- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Seven Stories Press (Sep 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 158322713X
- ISBN-13: 978-1583227138
- Product Dimensions: 14.8 x 1.7 x 21.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,442,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Part memoir, part rant and part joke, Vonnegut's latest book is as elusive as it is beguiling. Throughout this slim volume, the author walks a fine line between despair over our deteriorating world and a consummate entertainer's urge to amuse' Sunday Times 'Vonnegut's A Man without a Country is pure late Twain, darkly funny, never less than enraged at corruption and greed, and overflowing with compassion for the powerless. We've never needed him more' Russell Banks 'If Vonnegut isn't the enduring Good Humor man, who is?' John Irving, The Times 'This enjoyable volume of reflections and anecdotes reminds us what is unique about the author of those startlingly good American novels Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions ... Kurt Vonnegut is one of the greatest writers of the past 50 years' Daily Telegraph
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
John Irving, The Times
'If Vonnegut isn't the enduring Good Humor man, who is?'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Expressions of grief,
By Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: A Man Without a Country (Hardcover)
If exile from one's homeland is grievous, then having your country pulled out from under you must be infinitely worse. Kurt Vonnegut expresses his strong feelings of betrayal at what the USA has become in his lifetime. He's angry and resentful, and every page in this little book seethes with his wrath. He has spent many years describing the warts his society exhibited, hoping his country would take heed of his words and excise the faults. It's almost as if nobody read his books, or at least take his criticisms seriously. Now, in advanced years, he is at his most direct in fulminating at the foibles of his countrymen. He hopes it isn't too late for the USA to return to the values it, and he, once cherished.Vonnegut's mentor, Mark Twain, expressed the same sadness and remorse over the same people. That might suggest things haven't really gotten worse. Vonnegut, however, recognises that his country today exercises vastly more influence in the world, both physically and morally than that of Twain's day. "In case you haven't noticed" he cries, elections are stolen in the USA, its unelected leaders have dehumanized millions, "so I'm a man without a country". He fears things will go beyond this condition to apply the same standards to the entire planet. He foresees an epitaph for "the good Earth - we could have saved it, but we were to damn cheap and lazy." The phrase "bitter old man" is certain to occur to readers of this collection. That judgement, of course, flies in the face of the voice of a man who's watched the course of the USA in a long lifetime. His most famous work, "Slaughterhouse Five", subtitled "The Children's Crusade" was a humanist's cry for increased awareness among his readers. That awareness, if it ever truly existed widely, has been snuffed out among Vonnegut's countrymen of today. This book recognises that new condition with a strident cry of protest. Why has this happened?, he demands. That he's published this collection is an acknowledgement that all may not be lost. Without boasting, instead he reminds of us his teachings with pickings from his earlier writings. If there is to be hope for Vonnegut's society and even the entire world, it would be wise to read and heed what he has to say. And to understand why he says it. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful.,
By
This review is from: A Man without a Country (Paperback)
This is a delightful book. If you get into it, it will only take you a couple of hours to read, but I think Vonnegut's thoughts and ideas will stay with you for a long time afterwards.I have only recently started reading Vonnegut- having been aware of the name for a long time- and picked this up at my local library. I was attracted by the subtitle (a memoir of life in George Bush's America) and was delighted to read plenty of digs at that odd character who did impressions of the President of the USA. There's much more to this book, however, including as it does Vonnegut's wry, cynical, exasperated and very funny observations on everything else worthy of ridicule, from the more vapid aspects of American culture, to semi-colons, on to Western man's love affair with fossil fuels and even the pros and (mostly) cons of early Saab cars. Written in a delightfully laconic and earthy style, this is the equivalent of passing a lovely afternoon with someone older, wiser and far funnier than youself. It reminded me of Spike Milligan at his best. Like Spike, Vonnegut is a master of adopting an unexpected perspective on things, in order to expose some of the absurdities of life and thereby prove that "nothing could be as mad as what passes for ordinary living".
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still as sharp as ever,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Man Without a Country: A Memoir of Life in George W. Bush's America (Hardcover)
Great to see that Vonnegut is still as wise and as cutting as ever in this latest (hopefully not last...at 83 we still don't to lose him!) outing. Although some of the ground (and a few of the anecdotes) may be familiar to diehard fans, his razor wit and observation couple with this outrage at the evils of the world and you can't help but be uplifted. What a spirit, what a guy!
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