Short Story Sunday [12]

Where I Live
from: Welcome to the Monkey House
by Kurt Vonnegut

My Welcome to the Monkey House review will be split amongst several weeks of Short Story Sundays.  I will review each short story that appeared in the book.

Review

This story is about Barnstable Village in Barnstable County, on Cape Cod.

I found this very dull, there didn't seem to be a point to the story, it just kind of haphazardly rambled on about Barnstable.  I did enjoy the bit with the seafood and them not realizing you could eat mussels or tuna.

There really isn't much to say about this story.  Though one thing that bothered me with it was it started with an encyclopedia salesman, then he was never mentioned again as Vonnegut got more into describing the village.  But it ended with the library getting a new set of encyclopedias, but there was no closure as to who they got them from.

I give this one a 5/10.  It was slightly amusing, especially if you know the area, but there was nothing really engaging about it.  I listened to this as part of the Welcome to the Monkey House audio book.  It was narrated by Bill Irwin.

Who Am I This Time
from: Welcome to the Monkey House
by Kurt Vonnegut

Review

This story is about a man, Harry Nash, who has no personality but is the most amazing actor, and a woman, Helene Shaw, who falls in love with Nash's character.  

I loved this story.  Helene seemed to fall in love with the character Nash was playing and ignored all attempts by the directors of the play to try to get her to understand that the character was not Nash.

I feel like I can't say too much about this story without giving spoilers.  But I will say this - the ending was awesome, I loved it!  Helene's solution for Harry was great!

I give this one a 9/10.  It was a lot of fun.  I listened to this as part of the Welcome to the Monkey House audio book.  It was narrated by Dylan Baker.