Look At The Birdie is a collection of fourteen previously unpublished short stories penned by Kurt Vonnegut himself. They vary in content from sentimental pieces to Science fiction and, as always, are extremely well written. Another nice feature about this volume, which isn’t a new concept but one I like, is that there are various drawings from Kurt Vonnegut scattered throughout giving it a very nice feel.
Just like Tupac and Nororius B.I.G., Kurt Vonnegut is still releasing books posthumously long after his departure to heaven, the only difference is that Kurt Vonnegut’s short stories weren’t unreleased because they weren’t up to par with the rest of his work. In fact some of the short stories collected in this volume were some of the best I’ve read.
I particularly enjoyed “Hall of Mirrors”, where a hypnotist is approached by two police detectives that suspect him of murder, during the telling, all parties come in and out of control of the situation leaving you guessing who you believe or don’t, finally ending in beautiful irony. These stories go to great lengths in showing you how precise, and how much care Kurt Vonnegut put into writing stories. Especially considering with how good these were, Kurt Vonnegut didn’t seem to think they were perfect yet.
The science fiction elements of his stories have always been well thought out and dug deep into the surface of reality. “The Petrified Ants” did this wonderfully, using the rules of life we know to be true and painting a picture from his imagination that might as well be true as well. This is my favorite type of story telling. Smart.
The introduction is written by Sidney Offit, a novelist that I had never heard of before reading this introduction. That was well written, but maybe too revealing for an introduction. I would just recommend reading it after you’ve read the book.
If you are eager to read some of this before its late October release, than you could go out and pick up the September issue of Playboy, where they published the first story from the book, “Confido” that tells the story of an inventor that stumbles upon an invention that’s bound to make him a millionaire, but his morals get in the way when he finds out what his invention really is.
Kurt Vonnegut is quite simply my favorite author. When I read his work I get a sense of morality that actually makes me think humans are tremendous creatures. When he died I felt that the world lost an abundance of goodness, luckily, that goodness lives on in his works. Pick up this new book by Kurt Vonnegut, and any of his old stuff you haven’t happened to read yet. You might learn something.
Look at the Birdie out today! Buy it here!
(Swank’s review of the book is available here on The Huffington Post)