Welcome to the Monkey House

A collection of short stories, fiction from the 50s, early 60s; a surprising number have a science-fiction aspect to them. Vonnegut's sardonic wit and humor shine through, it's a fun read, well worth your time, a welcome escape from today's chaos.

I use this book to teach English to high school students in China. I often have them read parts of it as a play. I urge them to be actors and say the lines naturally, this helps them read English and speak English. For example, the dialog in last half of "Miss Temptation" does well. What do I like about it? It is accessible English, and the stories are short. They connect well with the emotional maturity level of these high school people, not children anymore, but still young. The English is not too difficult for them, but it is not easy for them either. But the pathos of the stories keeps them plowing through it. What's not to like? Well, you have to like Vonnegut, and i do. Some stories are a little dated to me, but then again, I'm pushing 60, so its natural that my taste is different than a young person's. i remember finding them very compelling, when i was younger, and even a bit revolutionary....and many of the stories still seem sound. A few are dated, "All the King's Men" is not the best story in there, it seems a little dated and stereotypical. But it was authentic for its time, i like it as a bridge book, it helps kids see that there is more than Harry Potter in the Literary Universe. Accessible. And its fun. And it has many stories of real pathos and charm. I've always had a soft spot for this book.

Sometimes the most competent tool for an existence you want to escape for the moment is to whisk yourself back to another time, preferably one that is mostly imaginary, since it is filtered through the lens of literary genius Kurt Vonnegut. "Welcome to the Monkey House" serves that purpose for those of a certain age with flashes of bliss from the momentary displacement to a land of voluptuous memories. We identify with the madness; we identify with the sanity. It is all real, or at least vividly imagined. These are the short stories Vonnegut sold while he worked on his memorable novels, which are all readily available here at Amazon. They are all worthy of our attention as historic narratives of a cultural epoch of our lives from one of the 20th century's most vigorous and lasting literary voices. He continues to speak to our dreams and fears and leaves it to us to decide which is which. These snippets offer insight into a culture little known elsewhere. It is, at turns, insightful into human nature or irreverent, even simultaneously when it suited the author's perception of his world, focused mainly on the middle of the last century. An exhilarating thing about this collection of short stories is you get servings of farce ricocheting through decades of life on parallel paths with tidbits of poignant ordinary existence and the occasional stark truth of the ignoble mindlessness of such things as how war is often conducted. Savor these emotional sojourns one at a time or in a sitting or two: enjoy as snacks or feasts. Browse until you're satisfied. If you love language, read them aloud -- to someone you care about or just yourself -- for the pure joy of the sounds. This is a delicious read.

Glen Williamson (Google him) has been performing two of these stories for years as a one-man play: "Who Am I This Time?" and "The Kid Nobody Could Handle." "Cheers and congratulations again! Your performance Tuesday evening was truly extraordinary. I feel so fortunate to have been there. I called Kurt [Vonnegut] the next morning and raved about you - then wrote him a note and raved some more." --Sally Forbes, Executive Director, The Beaux Arts Alliance, New York, NY "It was so good to see your [Vonnegut] show, which I enjoyed enormously. The stories were delightful. There was a thread running through both stories - the oddball characters, and the need for imagination to give them their place in the community. I loved your characterizations, and was bubbling with mirth at the end of the "Romeo and Juliet" piece, as was the rest of the audience." -- Andrew Floyd Stroud, England "I attended [The Kid Nobody Could Handle and Who Am I This Time?] with sixth, seventh, eighth graders from both Waldorf and public schools. The children were captivated. The plots and characters seemed to speak to them profoundly. Glen is a very skilled actor. He brought the characters to life beautifully, fleshing out the unique details and idiosyncrasies of each so that we all felt like we knew them well. He is a flexible, versatile actor able to portray an incredible range of characters. It was powerful and memorable. You could hear a pin drop in that auditorium...and that's saying something for middle school kids." -- Jill Wolcott Lake Champlain Waldorf School Shelburne, Vermont

Another review describes this collection of short stories as "a good introduction to Kurt Vonnegut" so I thought I'd give it a shot, especially since being a collection of short stories, if I didn't like something, I could move on to the next. As it turned out, I liked all of the stories and finished the entire collection quite quickly. I found it interesting that I had read one of the stories, Harrison Bergeron, back in high school. As I reread it, the scenes I imaged all of those years ago came back to me. I have thought about the story from time to time over the decade and a half since I read it, so I think that speaks for the quality of content. I also found Welcome to the Monkey House highly amusing. The entire collection is science fiction, a genre I typically don't like, but the stories are not so far "out there" that you cannot imagine them being true. Vonnegut has a dark sense of humor throughout which I thoroughly enjoyed. I recommend this one.

Love the book and the author himself! Unfortunately, the book didn’t have anything covering it or protecting it during shipping and delivery, so it came in bent. It is what it is.

A short story is a great format in that it allows a writer to focus in on a single idea or episode, then forces the writer to make their point quickly and concisely (or at least that's the hope). In the instances when Kurt Vonnegut executes that formula well in this collection of short stories, you get some of his clearest and most insightful work. At the same time, there are a few turkeys thrown into the mix, but they don't take much away from this book. One thing I'd recommend to readers is that they read a story or two at a time, then read something else before returning to this collection. The stories start to sound and feel quite similar after a while and begin to lose their impact. I wish I could go back and space out my reading more than I did. In my opinion, the best stories come early in the book with weaker tales bringing up the rear. However, another reviewer makes exactly the opposite point. Maybe I was just worn out on Vonnegut stories by the end, or maybe that's just the fun of reading something and having your own reaction to it. In the end, that's what makes Vonnegut so good: he makes you react as a reader. Essential reading for the Vonnegut enthusiast.

Watched an old interview of kurt Vonnegut on Jon Stewart and Jon Stewart said it was Vonnegut's books that got him through his adolescence. I am experiencing my mid life adolescence. My son has schizo effective disorder hearing voices and seeing things. Some have explained this as a rather sane reaction to a crazy world. If the way humans behave doesn't make you crazy then you have the mental health problems not the other way around. What amazed me most is that many of these stories were written over sixty years ago. When I see the date of publication of the stories I am shocked - they are all relevant to problems we have today. All are stories that reflect Mr Vonnegut's love of humanity and his sadness with the lack of broad perspective we have as a group. I suspect some of the personal tragedies in his life led to this depth of insight in his writing. Every story in this collection is a gem. I only wish he were still alive so I could thank him for helping me to get through this difficult part of my life. Recommend to anyone and everyone.

Early short stories from Vonnegut. Always great to read again.

As usual great stuff from Vonnegut, this was brought to rejuvenate my old Vonnegut collection.

A good read. A collection of many short stories from Vonnegut. If you like his novels you will most likely be fond of this one. All the stories have an emotional impact, and they showcase different writing styles from Vonnegut.

Vonnegut is a must read, but is not for everyone - ironically.

Very good science fiction and fantasy stories.