Look at the Birdie

Look at the Birdie
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Copyright 2009

 I was in my late teens when a boy gave me Cat's Cradle.  I never told Drew how much the book affected me.  I became a Vonnegut junkie.  I saw so much of myself in him.  Vonnegut was a sullen smart ass that the world loved (still waiting for my adoration).  I have read all of his books, have several signed books, and God Bless You Mr. Rosewater is still one of my favorite books.  Despite my voracious appetite for all things Vonnegut, Look at the Birdie sat on my bookshelf for a long time.

Look at the Birdie is a compilation of fourteen of Kurt's unpublished short stories.   For the most part the stories reveal the chink in the armor of human nature.  They are tales of paranoia, pride, envy, and loss.   I think most of the stories must have been written while Vonnegut was in a dark place, they have a pessimistic quality.  I felt intrusive reading them.  Some of these stories were written a long time ago, there must have been a reason he didn't publish them.  Maybe they were just his idea of therapy, never meant to be read.  He spent tedious amounts of time editing his published works.  But the stories in Birdie are rough, lacking the tale tell Vonnegut humor (though others claim to see it).  None of the stories really stood on their own, but together they certainly provide a glimpse of raw Vonnegut. 

Because I relate to Vonnegut so well, I think his pessimism struck a chord with me.  Especially in its harshness.  I saw too much of my own negativity in his stories.  Now, I must work up the courage to read While Mortals Sleep.