Slapstick (Lonesome No More!)
I’ve yet to find a Vonnegut book I didn’t like. I think I might be in love with him? Sorry, Devin. I’ve reviewed five of Vonnegut’s books: Slaughterhouse-Five (one of my “top picks”), Cat’s Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Bluebeard. I conveniently listed those in order of what you should prioritize reading. Immediately.
Vonnegut gave this book two names because he does what he wants: Slapstick aka Lonesome No More! Take your pick. Before he dives into the fiction, he gives us some personal background about what inspired the novel in the first place. IRL, his sister died of cancer two days after her husband, Vonnegut’s brother-in-law, died in a freak train accident. The couple left behind four children, including one infant. The older three had a meeting and decided they must be adopted as a package deal minus the youngest one, which is kind of savage. Kurt Vonnegut adopted the trio and a cousin adopted the lone baby, who presumably needed therapy before attending future family reunions. Vonnegut dreamt of this book while flying to a form of a family reunion-- a funeral for his uncle.
Vonnegut’s vulnerability about his fears of loneliness and his relationship to death is raw. It really resonates. He’s fearful that as a species, we’ve started to value career paths and moolah at the expense of family and community. As a result, we’re a lil lonely. Well, lonesome no more! His main characters (who are truly the wackiest, as usual) come up with a plan to create extended families for all Americans so that everyone can have a squad. Each citizen gets a new middle name + a random number between 1 and 20. If you’re a Play-Doh-14 and I’m a Play-Doh-19, then *we are family*.
This book is kind of all over the place. Every character has a wild backstory and the plot hops around in time. I don’t care. I’m just always going to like a Vonnegut book. I trust that he’s going to make me laugh, think critically about existing paradigms, and question my own beliefs. I love that every novel has some unique, satirical take on religion. In this book, the dominant religion is the Church of Jesus Christ the Kidnapped, whereby believers are constantly, frantically on the lookout for their savior.
To Vonnegut, nothing is sacred. And that’s why his vulnerability is meaningful-- it’s clear that he doesn’t think that he has life all figured out, but he’s still searching for anything worthwhile. He’s my poster child for absurdism. I don’t think Slapstick/Lonesome No More! is Vonnegut’s best, but it’s still pretty damn good, if only for the autobiographical stuff in the beginning. I give it 4 out of 5 flames.
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