scottnap's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
crunden's review
❧ audiobook review
He searched his conscience in vain for a grain of remorse to justify the desolating punishment the general had promised. When you punish somebody, you take away from them what they want, he reasoned. All I had in the whole wide world was my music, so that's what I lost: everything.
A new old Vonnegut. I'm not sure you can go wrong with a novella by Kurt Vonnegut that's narrated by Colin Hanks! This is one of Vonnegut's unpublished stories, likely written in the 1940s, it seems. I haven't come across it before today and was in the mood for a Vonnegut story. It's a good novella, and follows a teenager named Haley Brandon when he comes to stay with a man who insists upon calling himself the General. I saw a few Salinger comparisons and I can see it. If you've read Salinger's shorts, I totally get the same vibe.
I recommend the audiobook for sure! Colin Hanks is a great narrator and really brings Vonnegut's words to life ♥
☆ Blog | Twitter ☆
He searched his conscience in vain for a grain of remorse to justify the desolating punishment the general had promised. When you punish somebody, you take away from them what they want, he reasoned. All I had in the whole wide world was my music, so that's what I lost: everything.
A new old Vonnegut. I'm not sure you can go wrong with a novella by Kurt Vonnegut that's narrated by Colin Hanks! This is one of Vonnegut's unpublished stories, likely written in the 1940s, it seems. I haven't come across it before today and was in the mood for a Vonnegut story. It's a good novella, and follows a teenager named Haley Brandon when he comes to stay with a man who insists upon calling himself the General. I saw a few Salinger comparisons and I can see it. If you've read Salinger's shorts, I totally get the same vibe.
I recommend the audiobook for sure! Colin Hanks is a great narrator and really brings Vonnegut's words to life ♥
☆ Blog | Twitter ☆
paulmslima's review
3.0
Wow. A straight novel by Kurt Vonnegut. How unusual. While not earth shattering, satiric or science fiction in any way, it's a good read -- interesting to read his earlier stuff. Very domestic and, although it's not about WWII, you can see the influence of the war on it. Good fun; worth reading.
joshuabohnsack's review
3.0
This was interesting. It certainly wasn't "bad," though proved to be predictable. I like when Vonnegut occasionally leaves the sci-fi to the side and writes within a realist view. These stories often seem very human.
This piece left me feeling anxious for every character and there were unresolved depth to their personalities, which I could never quite grasp.
Overall, good, short read and a decent find for any canonical reader of Vonnegut.
This piece left me feeling anxious for every character and there were unresolved depth to their personalities, which I could never quite grasp.
Overall, good, short read and a decent find for any canonical reader of Vonnegut.
francomega's review
4.0
How about an unpublished KV novella? Why, yes, thank you. Like finding money in an old pair of jeans. This is early KV, before he found his voice and stylistic groove. But he could always write and this is a real nice, sweet story.
darwin8u's review
3.0
A previously unpublished novella by Vonnegut. Basic Training is not nearly as absurdist or fanciful as his later novels. The plot/setting/characters are all structurally congruous and reasonable. Basic Training is basically a quaint bildungsroman that deals with issues of love, authoritarianism, family and heroism. It reminded me a lot of J.D. Salinger's and Carson McCuller's novellas, and wouldn't feel too overshadowed by those authors or out of place in the pages of Harpers, the New Yorker, or the Saturday Evening Post of the 1940s and 1950s.
jasond's review
3.0
ok, some nonsensical parts, but a rather heavy handed conclusion and not as much character development as one would hope for.
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