# Vonnegut's Best and Worst? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vonneguts-best-and-worst/55980 "2001-02-26T22:42:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vonneguts-best-and-worst/55980/21 "2001-03-02T04:15:46Z")
I can’t think of Vonnegut’s works as just one body. The way I look at him, I feel he’s best divided into early and later, with the dividing line of his career being _Breakfast of Champions_. That said, my favorite early Vonnegut was _Cat’s Cradle_, which I’ve read and reread. I never cared for _Player Piano_. Concerning the later Vonnegut, my favorite was _Bluebeard_, which had an ending that literally made me cry. I don’t know; maybe it’s what I needed at that point in my life, or maybe I was just so moved by the message of the book. Its point about what art means and how it would best serve us is one that I took to heart and still do, some twelve or so years later. My least favorite of the later works was _Timequake_. I’m surprised at how many people have outright panned _Mother Night_. I thought that one had a painfully intriguing story to follow, and further, it had an agonizing political message to it. _Mother Night_ was the last Vonnegut book I ever read, which means I’ve read all his books save _Galápagos_, which I’ll inevitably read, sooner or later. There is no writer whom I have read more thoroughly than Vonnegut, unless you count the likes of Harper Lee and John Kennedy Toole, who wrote one and two books, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vonneguts-best-and-worst/55980/22 "2001-03-02T13:03:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*There is no writer whom I have read more thoroughly than Vonnegut, unless you count the likes of Harper Lee and John Kennedy Toole, who wrote one and two books, respectively. \*\* \*\*[HIJACK]: \*\*What else did Toole write besides _Confederacy of Dunces_? I’m assuming that it was also published well after his death. As for Harper Lee… How the hell do you follow up something as great as _Mockingbird_? I re-read that one about three times a year. **[/HIJACK]** Back to the OP: I’d also go with _Bluebeard_ in the latter novels, and _Breakfast of Champions_ inthe earlier books ---
**Author:** ![Nymysys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f6c823/32.png) [@Nymysys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nymysys)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vonneguts-best-and-worst/55980/23 "2001-03-02T13:14:55Z")
Timequake for the worst, definitely. It’s the only one of his books (including Mother Night, which was, admittedly, weak) that I thought during the entire thing, “What? WHAT? WHO is writing this schlock?” Finished it, tossed it over my shoulder, haven’t picked it back up. It’s a bad, bad book that I don’t read at least a half-dozen times. Favourites would be Galapagos, Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five. Pretty standard answers I see. I like all of his other stuff, too, barring said piece of obviously-the-rent-is-due-eh-Kurt tripe above. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vonneguts-best-and-worst/55980/24 "2001-03-03T00:47:56Z")
Chance–You mean to tell me you have that handle and you do not list Jerzy Kosinski as one of your most read authors? I don’t believe that. If one reads Vonnegut plus Toole (and enjoyed them), one reads (or has read) Kosinski. ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vonneguts-best-and-worst/55980/25 "2001-03-03T15:41:10Z")
**lawoot** —Toole’s first novel was called _The Neon Bible_, which was actually published while he was alive. It was nowhere nearly as remarkable as _A Confederacy of Dunces_, but it bears mentioning that he wrote it at the age of fourteen. It won some sort of local literary contest but never got much notice until after _A Confederacy of Dunces_ was published. If you seek out _The Neon Bible_, don’t expect anything like _A Confederacy of Dunces_. The two books are drastically different, and this difference suggests that there had to be a huge body of work that Toole wrote and destroyed, since such remarkable development of writing ability (like you see in _Confederacy_) just doesn’t happen overnight, and is seldom something a writer is born with, if ever. **TV time** —Have I read Kocinski? Um… well… I don’t read. But you I like, because I like to watch. Seriously, I have read _Being There_, but that’s the only Kocinski I’ve ever read. It’s a great book, and one of these days I’m going to have to look into more Kocinski. Okay, folks. You may now return to your regularly-scheduled Vonnegut thread. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vonneguts-best-and-worst/55980/26 "2001-03-03T19:23:40Z")
Breakfast of Champions, with Sirens of Titans, Slaughterhouse Five and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater close behind. My Vonnegut collection is complete and well-worn. Well, except for Player Piano - I never enjoyed it that much - the “I love you too” stuff was pretty soapy, although it was representative of some of the short stuff he was writing at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Fatwater\_Fewl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@Fatwater\_Fewl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fatwater_Fewl)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vonneguts-best-and-worst/55980/27 "2001-03-03T20:03:35Z")
I’ll go along with **tpayne** ’s choices, though not necessarily in the same order. I’d throw _Welcome To The Monkeyhouse_ in as a sentimental favourite, because it took my Vonnegut virginity. I don’t know if it was hope (which is desire and expectation rolled into one, according to Ambrose Bierce), or respect, that let me get all the way through _Bluebeard_ and _Hocus Pocus_. I kept thinking, “Vonnegut can’t write something this bad.” So it goes. jm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vonneguts-best-and-worst/55980.md?page=1)