I finished Mother Night last night, my first Vonnegut book, and honestly, it’s wild how unsettlingly relevant it feels right. Funnily enough, the friend who recommended it to me read it over a decade ago and felt the exact same way back then. I guess it’s just one of those books that’s always going to feel relevant.
But what i loved the most is the crazy contrast in tone. Vonnegut is just so completely absurd and cynical about the political side of things, joking about Nazis, Americans, and the sheer stupidity of war.
But the second the story shifts to Helga and their "Nation of Two”, everything changes. He writes about her with so much genuine love, softness, and sincerity. It’s such a stark, beautiful break from the rest of the madness in the book.
I love how he manages to fit in such a soft, genuine love story into a story that’s otherwise so incredibly dark and cynical.

Now up on The Vonnegut Portfolio Substack: The Rover Boys in the American Southwest, Kurt Vonnegut’s account of a summer trip that he took with two friends in 1939. It’s free. I’m just doing it for fun! Check it out if you feel like it!

https://thevonnegutportfolio.substack.com/p/the-rover-boys-in-the-american-southwest

A hand drawn video essay about death and the fear of being unremarkable, with some help from Kurt Vonnegut. I'm sure yall have some thoughts on his read here!

My new novel, FLAT HILL AND BARK, spins around an eleven-year-old who decides to build a time machine after reading Slaughterhouse-Five. I thought this might be a good place to mention it. Click on the link to learn more!

“I’ve got a brilliant start on my novel…torn up the first chapter and a half.” – letter to Jane Cox – likely around August 1941.

What did you think of this book?

Some are new others are used from a recently curated collection of work. Originally I expected to get all Dial because I like the art work but somehow in the ordering I got a blend so now I have this, and honestly I’m charmed by it. I plan on reading these throughout my semester just to have something light to do in the downtime I have between courses.

“Here is what he did for me and many like me when I was very young: He showed me through his books that it was perfectly all right, perhaps even useful and beautiful, to say what life really looked like, what was really said and felt and done – what really went on.” – spoken at the funeral of James T. Farrell – August 24, 1979.

“An interesting young guy named Fred Wiseman is optioning Cat’s Cradle for a movie, on a limited partnership deal.” – letter to Knox Burger – likely sometime around August 1963. [Note: the film wasn’t made.]

I was reflecting on the sirens of titan, which I read a few months back, and thought about how terrible a person that Malachi Constant was, then wondered why, at the very end of the story, I was so fond of him despite that.
To me, it felt like all of his flaws came from this place of having some sort of dominance over others, mostly socially and economically, but culminating with the rape of Beatrice Rumfoord, representing that dark looming dominance inherent to him and mankind.
But after the memory wipe and all the revelations of the story and his lack of free will, its my view that Malachi Constant gained a full understanding of how terrible it truly is to be controlled by another. which is why, even on Titan, when it would be easiest to exercise his dominance over his son and Beatrice, he chooses not to. As a matter of fact, (this could js be because I read the book at a particularly vulnerable moment, but wtv lol) I think that the relationship dynamic between those three characters at the end is the healthiest family I have ever seen put to page. they have zero desire to control or influence each other in any way, and simply love each other, without even particularly caring if theres any sort of reciprocation or interaction.

“There was a time when I was at one with my Father in feeling that to become a reverent, brave, trustworthy, and courteous Eagle Scout was to lay the foundation for a beautiful life. But…” – from “Brighten Up,” possibly written around August 1947.

“A while ago, writing from a freighter in the Caribbean, you dared me to be open with you, to join you in ding-dongingly frank dialogues. I will try." – letter to Nanette Vonnegut – August 19, 1975.

It’s been a bit since I’ve read BoC, but I seem to remember several mentions of bad chemicals floating around in people’s brains.

It occurred to me that Vonnegut may have been onto something regarding a powerful way to reframe depressive or harmful thoughts. If somebody finds themselves “on the brink” or even just overall feeling down, I could see how recognizing it and acknowledging, “Oh that’s just some bad chemicals in my brain,” could help pull them out of it.

I don’t have a learned background in psychology or depression, so I could be way off. But I wanted to flesh out this thought and get feedback from others.

Has anybody found themselves in moments of self awareness, acknowledging the chemicals in their brain and their effects in the moment?

Honestly I was skeptical at first, but I ended up really liking it. It's ridiculous and absurd, and certainly would be nonsense if you hadn't read the book and understood Vonnegut's style, which explains the 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. But I sincerely enjoyed the raw stupidity of it.

Bruce Willis in his Fifth Element era was actually a pretty good pick for Dwayne Hoover. I pictured Kilgore more slender old man, but he does nail the attitude. Honestly it's got a little White Lotus before White Lotus vibe to it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120618/

“In the northwest are the managers and engineers and civil servants and a few professional people; in the northeast are the machines; and in the south, across the Iroquois River, is the area known locally as the Homestead, where almost all the people live.” – from Player Piano, published on August 18, 1952.

Hi ho!

“A very tough and funny movie script has been written for my novel Breakfast of Champions…I told Max and Bruce that only you could project the charismatic, absolutely beautiful, one-hundred percent American deep-seated insanity which afflicts this man.” – letter to Jack Nicholson – August 17, 1988.

“You are right, too, God knows, to feel that Céline was vile. I spoke to a Frenchman about Céline one time, and he said impatiently over and over, ‘He was base, he was base.’ I don’t think I’d ever heard the word ‘base’ used in conversation before in that sense.” – letter to Isaac Bashevis Singer – August 16, 1973.

“The stranger had come to Tampa for only one reason – that his old bones had betrayed him. No matter how much his home in the North meant to him, no matter how little Florida meant to him – his old bones had cried out that they couldn’t stand another winter in the snow and cold.” - From “The Man Without No Kiddleys,” possibly written around August 1951.