2025 continues to be my year of Kurt Vonnegut, as I finished my 8th novel of his last night. So far in this order I have read Slaughterhouse-Five, The Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, Player Piano, Mother Night, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Breakfast of Champions, and now Slapstick.
The intro to this book is about 20 pages worth of personal reflection by Vonnegut himself about his own relationships with his birth family and also his wife and children. I think this intro was critical to both my understanding and my enjoyment of the work that followed. He gave a few insights which likened a couple of the characters in the book to himself and his own family members, and a few of his personal anecdotes about life overall really resonated with me in a way that perfectly kicked off the story from the very beginning. These two passages on pages 2 and 3 respectively captured my interest because of remarkably similar thoughts I've had myself over the years.
I have had some experiences with love, or think I have, anyway, although the ones I have liked best could easily be described as "common decency." I treated somebody well for a little while, or maybe even for a tremendously long time, and that person treated me well in turn. Love need not have had anything to do with it.
Also: I cannot distinguish between the love I have for people and the love I have for dogs.
Before I add the next quote, I personally CAN distinguish between those types of love, but it took me longer than I'd care to admit to realize that I could. So while I wouldn't say that's the way I see love now, I can at least reach back and relate to it retroactively.
Love is where you find it. I think it is foolish to go looking for it, and I think it can often be poisonous.
I wish that people who are conventionally supposed to love each other would say to each other, when they fight, "Please–a little less love, and a little more common decency."
Those two quotes alone made me realize that this was already going to be a fairly special read for me, but the funny thing is that at the same time, I can see why if those quotes DON'T hit home for you, why this novel probably wouldn't land nearly as well for you.
"Found families" are a major theme in this book, and one of the most important takeaways from this novel was his commentary about the loss of community in both families on a personal level and society at large (what I referred to in the title as "toxic individuality"). Of course individualism can be perfectly healthy when done well, and Vonnegut is a satirist, so it's his job to speak hyperbolically and allegorically. But the tone of this novel really spoke to me as somebody who struggled at various points in time to feel firmly cemented in where I "belong" in the world.
I could go on and on with a bunch of quotes and notes from my read of this book, but I'll leave it there because I'm sure I've already rambled too much. If any of what I've said has hit home for you, I'd encourage you to give this novel a read! Easily a 9/10 for me and probably my current pick for the most "underrated" Vonnegut novel.
I'm forcing myself to read at least one book by a different author in between each Vonnegut, but once I'm finished with my current book that I started this morning, I'll be moving on to Deadeye Dick.
Hi ho.
by PsyferRL