
Slapstick
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Narrated by:
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Adam Grupper
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By:
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Kurt Vonnegut
About this listen
Perhaps the most autobiographical (and deliberately least disciplined) of Vonnegut's novels, Slapstick (1976) is in the form of a broken family odyssey and is surely a demonstration of its eponymous title. The story centers on brother and sister twins, children of Wilbur Swain, who are in sympathetic and (possibly) telepathic communication and who represent Vonnegut's relationship with his own sister who died young of cancer almost two decades before the book's publication. Vonnegut dedicated this to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
Like their films and routines, this novel is an exercise in non-sequentiality and in the bizarre while using those devices to expose larger and terrible truths. The twins exemplify to Swain a kind of universal love; he campaigns for it while troops of technologically miniaturized Chinese are launched upon America. Love and carnage intersect in a novel contrived to combine credibility and common observation; critics could sense Vonnegut deliberately flouting narrative constraint or imperative in an attempt to destroy the very idea of the novel he was writing.
Slapstick becomes both product and commentary, event and self-criticism; an early and influential example of contemporary "metafiction". Vonnegut's tragic life - like the tragic lives of Laurel, Hardy, Buster Keaten and other exemplars of slapstick comedy - is the true center of a work whose cynicism overlays a trustfulness and sense of loss which are perhaps deeper and truer than expressed in any of Vonnegut's earlier or later works. Slapstick is a clear demonstration of the profound alliance of comedy and tragedy which, when Vonnegut is working close to his true sensibility, become indistinguishable.
©1976 Kurt Vonnegut (P)2015 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Galapagos
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Galapagos takes the listener back one million years to AD 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Galapagos Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, totally different human race. Kurt Vonnegut, America's master satirist, looks at our world and shows us all that is sadly, madly awry - and all that is worth saving.
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The survival of the human race is a total bore!
- By Darwin8u on 12-13-16
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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Cat's Cradle
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Tony Roberts
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Cat's Cradle is Vonnegut's satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet's ultimate fate, it features a little person as the protagonist; a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer; and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny.
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KV at his best.
- By Robert on 06-22-12
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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Breakfast of Champions
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: John Malkovich
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Breakfast of Champions (1973) provides frantic, scattershot satire and a collage of Vonnegut's obsessions. His recurring cast of characters and American landscape was perhaps the most controversial of his canon; it was felt by many at the time to be a disappointing successor to Slaughterhouse-Five, which had made Vonnegut's literary reputation.
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Kurt Was Right to Grade This a C
- By Dubi on 01-10-16
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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The Sirens of Titan
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course, there's a catch to the invitation....
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Absolutely Outstanding
- By Robert on 01-07-12
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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Palm Sunday
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In this self-portrait by an American genius, Kurt Vonnegut writes with beguiling wit and poignant wisdom about his favorite comedians, country music, a dead friend, a dead marriage, and various cockamamie aspects of his all-too-human journey through life. This is a work that resonates with Vonnegut's singular voice: the magic sound of a born storyteller mesmerizing us with truth.
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Incredible
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-20
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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Welcome to the Monkey House
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: David Strathairn, Maria Tucci, Bill Irwin, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Welcome to the Monkey House is a collection of Kurt Vonnegut's shorter works. Originally printed in publications as diverse as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Atlantic Monthly, what these superb stories share is Vonnegut's audacious sense of humor and extraordinary range of creative vision.
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Classic Vonnegut
- By Michael Carrato on 08-17-06
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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Sucker's Portfolio
- A Collection of Previously Unpublished Writing
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Available to listeners for the first time, Sucker’s Portfolio showcases a collection of seven never-before-published works from Kurt Vonnegut, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Short, sardonic, and dark, these six brief fiction stories and one non-fiction piece are consummate Vonnegut with piercing satire and an eye for life’s obscene inanity. Also available for the first time is an unfinished science-fiction short story, included in the appendix.
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Hit or Miss, For Completists Only
- By Dubi on 06-11-14
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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With cutting wit, fierce conviction, and surprising empathy, Vonnegut explores a diverse range of topics including society, politics, sex, literature, and mortality. Fans who believe they've read all of Vonnegut's work will be delighted to find the author speaking frankly about timely and relevant new topics - with an amusing yet insightful style that's instantly recognizable.
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Vonnegut At His Best
- By Peter W. Kalnin on 12-09-23
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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While Mortals Sleep
- Unpublished Short Fiction
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Kurt Vonnegut made his mark as one of America’s most influential writers with novels such as Slaughterhouse Five, named one of the 100 best English-language novels by Time. Published posthumously, While Mortals Sleep is a collection of 16 short stories, written early in Vonnegut’s career, that further cements his status as an American literary icon.
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old stories before he got to be the KV I've loved
- By Don Singletary on 10-29-11
By: Kurt Vonnegut
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We Are What We Pretend to Be
- The First and Last Works
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Colin Hanks, Oliver Wyman, Suzanne Toren
- Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Called “our finest black-humorist” by The Atlantic Monthly, Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Now his first and last works come together for the first time in print, in a collection aptly titled after his famous phrase, We Are What We Pretend To Be.
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Not a place to start.
- By Robert on 11-02-12
By: Kurt Vonnegut
What listeners say about Slapstick
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- Rexwyn709
- 05-17-17
Not the best Kurt but, a must read
To anyone who loves Kurt V this is a required read and will be be a delight. To someone who is not familiar with his style/ work there are better starting points, and this book may be confusing. I'd recommend breakfast of champions or cats cradle before diving into this book. Overall good book and a very "Kurt" book.
