Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #197438 in Books
• Published on: 1991-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Customer Reviews

Concise collection of Vonnegut's best short stories
A brief collection of some of Vonnegut's earliest (and finest) short fiction. Of course all this and much more is available in the mass-market paperback "Welcome to the Monkey House" which includes a great deal of additional material (not all of it good) so this volume is exclusively for book-collectors rather than readers. The only story in this collection not available in "Monkey House" is the forgettable "Hal Irwin's Magic Lamp", which even Vonnegut scholars will be hard-pressed to take any interest in. All that aside, there are some terrific stories here.

Vonnegut can be sentimental as in "D. P." about a Displaced Person and "The Manned Missiles" which imagines an early space flight, but the pathos of these stories seems more awkward than artistic - some readers may not appreciate having their emotions manipulated quite so blatantly. More successful are his forays into science-fiction-based morality tales, such as "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" (military application of telekinesis) "Unready to Wear" (transcending the flesh) "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (challenges of overpopulation) and "The Euphio Question" (happiness by the kilowatt). These stories show Vonnegut at his best: funny, inventive, philosophical, often even hopeful - a far cry from that universe-crushes-damaged-puppets trip that mars so many of his novels - so science fiction fans not familiar with the Master's work would do well to start here.

this book is trash
this is an illegal bootleg with no collectors value.

all of these stories can be found in welcome to the monkeyhouse and bagombo snuffbox. it's a waste of money and a sham to purchase this book.

One Extra Story
Vonnegut, as usual, has written delightful characters and wonderfully satiric plots in these short stories. Interested readers will find all stories herein, except "Hal Irwin's Magic Lamp", in "Welcome to the Monkey House". Canary in a Cathouse has a cool cover, but unless you are collecting, save your dough.