Welcome to the Monkey House
by Kurt Vonnegut (1968)
2022 reads, 16/20:
A must-read for any Vonnegut fan – I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would, as I’m normally not a short story person (maybe because the last collection I read was The Decameron Project: 29 New Stories from the Pandemic, which just didn’t really do it for me). But while those stories varied immensely in style and prose, this seemingly diverse set of stories are all connected together by Vonnegut’s signature social commentary via black humor.
Written and published anywhere from 1950-1968, they span a range of genres, including sci-fi shorts (“The Euphio Question”, “EPICAC”, “Report on the Barnhouse Effect”), dystopian futures (“Harrison Bergeron”, “Welcome to the Monkey House”, “Unready to Wear”), suburban dramas (“The Hyannis Port Story”, “Next Door”, “The Foster Portfolio”), and even purely heartwarming/emotional stories (“Long Walk to Forever”, “More Stately Mansions”, “The Manned Missiles”).
These stories are held together by the thread of critiquing the society and politics of the American dream in the 1950s. Many seem to have allusions of specific events in the early to mid-20th century, such as the development of the atomic bomb, the space race, or the Great Depression. A good number of stories also commented on the post-war American workforce, and those reminded me very much of Vonnegut’s first novel, Player Piano.
Most of these were excellent reads, and all are worth reading, but here are my personal standouts:
- “Harrison Bergeron” (1960)
- “All The King’s Horses” (1951): had me on the edge of my seat!
- “The Euphio Question” (1951)
- “Deer in the Works” (1955): such a profound statement said in such a simple story
- “EPICAC” (1950)