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- Southwest Reader
- 11-24-22
Wisdom and wit beyond imagining
Bizarre and whimsical and dark and disturbing and transcendent and prescient and unfortunately. It's impossible to describe this book, but I hope those words capture its essence to some degree. Also as far as the performance goes -- just wonderful. I think his voice and delivery are perfect for a Vonnegut work. He sounds weary and wonderstruck in turn.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-14-17
Not Vonnegut's best, still enjoyable
Known as one of Vonmegut's least favorite work. In his own thoughts and critics. The story is still uniquely Vonnegut with his sci-fi, satirical and humanist approach. The narration is top notch as well.
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- Dubi
- 01-27-22
Slap it all on and see what will Stick
In the summer of 1976, while I was doing my semester abroad in Germany, I read an excerpt in Playboy of Kurt Vonnegut's forthcoming novel, Slapstick. And loved it. I had only recently discovered Vonnegut via Slaughterhouse-Five, then read his entire back catalogue, endlessly quoted Between Time and Timbuktu after it aired on PBS, and even liked in that particular moment his first novel post-S-5, Breakfast of Champions.
These days, I periodically return to Vonnegut to re-"read" him in audio, under the presumption that his idiosyncratic style would be especially suited to this format. I'm constantly surprised by my reactions -- the books I loved best rarely hold up (other than the always great S-5) while the ones that didn't really grab me then I now love (Mr. Rosewater, Mother Night).
I especially find myself agreeing with Vonnegut's self-assessment of his post-S-5 novels. He gave Breakfast of Champions a C and Slapstick a D. In hindsight, we know that Vonnegut was having trouble adapting to the fame and pressure that followed the success of S-5, the mental health issues experienced by his son Mark (chronicled in The Eden Express and part of the inspiration of Breakfast of Champions), and the passing of his sister, which he cited as the driving force behind Slapstick.
The passages of Slapstick that are about the history of Wilbur and Eliza Swain, the oversized Neanderthaloid genius twin siblings, are still good. The rest of it, not so much. Part of the problem is the blizzard of metaphor and symbolism, none of it subtle (e.g. variable gravity, artificial extended families, the Hooligan). And the cynicism is just relentless -- a selling point to a 20-something idealist in the 70s, but no longer attractive to a thoroughly jaded 60-something in post-truth pandemic times.
Strangely, the pandemic that led to the post-apocalyptic setting of Slapstick has many parallels to Covid, particularly the Chinese connection, and Vonnegut's imagined apocalypse seems quite possible in the current climate, and yet it feels all wrong, at least to me. Maybe that's part of my discomfort. That and not really liking this narrator's take on Hi-Ho (although to be fair, the whole conceit really leaves him no margin for error).
John Updike reviewing Slapstick in The New Yorker in 1976 loved it, Roger Sale reviewing it in The New York Times hated it and had harsh words for Vonnegut fans like myself, calling us ignorant youth -- 45 years later, I think he was wrong about the ignorance, although we were youth, wasting it away, but not wasting it on Vonnegut, even if I can no longer see why I liked Slapstick at the time, other than the iconoclasm. But Vonnegut's own self-rating is the one that endures.
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- Jimmy John Kudrik
- 07-18-22
Vonnegut at his best?
So many clever ideas in this book, and so fun. Vintage Vonnegut. My only qualm is that the ending is a bit soft.
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- Anika
- 11-15-17
Great story
I really enjoyed this book. The narrator was excellent. I thought the story was great
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- Kenneth Powell
- 02-28-23
Vonnegut at his best
Terribly dark and horribly funny. Excellent part of his overall collection of brilliantly meta works!
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- Darwin8u
- 11-16-16
Lonely No More!
“And how did we
then face the odds,
of man's rude slapstick,
yes, and God's?
Quite at home and unafraid,
Thank-you,
in a game
our dreams remade.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slapstick, or Lonesome No More!
My 15-ear-old son broke the screen on his iPhone 6s. I'm letting him buy down the debt (to me) by reading 6 Vonnegut novels before the end of the year. Every book he reads, drops his big OWE down by $10, up to $60. He is still on the hook for the other $80. This is what happens when daddy is an absurdist, but rules like a fascist King. Hi ho.
So, I've decided to read a lot of the Vonnegut novels he's going to be reading before the end of the year too. It has been 30 years since I went on a huge Vonnegut tear. It seems in an era of Donald Trump I'm going to need as many absurdist tools on my belt as possible. What better way than a book about loneliness, incest (perhaps not, or technically yes, but also not), disease, the destruction of America, and the Church of Jesus Christ the Kidnapped.
There are other, stronger Vonneguts where I could have started, but I'm also trying to go through my Library of America Vonnegut: Novels 1976-1985. Plus, it is hard to avoid a book that uses the phrase “Why don't you take a flying f#@% at a rolling doughnut? Why don't you take a flying f#@% at the mooooooooooooon?” often and with literary abandon.
As far as the stars, the book itself probably only warrants a Vonnegut 3-star (except for the fact that the autobiographical introduction is so good, I'm tossing in another star because, well, I can).
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25 people found this helpful
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- no te metas con el furioso
- 01-20-17
Great but not the best
I am a much bigger fan of Breakfast, Slaughterhouse 5, and Cats Cradle. It's still a good story. Just didn't grab me till the end like the others.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kortney Horn
- 08-04-22
Odd book
I love Vonnegut but this one seems a little meandering and arcane. Funny and poignant at times but kind of opaque and unnecessary.
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