Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut is one of the greatest American authors. He wrote very intelligent books that were biting satires as well as darkly funny. Personally I think he is hilarious, but he always raises troubling points. He is cynical but he has a love for humanity and people of great human spirit. He differs from most in that he doesn´t consider humanity´s progress as the steady path to eventual success, but vastly unlikely.

This makes sense in that he lived through the great depression and World War II. He was also a prisoner of war who survived and witness the firebombing of the civilian population of Dresden, where 35,000 people were incinerated. He was then tasked with burying the charred bodies.

Vonnegut always writes complex characters, the grey area that blurs the easy distinction between right and wrong. Sometimes he portrays bad people in a likeable way. Other times it´s not so clear. Sometimes he just portrays terrible people.

His novels are always interesting and insightful, great humorous works.

All of his books could be considered great works. I would start with “Sirens of Titan” “Cat´s Cradle” and “Hocus Pocus”

You should read all his books, but space them out so you don´t run out too quickly. Here is his complete bibliography.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut_bibliography         

1.       Image (Kurt Vonnegut in 1972) taken from the Vonnegut Wikipedia article. Image public domain.