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kevin_shepherd's review
4.0
A posthumous Vonnegut publication that is part Kurt and all Suzanne McConnell. A graduate course in creative writing teeming with advice and examples from the man who rewrote the book on creative writing.
Speaking of writing, consider this: when McConnell isn’t writing about writing she is writing about what Vonnegut said and wrote about writing. It occurred to me, as I sat here writing about McConnell writing about Vonnegut writing about writing, that I’ve fallen into something of a wormhole. If, for example, someone were to comment here they would be writing something about my writing about McConnell’s writing about Vonnegut’s writing about writing. Which, paradoxically, brings to mind one of Vonnegut’s cardinal rules of writing: “Avoid repetition.”
Speaking of writing, consider this: when McConnell isn’t writing about writing she is writing about what Vonnegut said and wrote about writing. It occurred to me, as I sat here writing about McConnell writing about Vonnegut writing about writing, that I’ve fallen into something of a wormhole. If, for example, someone were to comment here they would be writing something about my writing about McConnell’s writing about Vonnegut’s writing about writing. Which, paradoxically, brings to mind one of Vonnegut’s cardinal rules of writing: “Avoid repetition.”
tsuntsun's review
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Lovely
caitlin_leach's review
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
rpearcemoses's review against another edition
3.0
Some good insights on writing, but I really question Vonnegut being listed as an author. It's filled with his ideas and many, many bits and pieces. Ultimately, though, the book is an assemblage by Suzanne McConnell. She was a student and friend of Vonnegut. She was asked to write it by the Vonnegut Trust, so there's a certain authority here. Still, the books statement of responsibility seems a bit misleading.
Weird design with huge swashes between sections.
Weird design with huge swashes between sections.
alexrobinsonsupergenius's review
4.0
A bit misleading since it’s more a book about Vonnegut’s tips for writers than a proper book by him, but still an entertaining and thoughtful read.
gracereadssmut's review
3.0
This craft book was harder for me to get through than other recent reads. There is good writing advice inside but you have to sift through a lot of personal anecdotes and novel excerpts to get to it, which I found to be distracting rather than enlightening. Maybe I just need to read more Vonnegut to appreciate this book.
gijs's review
3.0
A wide and extensive sampling of Vonnegut’s oeuvre by one of his students, with a focus on his teaching style (and substance). An agreeable compilation but nothing that you can’t cobble together from available sources.
donasbooks's review against another edition
4.0
"Sometimes I don’t consider myself very good at life, so I hide in my profession." p356
I know I can relate to this statement from Kurt Vonnegut, and I know many writers who also can. But the truth is, Vonnegut was intuitively brilliant "at life" -- he was insightful, empathetic, resolute. Again, I know many writers who are -- these traits aid them in their work, as they did Vonnegut. PITY THE READER explores in depth how Vonnegut's approach to life translates into an approach to writing, which produced fiction that changed the world.
As an actual style guide, this book is not very useful, unless your goal is to write like Kurt Vonnegut. But PITY THE READER is a fascinating stand-in for the writing memoir Vonnegut never wrote. It delves deeply into Vonnegut's impetus to write, and his process.
From his scattered notes, talks, and letters, McConnell manages to gather several pieces of advice, some mundane, a few personal to Vonnegut. Taken together, however, these suggestions can't really be called a style guide -- perhaps a cheat sheet. What is of more interest and value to the writer are the life lessons, such as the chapter about mental illness. Writers' mental illness, their families' mental illness, their depictions of mental illness in their writing, Vonneguts own process of understanding mental illness in his life, in Chapter 34: Caring for Your Piece in the Game. There's a chapter about presenting your humor, which seems given, seeing that Vonnegut favored dark, dry humor.
There are also surprising, invaluable gems like this, from p362: My wife [Jill] said to me the other day, after a knock-down-drag-out fight about interior decoration, “I don’t love you anymore.” And I said to her, “So what else is new?” She really didn’t love me then, which was perfectly normal. She will love me some other time—I think, I hope. It’s possible. If she had wanted to terminate the marriage, to carry it past the point of no return, she would have had to say, “I don’t respect you anymore.” Now—that would be terminal.
I read the Kindle version of this book, which has some real organization issues. The information seemed lumped together to me, and I yearned for some sort of headings or at least more compartmentalization. Still, PITY THE READER is a really excellent read if you love Vonnegut and want to know more about his process or style.
But if you want a good style manual, I would recommend something different, like Steven Pinker's THE SENSE OF STYLE or Ben Yagoda's THE SOUND ON THE PAGE.
Rating 3.5 stars rounded up
Finished July 2022
Recommended to Kurt Vonnegut fans, students of style, fans of writing memoirs
I know I can relate to this statement from Kurt Vonnegut, and I know many writers who also can. But the truth is, Vonnegut was intuitively brilliant "at life" -- he was insightful, empathetic, resolute. Again, I know many writers who are -- these traits aid them in their work, as they did Vonnegut. PITY THE READER explores in depth how Vonnegut's approach to life translates into an approach to writing, which produced fiction that changed the world.
As an actual style guide, this book is not very useful, unless your goal is to write like Kurt Vonnegut. But PITY THE READER is a fascinating stand-in for the writing memoir Vonnegut never wrote. It delves deeply into Vonnegut's impetus to write, and his process.
From his scattered notes, talks, and letters, McConnell manages to gather several pieces of advice, some mundane, a few personal to Vonnegut. Taken together, however, these suggestions can't really be called a style guide -- perhaps a cheat sheet. What is of more interest and value to the writer are the life lessons, such as the chapter about mental illness. Writers' mental illness, their families' mental illness, their depictions of mental illness in their writing, Vonneguts own process of understanding mental illness in his life, in Chapter 34: Caring for Your Piece in the Game. There's a chapter about presenting your humor, which seems given, seeing that Vonnegut favored dark, dry humor.
There are also surprising, invaluable gems like this, from p362: My wife [Jill] said to me the other day, after a knock-down-drag-out fight about interior decoration, “I don’t love you anymore.” And I said to her, “So what else is new?” She really didn’t love me then, which was perfectly normal. She will love me some other time—I think, I hope. It’s possible. If she had wanted to terminate the marriage, to carry it past the point of no return, she would have had to say, “I don’t respect you anymore.” Now—that would be terminal.
I read the Kindle version of this book, which has some real organization issues. The information seemed lumped together to me, and I yearned for some sort of headings or at least more compartmentalization. Still, PITY THE READER is a really excellent read if you love Vonnegut and want to know more about his process or style.
But if you want a good style manual, I would recommend something different, like Steven Pinker's THE SENSE OF STYLE or Ben Yagoda's THE SOUND ON THE PAGE.
Rating 3.5 stars rounded up
Finished July 2022
Recommended to Kurt Vonnegut fans, students of style, fans of writing memoirs