Welcome To The Monkey House (1998) - Plot & Excerpts
Vonnegut does a wonderful job with a short story and while most stories were "okay" to "yeah, I liked it I guess", it's definitely worth it for the few 4 to 5 star ratings."Where I Live" (Venture- Traveler’s World, October 1964) - 2/5 Kinda boring and no real plot. Just meandering"Harrison Bergeron" (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1961) - 5/5 Loved this one - science fiction - Handicapping people so everything is fair and no one can take unfair advantage because of their looks, intelligence, physical prowess, etc. Sad but true and hilarious at the same time - exactly what Vonnegut does best."Who Am I This Time?" (The Saturday Evening Post, 16 December 1961) - 3/5 A play that I guess Vonnegut had to put on (Street Car Named Desire). I don't know if it's a true story or what, but it sounded autobiographical. Main actor who acts amazingly in everything and duddy female actor who he is able to bring out of her shell."Welcome to the Monkey House" (Playboy, January 1968) - 4/5 - Another science fiction story where the world is overpopulated and there exists a mandatory pill called "ethical birth control" that doesn't make it impossible to have children (the ethical part), but makes you numb from the waist down. Another sad but true, although I don't quite agree with the jab against religion in this one."Long Walk to Forever" (Ladies Home Journal, August 1960) - 3/5 A military man visits a woman he's in love with and who's about to get married."The Foster Portfolio" (Collier's Magazine, 8 September 1951) - 2/5 Nothing really exciting here. A financial consultant consults a man who's reasons for how he manages his money are more than they seem."Miss Temptation" (The Saturday Evening Post, April 21 1956) - 3/5 An actress struts her stuff, but is brought down for no reason she can help."All the King's Horses" (Collier's Magazine, 10 Feb 1951) - 5/5 A game of chess becomes a game of survival. Definitely one of the best of the collection"Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog" (Collier's Magazine, 14 March 1953) - 4/5 A funny story about a really annoying "me monster" (Brian Regen) who corners a man in the park."New Dictionary" (The New York Times, October 1966) - 3/5 Who hasn't looked up dirty words in the dictionary? :)"Next Door" (Cosmopolitan, April 1955) -4/5 Pretty funny story about a kid who hears fighting next door and tries to help. Assume makes a what out of whom?"More Stately Mansions" (Collier's Magazine, 22 December 1951) - 3/5 Quaint story about interior decorating."The Hyannis Port Story" - 3/5 Secret Service calls a Commodore Rumfoord (a name that comes up a few times in Vonnegut's work) about his son. Rumfoord is not a big Kennedy fan."D.P." (Ladies Home Journal, August 1953) - 3/5 A kid in a prison camp meets his "father"."Report on the Barnhouse Effect" (Collier's Magazine, 11 February 1950) - 3/5 - SciFi - Barnhouse is a scientist who discovers an interesting talent he has."The Euphio Question" (Collier's Magazine, 12 May 1951) - 4/5 - SciFi - An interesting discovery leads to "happiness" although it's more than you bargain for."Go Back to Your Precious Wife and Son" (Ladies Home Journal, July 1962) - 3/5 A famous actress and her fifth husband have some work done on their bathroom."Deer in the Works" (Esquire, April 1955) 3.5/5 An owner of a newspaper decides he needs something more secure and gets hired on at a large corporation. Say bye bye to your freedom."The Lie" (The Saturday Evening Post 24 February 1962) - 3.5/5 About a father's excitement for his son to enter boarding school."Unready to Wear" (Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1953) - 4/5 - SciFi - Bodies are really just a pain in the neck aren't they?"The Kid Nobody Could Handle" (The Saturday Evening Post, 24 September 1955) - 2/5 A boy who's been neglected all his life acts out. Actions speak louder than words."The Manned Missiles" (Cosmopolitan, July 1958) - 4/5 This was a really emotional tale about two astronauts' fathers writing each other whose sons recently died. "EPICAC" (Collier's Magazine, 25 November 1950) - 4/5 - SciFi - Our narrator has a discussion with the smartest machine in the world."Adam" (Cosmopolitan, April 1954) - 3/5 - This one was definitely close to home for me, I have a seven month old. Babies are great."Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (Galaxy Science Fiction, January 1954) - 4/5 - SciFi - Another story about overpopulation in the future. In this one, because of a new anti-aging drug, there are so many people, each family lives together for generations and there are no more resources.
