en-US Wed, 07 Aug 2013 07:40:15 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 9590 Slaughterhouse-Five of Vonnegut's canon in its prominence and influence, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965) presents Eliot Rosewater, an itinerant, semi-crazed millionaire wandering the country in search of heritage and philanthropic outcome, introducing the science fiction writer Kilgore Trout to the world and Vonnegut to the collegiate audience which would soon make him a cult writer.

Trout, modeled according to Vonnegut on the science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon (with whom Vonnegut had an occasional relationship) is a desperate, impoverished but visionary hack writer who functions for Eliot Rosewater as both conscience and horrid example. Rosewater, seeking to put his inheritance to some meaningful use (his father was an entrepreneur), tries to do good within the context of almost illimitable cynicism and corruption.

It is in this novel that Rosewater wanders into a science fiction conference--an actual annual event in Milford, Pennsylvania--and at the motel delivers his famous monologue evoked by science fiction writers and critics for almost half a century: "None of you can write for sour apples... but you're the only people trying to come to terms with the really terrific things which are happening today." Money does not drive Mr. Rosewater (or the corrupt lawyer who tries to shape the Rosewater fortune) so much as outrage at the human condition.

The novel was adapted for a 1979 Alan Menken musical. The novel is told mostly thru a collection of short stories dealing with Eliot's interactions with the citizens of Rosewater County, usually with the last sentence serving as a punch line. The antagonist's tale, Mushari's, is told in a similar short essay fashion. The stories reveal different hypocrisies of humankind in a darkly humorous fashion.]]> 288 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385333471 Jen 4 3.94 1965
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Jen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1965
rating: 4
read at: 2013/08/02
date added: 2013/08/07
shelves:
review:
Another comical and heartbreaking classic by Vonnegut. Laugh out loud funny, helps give context if you have read "Breakfast of Champions" first.
]]> 23982 352 Ralph Helfer 0060929510 Jen 4 4.20 1997
author: Ralph Helfer
name: Jen
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2013/08/01
date added: 2013/08/07
shelves:
review:
A fantastic story. I don't know about the facts behind all the events in this book that make you fall in love with "Mo," but if half of them are true it is worth the read. They weren't kidding on the cover when they say be prepared with tissues.
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The stories in Pastoralia are set in a slightly skewed version of America, where elements of contemporary life have been merged, twisted, and amplified, casting their absurdity—and our humanity—in a startling new light. Whether he writes a gothic morality tale in which a male exotic dancer is haunted by his maiden aunt from beyond the grave, or about a self-help guru who tells his followers his mission is to discover who's been "crapping in your oatmeal," Saunders's stories are both indelibly strange and vividly real.]]> 188 George Saunders 0747553866 Jen 0 4.10 2000
author: George Saunders
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at: 2013/07/05
date added: 2013/07/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 4980 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

In Breakfast of Champions, one of Kurt Vonnegut’s most beloved characters, the aging writer Kilgore Trout, finds to his horror that a Midwest car dealer is taking his fiction as truth. What follows is murderously funny satire, as Vonnegut looks at war, sex, racism, success, politics, and pollution in America and reminds us how to see the truth.]]> 303 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385334206 Jen 5 4.08 1973
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Jen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1973
rating: 5
read at: 2013/05/14
date added: 2013/05/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 63031 118 Roberto Bolaño Jen 4 3.94 2000
author: Roberto Bolaño
name: Jen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2012/08/15
date added: 2012/08/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 70401 307 Jack Kerouac 0140042598 Jen 0 currently-reading 3.63 1957
author: Jack Kerouac
name: Jen
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1957
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2012/08/15
shelves: currently-reading
review:

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