"Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time."
-Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five
Oh, to be able to live your days out of order, like Billy Pilgrim or Sam Beckett or Desmond Hume. I'd slap some sense into the 14 year-old boy I once was, and tell him to relax, that's for sure. Of course, it probably wouldn't be as awesome in fact as it might seem in theory. But like anyone who tells me winning the lottery wouldn't bring me happiness, I tell them I'd like to find out just to be sure.
You know, for science.
Also, tip of the hat to my friend KG who claims Vonnegut as one of her "old man crushes." (I think.)
Fun fact: Vonnegut appeared in Back to School as himself. In the story, Thornton Mellon hired V. to write an essay about the works of Kurt Vonnegut, for which he receives an "F."
Too funny.
I've got Slaughterhouse Five sitting on my To Read pile.
ReplyDeleteIt's a BIG pile.
Strangely, KV's NOT one of my many old man crushes. He falls more into the "hero" category. The man was seriously f'ing...humane. A crazy, depressed, kind, hilarious, odd Midwestern humanitarian.
ReplyDeleteAnd Brian, I hope you like it once you get around to it. I feel like teenagers tend to be most receptive as first-time Vonnegut readers, but hopefully it's not too late for you to enjoy him in all his absurdity.