Welcome to the Monkey House audiobook

Every epoch tells its stories its own way and Kurt Vonnegut managed to catch the spirit of the last midcentury perfectly…The Year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.The absolute conformity is a paradise for politicians…The tales may be mockingly dystopian, vaguely romantic or just everyday life scenes but everything is tinted with a slenderly blackish humour and somewhat bitter irony. And every story exudes an inimitable psychedelic aura…“Now I understand you poor fish,” I said. “You couldn’t get along without fear. That’s the only skill you’ve got – how to scare yourselves and other people into doing things. That’s the only fun you’ve got, watching people jump for fear of what you’ll do to their bodies or take away from their bodies.”Time passes: some things change and some things remain the same.

This is a master class in the art of short story writing. Every short story is finely crafted. Many have humor, many have heartbreak, many have subtle romance. Almost all have commentary on society, especially American society, that is as relevant today as it was in the 1950s. What are these stories missing? You reader. It's missing you to unlock their meaning and beauty.

The world is overpopulated, and they have Ethical Suicide Parlors, where public minded citizens are encouraged to go in and get a lethal injection from the attractive hostesses. There's a big thermometer outside, showing how many people there currently are in the world.So the guy comes in, and he's chatting with the hostess. He wants to know how much the mercury will go down if he decides to do it. A foot?No, she says.An inch?Not quite, she says.Suddenly, he changes his tone. Every inch, he says, represents seventeen million people. That's not the right way to look at it, she says. But she doesn't say what is the right way to look at it.Ever since reading this story as a teenager, I've been unable to take anyone seriously who uses the expression "That's not the right way to look at it". Not my fault. Blame the late Mr. Vonnegut.

Welcome to the Monkey House is the best collection of stories I've read.Rating it accurately is as difficult as ever. Should it be based off of the best stories? Or all of them? I don't know.What I do know is: Harrison Bergeron, Welcome to the Monkey House, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, EPICAC, Where I Live, and The Euphio Question are some of the best shorts ever written.Much like Vonnegut's other novels, they're strangely scientific with quirky characters, great dialogue, and plenty of comedic moments.The rest of the stories weren't so great to write about. Some of them are pretty out there, though, if that's your thing...

A work of art, it belongs in the adorably perfect short story collections as those by Ray Bradbury and J. G. Ballard: yes, apocalypse; yes, spirituality; yes sci-fi and yes A PROPHET*. Only those writing with an eye to an uncertain yet not wholly unpredictable future (society limits individualism) can be considered amazing if they possess this attribute. I mean, Nostradamus as short story master? C'mon. Yet in all 25 stories, Vonnegut rarely repeats himself (except for gee-whiz! Easter eggs, such as: lo-tech science fiction a-la Eternal Sunshine and notable motifs like the play Death of a Salesman, radio entertainment, jobs, Wyandotte College, the name Sousa ; the first entry is geographical biography, the last one is a futuristic comedy), he is rarely overly sentimental, but always smart, precise, perfect*.The diversity of genre, characterization***, dialogue, epochs... the imagination is vast and its no wonder every modern writer at one time or another decided to be like him, or not. But consider him they did, do, will. Welcome to the Monkey House****, we were warned.*In MISS TEMPTATION we have beginnings of the straight male paranoia that ensued due to MeToo#...written in 1956! ...My favorite short story, D.P., and THE LIE all handle racism with such ease, because, well, these were all written in the 50's, and its chilling to see how much privilege vs. poverty/working/hardlife lifelong workers. I found out that rich Republicans love the term "democratic nation" since it evokes a type of humbling that's alien to them **Page 115 , close to the book's center: "Have I made it clear that this book is a beauty?" --NEW DICTIONARY***Characters' vernacular are uniquely their own! Funny, fragile, tragic, cuckoo... You find so many individuals, like a mid-century SciFi vanity fair!****The titular short story, included with classics of literature "A Rose for Emily" by Faulkner and O'Brien's "A Good Man is Hard to Find", are precursor to horror cinema firmly rooted in our own American fears (which may be something similar to: BECOMING THE MACHINE FOR THE MACHINE)

