Comments on: Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt

By: Raili Simojoki

Raili Simojoki — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:11:39 +0000

I mean, in a manner of speaking.. not matter of speaking.

By: Raili Simojoki

Raili Simojoki — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:38:53 +0000

I wasn’t sure if I’d get through the 60 pages, but I couldn’t put it down (in a matter of speaking)…thankyou!

By: Peter Alton

Peter Alton — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:39:27 +0000

Very happy I took the time. Thank you.

By: Rosalinda

Rosalinda — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:58:05 +0000

I have never read Vonnegut but was captivated nonetheless by your thoughtful essay. I also went to a college that basks in the unmistakable glow of prosperity, in my case Bard, so I can relate to that part of the piece, although I never read Vonnegut while I was there. No one I knew was reading him. We were too busy trying to decode Derrida and Lacan, I suppose. After college, I lived with an English professor, a literary critic who would periodically make pronouncements like “there’s really no point in reading modern fiction,” or “modern poetry is dead.” It’s amazing sometimes how easily the things people say to you can shape what you read. What an idiot I was to listen. So thank you so much for introducing me to this wonderful author (I adore the quote you found in a letter to him: “I’m afraid I have an almond macaroon for a heart when it comes to your writing.” That is now tattooed on my brain).

It is very timely, I think, to reconsider Vonnegut, now more than ever in this politically challenging and environmentally vexing historical moment. As you rightly point out, there is a real lack of love in this country as far as what we choose to do, what we choose to ignore and way too much self-aggrandizement. Hello, facebook, anyone? How is it that we are so thoughtless and unkind? I am left with the image of Vonnegut himself, old and wizened, facing an audience of many, carefully crossing the stage alone so as not to trip over the microphone cord…and no one there to help him across.

Thanks again for this riveting essay.

By: Isaac Fitzgerald

Isaac Fitzgerald — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:46:12 +0000

Thanks for pointing that out Jono. It’s been corrected.

By: Jono

Jono — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:39:11 +0000

Don’t mean to be a dick, but it’s Delano. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Sorry, I get douchey about spelling.

By: steve almond

steve almond — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:11:52 +0000

i think it’s important to think about what vonnegut would want us to do in the face of our current moral challenges. he made things quite simple, as did Jesus in the beatitudes. he implored for our decency. when i think about what he faced, and how he coped, i’m both grateful and heartbroken. we’re wasting so much love on this earth.

By: Kyle Minor

Kyle Minor — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:43:56 +0000

This is one of the finest essays about the formation of a writer (or, in this case, two writers) that I’ve ever read.

By: Alex Pieske

Alex Pieske — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:06:50 +0000

Great piece Mr. Almond. I was working at chain bookstore when Vonnegut died and had several weeks earlier convinced the merchandising manager to let me replace her Ayn Rand display with Vonnegut. The top row was all Breakfast of Champions, still my favorite Vonnegut, and the book I most often suggested to people when they asked me what I liked to read.

By: Aaron Golbeck

Aaron Golbeck — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:48:03 +0000

Thank you for sharing this.

I also was one of those irrevocably changed by reading all Vonnegut’s books before the age of 18. His work provided the mentorship I sorely needed.

The day he died I woke at 6 a.m. to a text message from an estranged friend who broke the news. I went to work in a daze. I was more stunned (I know it’s sad to say) than I had been by the news of my grandparents deaths. Somehow Kurt Vonnegut had for me a more certain familial bond.

It’s difficult to distill the impact Vonnegut has on his readers, but you’ve done a splendid job here, Steve Almond. It is an emotional effect, to be sure. Somewhere along the line I, too, stopped listing Vonnegut among my favorite authors. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me.