Look At The Birdie

Unpublished Short Fiction
Kurt Vonnegut

When I saw Kurt Vonnegut's name in the new fiction section I couldn't resist taking the book home. Overall, despite being a posthumous publication, which often means writings dredged up by a publisher from an author's dregs, Look At The Birdie does not disappoint.

The stories in this collection would not be considered science fiction for the most part. There are no toilet plunger shaped Tralfamadorians, no time travel, no outrageously simple but impossible inventions. Kilgore Trout is not mentioned once. In fact the book is quite refreshing. The stories are set in a vaguely in the twentieth century, or, in one case, the great depression. Vonnegut goes for the O. Henry ending in most of these stories.

Each story is accompanied by one of Vonnegut's pen and ink drawings, which are interesting, but at the same time, it's probably best that he didn't try to make his living as an artist. Vonnegut would have sold used cars all his life if that were the case.

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keywords: Kurt Vonnegut, short stories, short fiction