Well, what can I say about this biography of Mr. Vonnegut? He's always been a mystery to me, this strange, awkward man who authored rather peculiar worlds of fantasy. And he remains so. But Charles Shields lets some light through the chinks in Vonnegut's armor by describing the hell that Vonnegut went through as a prisoner of war during the bombing of Dresden, Germany back in World War Two and, too, Vonnegut's observations on nonlinear time that I share as my own. It's not much, I know, just a crack to let the light glimmer on Vonnegut's soul. Otherwise, old dead Kurt remains as much a mystery to me as any other. But with this information in hand I may go forth and read some more of those works of fantasy than I had before. After all, one good read deserves another. This book is an exhaustive and sometimes exhausting (yet always admirable) look at the life of a uniquely talented, creative, and innovative American writer, and institution, who was as full of quirks and contradictions as the characters who populated his writings.I first became aware of Kurt Vonnegut when I was serving in the Navy and in the middle of a long and tedious WestPac cruise, surrounded by the absurdity of military life and a pointless, murderous (sound familiar?) war. Much to the chagrin of the lifers I worked with, I subscribed to RAMPARTS, a slick, anti-establishment (and anti-war) magazine that was dutifully delivered to me during mail call once a month. Anyway, in one of those issues, a Kurt Vonnegut article appeared, and even in that avant garde (for its time) publication, his writing stood out. It was memorable.So when I returned to college and showed up for my summer-quarter fiction studies class, and found Vonnegut's SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE on the required-reading list, I was thrilled. You're REQUIRING me to read Vonnegut? Well, if I have to. Just don't throw me into that briar patch.At that point, SLAUGHTERHOUSE had been out for about a year. It had been published to great acclaim, largely overshadowing his earlier books, which were frequently written off by critics as genre science fiction (a ridiculous and lazy but unshakeable estimation that unfairly haunted him for the rest of his writing life). His unconventional approach to fiction (placing himself in his stories, writing episodically and non-linearly, using elements of sci-fi, getting his characters in trouble and failing to get them out) confounded some critics. They didn't know what to do with it. And when he followed up SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE with BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS and a succession of other books that continued his experimentation, his refusal to conform, the critics seemed to get even more frustrated. They mistook the accessibility of his writing for simplicity, or worse, simple-mindedness. Instead of taking the time to look at the implications and subtleties, they concentrated on the superficial. They said he was pandering to juveniles and juvenile susceptibilities.It was as if he was from Tralfamadore (the alien planet that appears periodically in his stories), writing in Tralfamadorian, and the critics were a bunch of elitist savants, fascinated by the color of his ink. Many of them said that he should have quit after SLAUGHTERHOUSE, his pinnacle achievement. (Interestingly, James Shields, the author of this biography, also wrote MOCKINGBIRD, the biography of Harper Lee, who has often been criticized for quitting after her pinnacle achievement.) Of course there were critics who took the time to see what Vonnegut was doing, who continued to look at his work thoughtfully.But the biography is in no way strictly about the man's writing. It's also in large measure about the man. James Shields has done an impressive job of documenting Kurt Vonnegut's life and personality and achievements and setbacks, of rights and wrongs, of steps and missteps. He describes Vonnegut's formative years and shows why his reputation as a pessimistic curmudgeon was more than just artifice, more than simply a persona he put on like a battered hat. Decades before the diagnosis of PTSD came to the forefront, he survived the Battle of the Bulge, Nazi imprisonment and abuse, and the friendly-fire fire-bombing of Dresden. He survived family deaths and failed relationships and disparagement of critics and fellow writers.Offsetting all the negatives were the good experiences in his life, and Mr. Shields doesn't neglect those. Vonnegut had his champions, both in the writing/publishing world and in his personal life, and they were instrumental in his eventual success. His first wife, Jane, comes off as a saint, while his second wife, Jill, seems like anything but. If you're a Kurt Vonnegut fan, or just want to know more (a LOT more) about the man, or simply want some more insight on the workings of the writing business (at least in its former state), I highly recommend this biography.So it goes.
Do You like book Eks Ta Ole. Kurt Vonnegut: Elu (2014)?
Fascinating portrait of a great author you thought you knew. Deflating, amazing and inspiring book.
—TristanRai109
If you've loved Vonnegut forever, don't read this book. Too troubling.
—meee
Excellent overview of my favourite 20th Century author
—joujou86