This man was a genius!!!! And ---a loving Husband -father! One heck of a decent human being!!!A few stories were soooooooooooooooooo good, that I was wishing I could 'go-back' and change a few things about my College days. I would have loved to be talking about this book in a College Class. I'm ready now!!!!! I'm really happy I won this book. I could have missed it. THANK YOU --THANK YOU ---THANK YOU ---to whom ever 'picked' my name as a 'first read'. I enjoyed reading other reviews --early this morning 3am ...(wonderful). Here is a little something I'll add which I have not read in other reviews. The copy of the book (in my hands) ---is "The Special Edition" --"Building The Monkey House" by Gregory D. Sumner. It was a treat 'added' to this book. I love what he wrote about Kurt Vonnegut:It was a time when Kurt --himself was having an 'add-on' built to his home. He needed a place for quiet to write. He and his wife had 6 kids. (3 of their own --3 where his sisters after she died). ---This I the type of man he was: (he had a very unglamorous way about him). He worked hard --'showing-up' for work. He said:"Mechanics fix automobiles" he once observed. Carpenters build houses. Storytellers use a reader's leisure time in such a way that the reader will not feel that his time has been wasted".

I thought this was a solid collection of Kurt Vonnegut's earlier works. There is a variety of themes and genres. Black humor again is underlying throughout the book except for a few stories. There's science fiction, romance, and interpersonal dramas. Some of them involved military servicemen and possibly reflect the author's own time in the US Army. I listed a few of my favorites:'Long Walk To Forever' (1960) was a shot at love centered around bad timing. I did not expect this and was pleasantly surprised.'All The King's Horses" (1953) was a thrilling and captivating story about American POWs downed behind enemy lines. In order to negotiate their release, they are forced to play a dangerous game in order to earn their freedom. This is my favorite!'The Manned Missiles' (1958) was about two fathers, one Soviet and the other American, writing to each other. In the letters they tell each other about their sons during the Space Race. After reading lots of Kurt Vonnegut, I can say without doubt I like his early stuff. I find his early stuff way more interesting and original. Overall the book was readable and fun. I highly recommend this to any fans of the author. Thanks!

Previously read June 2003 (among many other times) Like many offbeat/outcast teens, I went through a Vonnegut phase - and am glad to say I never completely recovered. I would heartily recommend Welcome to the Monkey House for anyone new to Vonnegut's body of work, as it covers basically the first two decades of his career (and IMHO, the best years)It contains an honest-to-goodness love story - "Long Walk to Forever" that always makes me sniffle a little. Then there's the familiarly sardonic "Report on the Barnhouse Effect" and "The Euphio Question". "The Kid Nobody Could Handle" contains one of my (many) favorite KV quotes: "You are better than you think. A-one, a-two a-three."Both comforting and chilling - this collection of stories, while a bit dated at times ("The Hyannis Port Story" and "Epicac", I'm looking at you) is still in my top 50 of favorite books and will continue to be a re-read for years to come.

"One foot in front of the other --- through leaves, over bridges---" This is a short story about forbidden and true love, ardently written by Kurt Vonnegut. He has a way of showing intense emotions using simple words and repetitions. . . Oh my .. That ending ...

I could write a long review and talk about every short story in this collection, but I'm not going to do that. There are just too many good stories in this collection. My personal favorite was probably "Harrison Bergeron" but I would have to think about that. It's not necessary that I have a "favorite" per se, but my mind just works that way.If you're a Vonnegut fan, you've probably read this. If you've never read Vonnegut, give it a shot. It's a great way to start your journey into his mind. He can be hilarious and moving in the same story. I've enjoyed reading his works since I was in high school, and I will continue to do so for a long time.In fact, I will continue reading his work "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow."

A varied and uneven collection of Vonnegut's short stories. Some read like Yankee Magazine or Saturday Even Post stories: boy home from WW II gets girl stories, or "hometown" stories of Barnstable, Massachusetts. Others, the better ones, play to Vonnegut's strengths, like the title work. These are science fiction with Big Themes like thought control, enforced birth control, a cemented-over world, weapons of mass destruction, and variations on Big Brother.

Vonnegut does it again. This took me way longer than intended, probably due to the hectic nature of my first week back in uae. Nevertheless, I'm glad I read it. I was never a big fan of a book of collection of short stories. Usually there would be a lot of hit and miss. With Welcome To The Monkey House however, literally every short story was memorable. Maybe one was mediocre, but all of the rest were so good. I can't stress enough how each individual short story was able to stand on its own, and also made me think of each one after I let the book down. If you are a fan of Vonnegut, you shouldn't miss out on this book.... 5/5