books:

	God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Washington Square Press, 2001 - 80 pages average customer review:based on 50 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

As a "reporter on the afterlife," Vonnegut bravely allows himself to be strapped to a gurney by his friend Jack Kevorkian and dispatched round-trip to the Pearly Gates. Or at least that's what he claims in the introduction to these thirty-odd comic and irreverent "interviews" with the likes of William Shakespeare, Adolf Hitler, and Clarence Darrow, bringing readers to an entirely new place -- a place to which only Vonnegut could bring us.

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Round Trips

The zany straight shooter, Vonnegut, had Dr. Kevorkian arrange for "near death experiences", round trips to the pearly gates, where he was free to interview whoever he pleased, such as John Brown, Louis Armstrong, Shakespeare, Adolf Hitler, and Sir Isaac Newton. All was reported in forty-five second spots on radio station WNYC. Respected humanist that he was, he took delightful digs at moral duplicity, organized religion, unjust governments, and stupid wars. He leaves you laughing - at yourself.


Where's the rest of it?

God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian - Kurt Vonnegut:

After finishing this book, I wasn't sure whether to be happy or mad. Certainly I paid what seemed to be a fortune for the book. The book itself is 80 pages, and on Amazon costs $9.95 which comes out to about 12.4 cents per page (if you don't consider shipping costs). The font is large, the spacing is generous, and there is PLENTY of room in the margins for taking notes. So basically what I am saying is that... there isn't much here.

What IS here is a series of fictional interviews that Vonnegut conducts at the end of the tunnel following the bright light of the afterlife. He conducts 20 second interviews with the people on the other side of the pearly gates. The interviews are often a single question, or a history of the person followed by a single line by the person. The interviewees range from a man who died saving his pooch from a pit-bull to Hitler himself (who is very sorry by the way). The issue is that each of the interviews ranges from on page to at most, 3 pages. So much more could have been said and done. This book felt like more of a teaser than anything else. A preview if you will, of something great to come.

As always, what Vonnegut writes is brilliant. The problem is that I paid $10 for a book that I finished in under a half an hour. I would advise borrowing this from a friend, a relative, the library or just stand there in the bookstore and read it rather than paying for it.

This would have been 5 stars to me, but I'm detracting a star for feeling a bit ripped off for volume.

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Vonneguts favorite joke

In 200l, what a delight it was to find another new title by one of my heroes! In 1997 Vonnegut announced that TIMEQUAKE would be his final novel, but he continued to noodle along. The 2001 collection is drawn from a series of 90 second radio spots the author recorded for WNYC, public radio in the Big Apple. (And all profits go to support that station.) The title is rich with Vonnegutian humor, insofar as he was an atheist. The story line develops from a near-death experience, into a series of near death visits administered by Jack Kevorkian. Vonnegut makes repeat ventures to "the hundred yards or so of vacant lot between the blue tunnel and the Pearly Gates" to interview decedents ranging from Isaac Newton to Carla Faye Tucker. A wonderful witty solace for Vonnegut devotees, and (I suspect) great fun for any reader.

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Vintage Vonnegut

As a big fan of the iconoclastic Vonnegut, the only shortcoming I find in this book is the length. Seems that he would been better with longer "interviews" with some of his famous characters from the past, such as Hitler. Brevity may have been a plus with the Carla Fay Tucker interview, giving it more punch.


So So

I am a huge fan of Vonnegut and I have read ALL of his books. This was the last book I hadn't read and I was sure I will love it but it was somewhat disappointing. I thought the idea for the book was great but a little underdeveloped in it's execution.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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