Rating: 
Summary: Warm, Satisfying... but don't expect too much.
Review: The author has always been an intriguing and offbeat writer but to be honest for most of my life I haven't much cared for his writings. That is, until I put down Mr. Vonnegut's novels and tried his short stories. Very few writers can do short stories well, and Vonnegut is superb. This collection is not of his best, but of many older stories that many have not read. Most are excellent, a few are magnificent and only one was a quick death--thank God.Good collection for Vonnegut lovers, but perhaps not worth the hardpack price for others.
Rating: 
Summary: vonnegut in short form
Review: The contents are short stories from mainly the fifties that Vonnegut got published in various magazines of the day. The stories read like typical Vonnegut, though in short format, you can tell Vonnegut focuses more on characters than on plot. I found it enjoyable. My one critique is that many of the stories were very very similar. As if he published one in Cosmo, and they called him and said "we like that! give us more as close to that as possible!"
Rating:
Summary: vonnegut in short form
Review: The contents are short stories from mainly the fifties that Vonnegut got published in various magazines of the day. The stories read like typical Vonnegut, though in short format, you can tell Vonnegut focuses more on characters than on plot. I found it enjoyable. My one critique is that many of the stories were very very similar. As if he published one in Cosmo, and they called him and said "we like that! give us more as close to that as possible!"
Rating: 
Summary: Daughter pleaser, father face-saver
Review: The only KV I've read is "Cat's Cradle" and that was 30 years ago. I noticed that my divine and discerning elder daughter carrying round various Vonnegut volumes so, ..., I snapped it up.
Rating:
Summary: Can the real Kurt step up?
Review: There is a definite reason where the introduction bewares of this being Pre Vonnegutan days. There's the beginning of a master, some twists but that's all. Vonnegut is best known for his quirky, cynical twist on society. If anything in a lot of these stories he supports it. Especially when in "Lovers Anonymous" when he went on about magic markers and report cards, (you have to read it in order to know what I'm talking about.)
Rating:
Summary: Can the real Kurt step up?
Review: There is a definite reason where the introduction bewares of this being Pre Vonnegutan days. There's the beginning of a master, some twists but that's all. Vonnegut is best known for his quirky, cynical twist on society. If anything in a lot of these stories he supports it. Especially when in "Lovers Anonymous" when he went on about magic markers and report cards, (you have to read it in order to know what I'm talking about.)
Rating:
Summary: Power naps of Vonnegut
Review: These short stories, harking back to another age and a near-extinct genre, offer what amounts to fifteen-minute power naps, delivering Vonnegut's refreshing wit and unique perspective in small doses potent enough to be memorable. Though written fifty years ago for popular magazines such as Colliers, Cosmopolitan, and Playboy, many of these stories still hit right on the mark, satirizing and lampooning such sacred American values as spirituality, industry, and consumerism. If you have long been a fan of Vonnegut, I highly recommend this collection. For a first-time reader, some of his earlier, more renowned novels would be recommended before enjoying these little desserts.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining collection of short stories
Review: This book offers an entertaining set of Vonnegut's previously uncollected short stories, most of which were written in the 1950s and early 1960s. While the quality of the tales is not as good as those in his previously published "Welcome to the Monkey House," anybody who is a fan of Vonnegut's work, or even someone who simply likes good stories, will enjoy this book.
Yet like all good fiction, Vonnegut's work is as valuable for its insights as for its ability to entertain. While the stories collected here are in a variety of genres, one theme does emerge from them - the hunger for distinction. From the title story to "The Package", "The Powder-Blue Dragon" to "Runaways," many of the stories are about people seeking something that distinguishes them from the rest of their world, usually somthing that is artificial or external to who they are. That these searches usually end in folly for the characters appears to illustrate Vonnegut's point - it is who we are as people that matters, not the trinkets we buy or the poses we adopt. Though hardly radical today, it is a point that offers an interesting contrast to the consumer-driven age that spawned such tales.
Rating:
Summary: Pure short story Vonnegut, nothing more, nothing less.
Review: This is for readers who still enjoy a good short story, period. This is an outdated medium but persists nonetheless. If you are looking for sci-fi fantesy, you will find little here. If you looking for true Vonnegut humanism and irony, there is more than you bargained for. The author rests his stories on his history...WWII most notably. If you are smart enough to make the transferance you will enjoy the stories. I am savoring each and every one.
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.
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