The BasicsA series of short stories (and even a couple of articles) by Kurt Vonnegut.My ThoughtsSad to say, the first thing I want to address is that the title story of this collection (“Welcome to the Monkey House”) is one of the most horrifically unfortunate things I’ve ever read. I want to sit here and tell myself that Vonnegut was from a different time, blah blah. I can’t justify it. And I can’t not talk about it openly and honestly. TRIGGER WARNING: the story has what is basically date rape, and it attempts to make this seem entirely normal and okay. And it just isn’t. Older fiction has a lot of unfortunate implications in it, and you have to be somewhat prepared for that stuff, but I was genuinely shocked to see something like that as written by Vonnegut. It just felt backwards and insensitive, and while he’s quick to pull out the offensive and stick it in your face, this was on a whole other level.Having said that, can I judge an entire collection on one story? No, that’s not really fair. Especially considering the rest of them don’t contain anything remotely like that, and almost all of them are strong, well-written stories that I really enjoyed. The reason I was shocked in the first place was because Vonnegut never came off as that deeply insensitive to women, at least not from my perspective. The rest of the stories reflect that, being satires and science fiction and mostly about the human condition not including such a heavy, knee-jerk-inducing subject.As for the tales here that make it worth reading (just take my advice and skip the title story entirely), “EPICAC” was one of the first ones I purposely flipped to, and it’s both short and lovely. “Harrison Bergeron” is a famous one collected here, and if you ask me, for good reason. “Euphorio” was another, fantastic, science fiction story that deserves to be read, especially for that ending. I also found “All The King’s Horses” to be very tense and suspenseful. Those are just my favorites boiled down from too many to name, as there is a lot of really great writing here. So the final verdict is I recommend the collection save one story. It really is easily skippable and ignored, and the rest are worth your time.Final Rating4/5
What do You think about Welcome To The Monkey House (1998)?
Aseara dupa ce am intrat in posesia cartii, mi-am spus "hai sa vad cum incepe". Am citit prefata (semnata de autor) si nu m-am mai oprit pina nu am terminat primele 5 povestiri, printre care si Harrison Bergeron o scurta distopie de tip orwellian, absolut tulburatoare, de care eram interesat in mod deosebit dupa ce am vazut ecranizarea-i superba in filmul de 25 de minute, 2081. In mare, filmul respecta povestea, dar, nu reuseste sa redea latura ironica existenta in povestire — un amanunt nesemnificativ pentru mine in conditiile in care overall pelicula este splendida. La fel si coloana sonora.
—David
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut is a collection of short stories from the 50s and 60s and demonstrates Vonnegut’s tremendous range as a writer. I have read one critic who did not like Vonnegut, saying that all of his novels are essentially the same, with his voice and tone narrating each new set of facts. I agreed somewhat, but still liked the way he writes and have enjoyed every one of his works I have read. The stories in this collection, however, written earlier than most of his novels, displays a great variety of themes and models, and though Vonnegut’s signature humor is evident in many, he shows a different, often more emotional side in many stories. “Harrison Bergeron”, the dystopian classic, is undoubtedly the most recognizable of these shorts, but several others have clearly been influential to other writers and filmmakers. “Welcome to the Monkey House” and “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” both address over population, but from Vonnegut’s unique perspective. Several stories speak to Vonnegut’s stance on demilitarization and illuminating the idiocy of industrial war making. Stories like “D.P.”, “Adam”, and “Next Door”, though, originally published in Ladies Home Journal and Cosmopolitan, reveal an unguarded sentimentality and humanity that is not as evident in much of Vonnegut’s later works. A very good read.
—Lyn
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.
—Manny
