Bagombo Snuff Box : Uncollected Short Fiction

Rating:
Summary: Vonnegut pushes over the moving picture box, again
Review: This is true Vonnegut satire and wit at its best. The only question there can be is why these stories haven't been published in a collection before.

Rating:
Summary: Angels protect the innocent as a matter of Heavenly routine.
Review: Title of this review is a quote from Mr. Vonnegut in this book. The ONLY reason I stopped at 4 stars is that any author who writes with this much skill at the start of his career, must become better and better as his skills mature, and his experience increases. This is the first time I have read Mr. Vonnegut's work, and this collection of short stories has made me a fan that looks forward to the Author's work as it developed. Before you even reach the first story, Mr. Vonnegut provides a biography which is worth the cost of the book if you place a high value on humor, and regardless of whether you agree, social commentary wrapped in a wickedly subtle, and occasionally not so subtle manner. His definition of reading is the best I have ever read, and his description of his time as a salesman for Saab is priceless. Developing so much interest for a reader in the span of a short story is a remarkable feat for any author. Mr. Vonnegut together with John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and William Faulkner, to name a few literary masters, brought these stories to life when magazines ruled and TV was a nightmare (for the most part) yet to come. Together with artistic legends like Norman Rockwell and N.C. Wyeth, these stories were entertainment for much of America. In spite of all the advances in communications, picking up a book with talent like this, will always endure. Thanks Mr. Vonnegut!

Rating:
Summary: Too good to be true
Review: What a disappointment. KV must need money; it's the only reason I can see for dragging out this last load of early fluff. It's not hard to understand why these stories were uncollected up to now. They are all pre-enlightenment Vonnegut and, if you're a fan of his unique view of the cosmos as expressed in his deep and witty novels, you're in for a letdown. These stories are a chore to read---some don't even have endings; they just stop, a bit like KV's writing career. I heard him tell an interviewer that he's run out of things to say. Sad, but so it goes.