Look at the Birdie

I guess this is my second book in a row by the same author. But it had been so long since I last read some Vonnegut, I'm okay with double-dipping. Look at the Birdie is a recently released compilation of Kurt Vonnegut short stories- one of several posthumous releases- that's entertaining while it lasts and touches on some interesting ideas, but in the end feel decidedly un-Vonnegut. That's not to say it's bad or not worth reading, but the staples of Kurt's writing are mostly gone- most notably his sense of humor. Most of the stories, even when they are a little funny, eschew his laid-back style of story telling for a more serious approach. The first story, Confido, about a gadget that talks to people and agrees with everything in their subconscious is the only one that's obviously written by Kurt himself, while others are uncharacteristically optimistic (FUBAR, The Honor of a Newsboy), pessimistic (The Good Explainer, Look at the Birdie), or just plain directionless (A Song for Selma, The Nice Little People). There's plenty of good stuff to read here though. The high point to me is clearly Ed Luby's Key Club- clocking in at around 50 pages, it's a bit lengthy for a 'short story', but was a gripping, tense piece that reminded me of An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge, minus the twist but with an even better ending. Still though, it's odd to see Kurt create such great tension- it wasn't long ago when he put asterisks next to character names in Galapagos to indicate which characters wouldn't live to see the end of the book. Despite the changes though, there were enough interesting ideas and well-told stories here that I'll be glad to check out the other posthumous works- Armageddon in Retrospect and While Mortals Sleep.