Rating: 
Summary: Never Out of Date
Review: Eliot Rosewater is a fat and mediocre minded do-gooder. What makes him extraordinary is that he has the means, through the Rosewater foundation, to dole out money to anyone who requests a bit. In his home town of Rosewater, Indiana, where he has returned like the prodigal mad citizen, he ignores society, purchases an enormous fire alarm, bankrolls the fire company and personally answers 24 hour calls over two telephones- one for assistance and the other for fire emergencies. He has different composures, voices and rules for each. The cranks who phone him for money are old drunken, ugly spinsters, none too clean or honorable town 'handymen,' and his father, the famous Senator Rosewater; whom seeing his son, shrieks at God, for having handed him this vale of tears. Elliott drinks too much, cannot father an heir and has driven his otherwise loving wife to a arsonist's breakdown. She torched the Fire Company.Eliott has no grand plan of philanthropy, not even a cause, unless the volunteer firemen and their work count. He has a quasi Buddhist detachment from hatred as well as wealth and status. Plenty of people, especially the evil Norman Mushari, are out to filch his millions and crucify his reputation in the meantime.
The book examines the Rosewater mutation whereby every couple of generations, a male is born with no aspiration. No desire to scratch and claw or otherwise greedily grasp power from others. Vonnegut's thematic puncturing of capitalism, European fatuousness and the nature of success and failure is showcased with the also unseemly nature of the non-wealthy and unsuccessful. Mushari goes face to face with the God of most of Vonnegut's cosmology- Kilgore Trout, science fiction writer. The book is part of the canon of this icon of an author and as such, I recommend it highly to one and all. The time when I first read it, was a time when I still found drunks a riot and even the smallest attack upon the status quo enormously satisfying. We are no longer that naive and yet the lessons and the funniness of just about everything can never be dated.
Rating: 
Summary: My Favorite Book of All Time
Review: I can understand why a lot of people might not like this book. It is a complete thrashing of the American system of Free Enterprise, so if you buy into social Darwinism (Republican?), you may find this book offensive. I am reading this book for the fifth time and I can tell you that it is the best book I've ever read. Rosewater is my favorite character Vonnegut has created. If you are open minded enough, this book could have quite an impact on the way you want to live your life. Due to our current political situation here in the US, there has never been a better time to read this book. Buy it and read it immediately. You won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Underrated
Review: There was something in Vonnegut's first rush of books that is lacking in his later novels. Although I enjoy his later books and for the life of me I can't say what this mystery quality is, whatever it is it tends to elevate even his minor books into affairs that are far more memorable than they tend to be. Maybe because the themes and images he's using here were new to him and he was still comparitively young . . . I don't know. It's not for me to say. This novel has a simple premise and a simple plot and moves unsurprisingly from point A to point B and yet I still have an incredibly enjoyable experience reading it, even though I finished it basically on my lunch break over the course of maybe an hour and a half. The premise then is that Eliot Rosewater has a lot of love to give to the world and spends most of his time doing very nice things for people who are almost pathetic enough to not deserve it, simply because he was born rich and feels he has a lot to give to the world. A lawyer, meanwhile wishes to prove that he is insane and has it in him to make quite the case. The book basically waffles back and forth between the lives of the various people Eliot helps, the comically depressing lives of some of these people, a little Rosewater family history and the lawyer's attempt to gather information on Eliot's apparent insanity. All of these pieces don't cohere into the great whole that his absolute best books (like Slaughterhouse-Five) do, but the pieces themselves are great fun and Vonnegut's humanity has never been as apparent here. It doesn't have the grim central event like the bombing of Dresden to put everything in context but somehow he manages to make the book moving and hilarious at the same time. The plot of course is slight and it's a fairly direct book, though the ending is about as abrupt as can be (and is mentioned in a later Vonnegut book I think, fortunately I forgot about it). This won't ever be regarded as one of his classics but even a minor work by an author working at his peak is worth another look and while the rewards here may not be as grand, they're simple and pleasant in their own small way.
Rating:
Summary: short and to the...well...not the point...but something
Review: vonnegut is addictive
his choice little phrases, and witty little quips, make well worth, reading a book which is not to par with his others.
it is not that this is a bad book, for by no means is it. it is written in his typical manner, running little plot fragments back and forth, and casually waxing on about mild side threads...which i personally find to be one of my favourite things about his writing, the attention to details, however trivial they may seem.
kilgore trout features into this book a little bit, and samples of his writings are present as well
fun fun stuff but, read other vonnegut before taking this one on.
Rating:
Summary: Not his best work
Review: This isn't one of Vonnegut's best, but like every other Vonnegut book I have read, it is extremely entertaining and fun to read. If you haven't read Vonnegut before you would do well to start with one of his better books and then come back to this one if you like his style.
Rating: 
Summary: Not one of Vonnegut's best, but a good book.
Review: GOD BLESS YOU MR.ROSEWATER was a fun book to read but it went nowhere! Until I got to the last page, I was waiting for something exciting to happen but that excitement never came. The story is of Eliot Rosewater who is the president of the enormously rich Rosewater Foundation. Eliot gives money to anyone who asks and gives everyone his kindness and love. But Norman Mushari, a nasty lawyer, is out to prove that Eliot is insane and the family foundation should be given to a distant cousin. This book was published in 1965 and was one of Vonnegut's first 5 books. This is a good book but definitely not one of the esteemed writer's best. This book is a fun quick read and I would recommend reading it. But for anyone under the age of 15, it would bore the hell out of them.
Rating:
Summary: Not one of Vonnegut's best, but a good book.
Review: GOD BLESS YOU MR. ROSEWATER was a fun book to read bit it went nowhere! Until I got to the last I was waiting for something exciting to happen, but that excitement never came.
The story is of Eliot Rosewater who is the president of the enormously rich Rosewater Foundation. Eliot gives money to anyone who asks and gives everyone his kindness and love. But Norman Mushari, a nasty lawer, is out to prove that Eliot is insane and the family foundation should be givin to a distant cousin.
This book was published in 1965 and was one of Kurt Vonnegut's first 5 books. This is a good book but definately not one of the esteemed writers best.
This book is a fun quick read, and I would recommend reading it, but anyone under the age of 15 it would bore the hell out of them.
Rating:
Summary: not one of vonneguts best
Review: God bless you Mr. Rosewater was a fun book to read but it went NOWHERE! Until I got to the last page I was waiting for something exiting to happen, but that exitement just never came. The story is of Eliot Rosewater who is the president of the enormanosly rich Rosewater foundation. Eliot gives money to anyone who askes and gives every one his kindness and love. But Norman Mushari, a nasty lawer is out to prove that Eliot is insane and the family foundation should be givin to a distent cousin.
This book was published in 1965 and was one of Kurt Vonneguts first 5 books. This is a good book but deffenitly not one of the esteemed writers best.
This book is a fun quick read so I would recommend reading it, but anyone under 15 it would bore the hell out of them.
Rating:
Summary: The Alternate Title Says it All
Review: I read this book many years ago and it still sticks with me. The Eliot Rosewater character is a sympathetic portrait of a gentle man with insanity to believe that he can bring some good to this misbegotten graveyard of a world. The general idiocy of the human race will always endure as is evident from many of the reviews here. Pearls before Swine: it says it all.
Rating:
Summary: Great Vonnegut book
Review: I have only read a few Vonnegut books, and this is definately my favorite. It shows how greedy modern man is. Mr. Rosewater is ungreedy with his money, and because of this he is labeled insane and unfit to control his assets. A great book and I reccomend it to all Vonnegut fans.
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