Monday, May 26, 2008

Happy Birthday, Wanda June

Author: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

First line: How do you do. My name is Penelope Ryan. This is a simple-minded play about men who enjoy killing--and those who don't.

Why you should read this book: Balancing on the razor's edge between comedy and tragedy, in Vonnegut's inimitable way, this play pitches readers into the dark world of Harold Ryan, a man who makes killing both his business and his pleasure. Declared dead after eight years in Africa, he returns home to find his wife engaged to one of her two suitors, a peace-loving doctor. With darkest humor, Harold's journey takes him from volatile expression of aggressive machismo to an anachronism unfit for the modern world.

Why you shouldn't read this book: Nothing makes you feel manlier than taking the life of a creature weaker than yourself, preferably with your bare hands.

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