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Bagombo Snuff Box (Abridged) Audiobook
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(3.00) - 5,845 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
This is vintage Vonnegut: short stories never-before collected or published in book form. They are from the era of the Golden Age of magazines: a pre-television time when publications such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Argosy, and others reigned supreme as Americans' entertainment choice. Before that Golden Age drew to a close half a century ago, a young PR man at General Electric sold his first short story to one of the publications. By the time he'd sold his third, Vonnegut quit GE to join the likes of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner to write short stories at fifteen-hundred dollars a piece. Vonnegut himself has selected the best of these early stories for this audio collection, and has written a new preface and afterword for the occasion. Now listeners can relive the genesis of the master. Stories such as "Cruise of the Jolly Roger," "The Powder Blue Dragon," "Hal Irwin's Magic Lamp," and "Bagombo Snuff Box" return us to the beginning of a literary voice that's sure to endure forever. Bagombo Snuff Box, the missing pieces of the master's collection, is a ready-made classic for Vonnegut fans new and old.
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"This is a really nice collection of previously uncollected Vonnegut short stories. These were written in the late forties and appeared in various magazines. I think it's an important collection for serious Vonnegut fans, because it presents a great study of this master storyteller's early development as a writer. Already, he is exploring some of the themes he will later develop in much greater detail. And while it's not quite as sharp yet as it will eventually become, there are the beginnings of the acerbic Vonnegut wit that I so love."
— Bill (4 out of 5 stars)
Bagombo Snuff Box Listener Reviews
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" Good stuff...early Vonnegut...not quite as good as most of his stuff, but still worth a read if you are a Vonnegut fan..and who is not? "
— Jeff, 2/10/2014 -
" Too young. They're not ripe yet. "
— Will, 2/9/2014 -
" My first time reading Kurt Vonnegut. "
— Laura, 2/8/2014 -
" Vonnegut is always a little out there "
— Frank, 2/7/2014 -
" Some stories are downright boring. Most of them do not have happy endings, and that I can truly appreciate. The repeating themes are coming into/out of wealth, and relationships with husband/wife or parent/child. Overall one of his weakest works in my opinion. I wouldn't recommend it to a friend. "
— Dj, 2/1/2014 -
" Found the Dolmetscher short story hilarious. "
— Iida, 1/22/2014 -
" 1st ed. "
— Jonathan, 1/8/2014 -
" Writing lesson: solid, simple plots make great shorts. "
— Alec, 1/7/2014 -
" He sold these to various magazines in the 40's and 50's. I'd forgotten how much I liked his short stories from college. "
— Loreldonaghey, 1/3/2014 -
" Some of the short stories are really good, but there are a lot of fairly average stories. "
— Darren, 12/18/2013 -
" As a Vonnegut fan I was excited to read this book, but largely disappointed by it. I appreciate how it illuminates the times in which he was writing, but to me the collection lacks Vonnegut's masterful style and wit. The stories are largely trite. "
— Luke, 12/15/2013 -
" Vonnegut's early magazine short stories for Colliers, et cetera. I've heard that Vonnegut pooh-poohed them, but I found them pretty entertaining. "
— Evan, 12/4/2013 -
" Not quite as good as Welcome to the Monkey House. But some of the stories were very good. "
— Elaina, 12/1/2013 -
" He's one of my favorites and his short stories are my favey-favorites. "
— Kara, 9/7/2013 -
" An enjoyable dose of humor. "
— Alessandra, 8/10/2013 -
" This book was in my backpack for about a year. I read it on almost every flight I was on, read in every airport, read in cabs, it was my travel companion. I love this book! "
— Russell, 8/2/2013 -
" After more than 30 years I still enjoy Vonnegut's ability to tella story "
— Alan, 5/6/2013 -
" There's some charming stories in here, but a lot of them don't have the Kurt Vonnegut signature rythm and feel that I like. It's worth checking out for fans that are starving for more Vonnegut, but not much really memorable material. "
— Steven, 12/27/2012 -
" Almost like a sequel to Welcome to the Monkey House! His short stories are on par with Twain and I am always looking for more. "
— Kai, 9/14/2012 -
" Vonnegut can be a difficult read if you aren't really ready to read something for the day. He is a great writer though! GET IN THE MOOD! "
— Simpletenna, 7/12/2012 -
" One of my favorite book introductions of all time. "
— Rick, 4/25/2012 -
" Hands down my favorite book. If you're one of those people who always seems to start a book and then forget about it - or you've never been introduced to Vonnegut - this is the book for you! "
— Crystal, 3/30/2012 -
" If you've read Welcome to the Monkey House and loved it, this is your next logical step. Lesser-known short fiction by Vonnegut that's every bit as good as the rest. "
— Shannon, 9/10/2011 -
" I always enjoy reading Vonnegut short fiction. I may like reading them better than his novels in fact. "
— Jon, 7/9/2011 -
" Enjoyable late night read. Incredibly less bizarre than his later novels and short stories, but still decidedly edgy. "
— Lauren, 6/23/2011 -
" Great short story book "
— Jennie, 5/2/2011 -
" Sometimes there's a good reason stories are left unpublished. "
— Tamara, 4/17/2011 -
" As a Vonnegut fan I was excited to read this book, but largely disappointed by it. I appreciate how it illuminates the times in which he was writing, but to me the collection lacks Vonnegut's masterful style and wit. The stories are largely trite. "
— Luke, 3/30/2011 -
" Really fun if you like short stories "
— Deanna, 3/29/2011 -
" If you've read Welcome to the Monkey House and loved it, this is your next logical step. Lesser-known short fiction by Vonnegut that's every bit as good as the rest. "
— Shannon, 2/27/2011 -
" These stories are all entertaining and fun to read. Vonnegut's best previously published short stories are in Welcome to the Monkey House, but the ones here still show the strength of a compassionate writer with a sense of humor who knows how to write a good story. "
— Matt, 12/16/2010 -
" Vonnegut + short stories = eggselent. "
— Paul, 11/19/2010 -
" Vonnegut can be a difficult read if you aren't really ready to read something for the day. He is a great writer though! GET IN THE MOOD! "
— Simpletenna, 11/1/2010 -
" Found the Dolmetscher short story hilarious. "
— Iida, 9/15/2010 -
" a collection of vonnegut's short stories. as an undying vonnegut fan i found them all quite good, but of course some were better than others. it has a nice mix of genres, some romance, some war, etc. but for a book of short stories, it was definitely worth reading. "
— Laurencbiggs, 8/18/2010 -
" A couple of great stories, but overall a mediocre read. "
— Patrick, 7/28/2010 -
" This might be my favorite collection of Vonnegut stories. Each says so much by description and events, rather than outright telling the reader what to think. Cheers. "
— Tracy, 7/18/2010 -
" Some nice stories, and some that just didn't do a lot for me. "
— Jeremy, 7/10/2010 -
" I liked the short stories in Armageddon in Retrospect better. "
— Eliot, 7/9/2010 -
" Many of these stories take some little pseud-O. Henry twist at the end, and there's really nothing in here that's recognizably 'Vonnegut,' but I found something charmingly quaint about their old-fashioned, borderline Norman Rockwell conventions. They sure don't make 'em like they used ta. "
— Tyler, 6/12/2010
About Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) was a master of contemporary American literature. His black humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America’s attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him as “a true artist” with Cat’s Cradle in 1963.