The unfinished novel had a great deal of potential.

The unpublished short story was cute. ( )

Easy read on the way from Philadelphia to NYC on the Amtrak. The first story was clearly early V: well-written, with good character development, but lacking any bite. The last (last!) story was clearly later V, but without polish--a draft that was not nearly ready for publication. Bittersweet. ( )

Re-read. This 'work' always fascinates me because it contains Vonnegut's first (unpublished) written work and his last (unpublished) before dying. Written nearly 50 some years apart. The first is so optimistic and even written in kind of a 'naive' manner; whereas the last piece is so cynical. It's probably Vonnegut at his most vulgar and skeptic and cynical of the US and of humans in general. The two works are such a contrast. ( )

I read my most recent Kurt Vonnegut novel under eerily similar circumstances. I'd just left my wife and was going back to school, about this time two years ago when I'd read The Monkey House. Thankfully, we now have an immigration lawyer so that part of my life should be moving along smoothly soon.

... random aside! The book itself.

I enjoyed the two pieces in this collection. It was interesting to read his first and last work together. I feel like Vonnegut writes his characters so compassionately because there is often a part of his stories that is autobiographical. I would urge anyone who wants to read this collection not to skip the foreword because it really helped give me some insight.

Interestingly though, these two stories could not be more different. The first is a warm, melancholy little novella written by a young Vonnegut about a young man who spent his time in the country. The second piece is an unfinished novel with an antagonistic comedian character, in all Kurt's deadpan black humour, full of that trademark satire of a restless romantic, a hopeless cynic and a totally mad scientist.

I loved the first piece, but struggled to understand some of the second piece. Some of it just went right over my head but I feel like that's my perceptions as a reader more than a fault on Vonnegut's part.

Some people are recommending this for hardcore Vonnegut fans only and I guess that makes me a hardcore Vonnegut fan.

Thanks, Kurt, for making my days a little less lonely and a little more gentle. ( )

This book has both Vonnegut's first and last works, which were published posthumously. The first is a very sweet story about a boy who goes to work on the farm of some relative's after his parents died. The second is about a middle aged comedian. What is interesting about these two stories is how different they are. In Vonnegut's first work, he hasn't found his voice yet, and it could be a novel written by anyone. In his last, the reader gets to experience Vonnegut's trademark wit and dark sense of humor. While neither novella is great, they are at least enjoyable and provide a glimpse at the growth of a writer over time. ( )