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Summary: Monkeys are gggrrrreat!!!!!
Review: Truthfully, Kurt Vonnegut scares me. This awesome collection of his shorter works definitely captures his warped imagination in all of its glory. The topics of this collection range from religion to birth control to government censorship. From the first story to the last, it is very hard to put down. He{Vonnegut} has an odd way of describing things. In the title story, there are many situations that require a sense of humor. I don't want to give away too much, though. I acn't say enough good things about this book.
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Summary: Turned me on During Freshman Comp
Review: We had to read the short story Harrison Bergeron, one of the stories in this collection. This was the first "meaningful" short story I ever remember reading. Symbols & metaphors came alive--I concluded (and I remember this over 20 years later) that "society always crucifies its messiahs." I couldn't leave it alone after that. I hunted down my own copy of Welcome to the Monkey House. If you're not ready to tackle one of Vonnegut's novels, take a shot at this collection of stories. Each one is a gem, faceted to challenge the spectrum of your thoughts. Not a book I recommend to "staid" folks, unless I want to see them shaken.
Rating: 
Summary: Not that great compared to his other books.
Review: Don't get me wrong, there are moments of brilliance in this book. The story about the human chess match comes to mind, but many of the stories are conventional and sappy. None of the biting dark humour that you find in his better works like Cat's Cradle and the Sirens of Titan. Still, it's better than a lot of books, but all in all I was very disapointed. ...
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Summary: Some sci-fi, some character study, but all Vonnegut
Review: Unlike his later novels ("Slaughterhouse-Five", "Bluebeard", "Jailbird"), where he utilized a biting economical style, the short stories in this collection are comprised of a more standard prose. That being said, they are still Kurt Vonnegut stories, and thus offer a mixture of radical sci-fi ideas and character creation that goes down just as easily in smaller chunks as it does in the longer novel form. The stories here that made his reputation as a sci-fi writer (a reputation that doesn't come close to covering his oeuvre) are startling in their originality and awe-inspiring in their execution. 'Harrison Bergeron' is a quick drawing of a "utopian" society, where the strong and smart wear handicaps to level the playing field. Vonnegut manages to create a unique world, and then destroy it, while saying much about our world. I'm sure anyone who has seen the film version of this story wonders why they tried to stretch it out to an hour and a half, when all was already said in those seven pages. The title story is another futuristic utopia, where overpopulation has created the need for voluntary suicide clinics and a complete repression of sexual desire. It's a society ripe for rebellion, and that's just what it gets. 'Unready to Wear' follows a society in which those who have learned to transcend their physical bodies are at odds with those who haven't. None of these tales follows any long, drawn out narrative. They all tend to make their point, quickly, and move on with other business. Vonnegut never gets lost in his creations, or bogged down in trying to make them sound credible. He has an incredible knack for simplicity within complex ideas. There are other stories here besides the sci-fi tales. My favourite is 'Miss Temptation', which shows us a small town, mesmerized by the daily walk up Main Street of a hermit-like woman of startling beauty. The twist near the end is heartbreaking, and manages to not only indict the characters in the story for their objectification, it indicts the reader as well. 'More Stately Mansions' is a tale of modern suburbia, which says something about one woman's obsession with decorating, as well as all of our obsessions with 'looking the part'. 'All the King's Horses' is loaded with dramatic tension, as an American Army Colonel, captured by a Communist guerrilla chief during the Vietnam war, is forced to play chess using his battalion and his family as pieces. Any captured pieces are executed. Besides the tension of the game, Vonnegut manages to slip in some criticism of xenophobia. These stories are just a few of my favourites. The book is filled with wonderful pieces, each of equal strength, all showcasing Vonnegut's early-career skills as a writer.
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Summary: Terrific collection of works.
Review: This book opened something in me that I wish more would: the desire to write. While reading Vonnegut's varied works, I felt myself itching to grab the wp and start writing--anything! Perhaps his imaginative stories or the fact that each one was so different from the other brought this on. Whatever the reason, the book exposed a deep mental level that few others even scratch. If you want stimulating enjoyment, buy it.
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Summary: Great collection of short stories by the Master
Review: Terrific reading material for a raining afternoon. Among my favorite short stories wereTom Edison's Shaggy Dog, The Euphio Question, Deer in the Works (which must have been an obvious influence on Terry Gilliams Brazil and a satire of big business and mindless capitalism) and Unready to Wear.
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Summary: just great.
Review: I honestly can say that literature like this can go along way in re-affirming your faith in the human race. For all the horrible stories in life we hear about horrible people doing horrible things; to know that there are human beings within our midst who are capable of presenting words on a page in a manner in which Kurt did here, it just makes you forget about all that other stuff.
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Summary: Cool and Unusual
Review: This is the coolest book of short stories that i have ever read, and i have read a lot. Certain stories, especially the foster portfolio and harrison bergeron.
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Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This book was excellent, it was a Kaleidoscopeof different imaginative stories, and was not boring for one second. I would recomend this book to anyone who does not know how much fun it can be to read.
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Summary: Range of Stories from Sci Fi to Intimate Family Drama
Review: From the wonderous humanity of EPICAC, the computer who loved a girl, to the simply yet imaginatively told story of "Thomas Edison's Shaggy Dog", to the black American soldier's relationship with a certain displaced person ("D.P.") to the title story's grim view of the future population (see also "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", the last story in the collection), Vonnegut surprises with his humor, and then delivers a knockout punch with his pathos. *SPOILER* The story about the boy who cannot tell his parents that he didn't get in the School, and "The Kid Noone Could Handle" *END* Is the "fifty-year man" the real "Deer in the Woods"? One of my favorite stories has always been "More Stately Mansions" about the woman who yearns for a more perfect abode as collected and clipped from many home decorating magazines. The realism of his stories is kind of spooky sometimes. His prose writing is amazing--a master of the quick turn of phrase, the one-sentence description that reads like a book, the presence behind the prose somehow is able to make complex, profound ideas more simple, and vice versa. I first read this volume in 1974 on airplanes and while traveling to Africa at the age of 12. Some of it escaped me then, but by now I think I get it. And I recommend it highly!
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