspanyollar, İsa ile on ili havarisini onurlandırmak adına ayakları yere güçbela basacak şekilde on üç Yerliyi bir anda astılar. Ayrıca önce onu öldürmeyi planlayan adamları et çengellerinden piyano teliyle sarkıtmıştı; onların da ayakları yere zar zor değiyordu. Adamların ölürkenki titreyişlerini profesyonel kamera ekibine kaydettirmişti." 119

"...yani Claude (kedim) üzerinde deney yapacak dünyalar kadar vaktim var. Birkaç araç lazım; Claude'un da kedilik gururu geçici olarak kırılacak. Fakat kendimizden düşük rütbeli hayvanlar üzerinde deney yapmasak dünya şimdikinden kötü bir yer olurdu. Hem Claude da yakaladığı farelere öldürmeden evvel işkence ediyor. tıpkı Kristof Kolomb gibi, gerçek mutluluk nedir bilmiyor." 121

"Tüm felaketlere rağmen milyonlarca insan, yani bizleri hala iyi durumdayız." 132

"Ne Almanya'da seksen ayı ne de Mozambik'te seksen fil kalmış; daha bu sabah radyoda dinledim. Tüm çocukları da uygun yaşa erince araba isteyecekler, üreyecekler. Tüm tarihte köle ayaklanmasının başarıya ulaştığı tek yer olan Haiti'de, bir şefgarson bana yirmi dokuz çocuğu olduğunu söyleyerek övünmüştü. 'Spermim çok kuvvetlidir.' demişti. Şimdi de Long Island'ın kıyılarına endüstriyel sayılarda balina cesedi vuruyor. Arada bir bağlantı olabilir. Diğer yandan, geçen salı çöp kovalarıma attığım boya sökücü ve böcek ilacı da olabilir bunun suçlusu." 135

[Darci Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my fav Vonnegut collection but did enjoy the story “Rome”.

[Agris Fakingsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

..vakar iesāku klausīties, kaut prāts klejoja citur. dažiem stāstiem nedzirdēju vidu vai beigas. bet šodien gan stāstos biju ar visu sirdi un ausīm. visvairāk patīk tie, kur Kurts ir viņš pats. kaut vai kāds cits, bet tomēr pats.

[Derya Ekin · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5'dan 3 verdim. Aman aman öyküler değildi bence. En çok "zam ile zamane arasında"yı beğendim

[Sophie Ferry · Rating 4 out of 5]

He’s like the grumpy old grampa I never had, man.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Vonnegut fan

really appreciates collections like this (and the recent documentary, too…) Generally high quality miscellany- at its current one dollar price, better still :)