Book Forty-Eight of the Book-a-Week Quest
Bagombo Snuff Box
by Kurt Vonnegut (1999)
This is a collection of 23 short stories all of which were written by Vonnegut in the 1950s while he was a struggling writer, selling his "stuff" only to magazines.
Some are certainly better than others, as is often the case with short story collections (not that I've read a ton, but I've read a few). The stories start out fairly strong, lag a bit in the middle (the middle 12 or so were a struggle), and pick up again at the end. The big issue, which Vonnegut addressed in his introduction to the book, is that nearly every story is super-simplistic. You can see the "moral" a mile away. That doesn't necessarily make the stories bad, but it lessens their oomph, I guess.
Still, it furthered my knowledge that I generally like Vonnegut as an author (something that I thought way back in high school) and will continue to read through more of his repertoire.
Some are certainly better than others, as is often the case with short story collections (not that I've read a ton, but I've read a few). The stories start out fairly strong, lag a bit in the middle (the middle 12 or so were a struggle), and pick up again at the end. The big issue, which Vonnegut addressed in his introduction to the book, is that nearly every story is super-simplistic. You can see the "moral" a mile away. That doesn't necessarily make the stories bad, but it lessens their oomph, I guess.
Still, it furthered my knowledge that I generally like Vonnegut as an author (something that I thought way back in high school) and will continue to read through more of his repertoire.
I think you should re-read mine.
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