I just finished "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, or Pearl's Before Swine" by Kurt Vonnegut. This was my second Vonnegut book that I have read. I must say that once I figured out what was going on I liked it very much. Kurt Vonnegut had a style of writing that gets to the point very quickly. I had to read some of it a few times just to figure out what he meant.
The book focuses on Eliot Rosewater, who is the trustee of a foundation that was founded by his rich father, a former senator, in order to keep the tax man from taking the money. Eliot receives a pension of 3.5 million dollars from the foundation, and a large legal firm in New York City runs the foundation. Norman Mushari, one of the lawyer, wishes to declare Eliot insane in order to take a portion of the money for himself under the pretense of giving it all to a distant relative of Eliot's in Rhode Island, Fred Rosewater, who is a poor insurance salesman. Eliot wanders around, from town to town, doing what he thinks philanthropists are supposed to do. Finally he settles in Rosewater County, the place where his family is supposed to be from, and becomes a firefighter. The whole book is basically short stories that chronicle this. Kilgore Trout, from Breakfast of Champions (who is also Vonnegut's alter ego in the books) as well as Diana Moon Glampers from Harrison Bergeron.
And oh, yes, it rocks.
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2 comments:
I wish to have such pension... It would be nice (for me). I'm preparing another post with celebreties from the 80's, even you don't remember nothing from that time =) That was a nice time... Instead of those bizarre things that I told on my last post.
I can't believe I've never read this.
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