Rating: 
Summary: Pure Vonnegut
Review: This book is Vonnegut at his best. The story is narrated by the main character, Eugene Dabbs Hartke, discussing the twists and turns that his life has taken and goes on to answer the all important question of how many woman he has slept with in his life.Coming with a large dose of irony, a big dose of satire and a helping of humor, it is close to perfection for Vonnegut. I would not recommend that as an introduction to Vonnegut for I think it takes his style to an extreme that newcomers might not be used to. But anyone who is familiar with the Vonnegut way, this book is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, like Vonnegut always is
Review: This book starts out at the end and you spend the whole book reading little stories to see how the character ended up where he is now.
Eugene Debs Hartke is a prisoner being held in the library of Tarkington College. The book is his collected memoirs which were written on numbered pieces of scrap paper. The future he lives in is dominated by the Japanese economy and the American foreign and domestic policies are consumed by "The War on Drugs." Racism is much more prevalent.
Eugene Debs Hartke was a teacher at Tarkington College, a college for very rich Special Education students who would not graduate from a traditional university. Across the lake is a maximum security prison that holds 10,000 prisoners - most of them were Special Education students who turned to crime to make a living.
This is a good book, but it starts out a little slow. There are similar themes as other Vonnegut books I've read, especially his focus on how life's little choices can radically change what happens to you.
Vonnegut is a master at coming up with quotable odd thoughts and here are a few that caught my eye:
"In an era as foulmouthed as this one, (someone saying) 'Good gravy' had the same power to startle as a cannon shot."
On human space travel:
"How could all that meat, needing so much food and water and oxygen, and with bowel movements so enormous, expect to survive a trip of any distance whatsoever through the limitless void of outer space? It was a miracle that such ravenous and cumbersome giants could make a roundtrip for a 6-pack to the nearest grocery store."
"Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance."
On Freedom of Speech:
"That isn't something that someone else gives you. That's something you have to give yourself."
Anyway, its a good book. I enjoyed it. It made you think sometimes and that is always good.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not great.
Review: This is an entertaining book, but it is not an example of why Vonnegut is cannonized in modern american literature. Though it is well written,and the plot rather ubelieveable plot but still imaginable, I was never too excited about the book. Vonnegut seemed to be trying to hard to be innovative/alternative in the style of this book, the narrative is delivered over hundreads of scraps of paper. This forced deviance is more obstructive than anything, and the few actually refreshing techniques are hobbled by trite phrases. Anybody who's seen a Vietnam movie will seeminly recognize a good deal of lines in this book. This is still Vonnegut, though, and were it another author I would not have been so harsh. However, there are certainly more aclaimed Vonnegut books out there, and for good reason. Choose them over this one.
Rating: 
Summary: A Non-Magical Trip to Prison?
Review: Vonnegut has written many works that are justifiably praised, often laced with biting satire and normally an excellent insight into people and their surrounding society. The various praises of this book, liberally sprinkled on the back cover and the opening few pages, call this 'Hilarious', 'Sharp-toothed satire - absurd humor' 'Comic', '...a scream'. From these comments, I was all set for another Slaughterhouse Five, but when I finished this I wondered if these book reviewers had read the same book I did. I didn't even break a chuckle, finding instead a large amount of cynicism, retreads of ecological and Vietnam phrases that became trite long before this was published, a main character who entirely monopolizes the book (there is almost no conversation and darn little action), and a story line that very badly extrapolated the society trends of 1990. Certainly, Vonnegut's sharp tongue is present, ripping up academia (and their captive students) as we explore the benefits of prisons run by outsourced Japanese guards, the equivalency of loving and killing, television talk-shows, the mindless drive to wealth normally thought of as the American dream, and, yes, the whole Vietnam experience with his typical precision. But instead of these items being couched in a manner that would bring a smile and a chuckle (before the sharp stab of truth hits), the barbs are almost baldly presented, or driven by obvious situations and comparisons. And his patented time-slip style of narration is still present, but it no longer seems fresh. Perhaps what I missed the most in this work was the completely zany worlds that his characters in previous novels occupied inside their heads. This work seemed far too mundane and everyday. Perhaps I read this on a bad hair day, but for my money this is very minor Vonnegut. --- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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