Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1981, Book)

Vonnegut calls this a collage of his life...done via letters, speeches, essays and other works penned by a writer who admits he writes "like a child"... but a very Wise Child...but a child whose Idealism and belief in the Unique Strengths of his country - The United States of America (for whom he fought in World War Two and was given a purple heart)- brought him into conflict with those who never read his works, but who, as "good American citizens" actually banned and even burned many of his books. But his Life Collage is more than that childlike confusion over this conundrum: It shows the roots of what appear to be his cynicism...But it is NOT cynicism: it is a reaction to how others viewed his views...! And it is also an admission of how much pain a human being can expect to be able to take and still Go On with the Thing called Life which binds Us Al together, like it or not. "Out of the mouths of babes"...And "A Child shall lead them"...He was an agnostic who, in so many of his books, refers to God and the Afterlife as possibilities worth considering, if not understanding...making us wonder if he was more "spiritual&am​p;quot; than those who proclaimed themselves aribiters of morality for others....He mentions God, but does not always deny that there could be a God...he just hasn't figured-out how that concept or notion relates to his own life and Time on the planet Earth...So he roams the galaxies of thought and ideas...welcoming confusion as a means of eventually, perhaps,somehow sorting things out!

This book is heavier weather than his previous "lighter&​quot; autobiographical work, Wompeters and Grafaloons...so I advise caution...There is a great deal of pain here, and it is honestly expressed. It is at times, hard for the reader to take. His pain is not cynicism: it is part of an honest portrait of a man's experiences with others who act as children by a man who thinks he writes like a child - when he is just telling the bald truth as he lived it and saw it. So many of the Things we as human beings do and keep on repeatedly doing are so predictable that it makes him miserable that we simply can NOT learn from our own mistakes, no less from our experiences. There is pain, anger, and at times, some level of acceptance of blunt ignorance as some kind of Standard of patriotism and "good moral ideals" by those who DO NOT THINK things through, who do not employ simple logic while proclaiming superior knowledge of The Truth, as they "know" it!

This, a book compiled in 1981, is still painfully relevant to the struggles and divisiveness we face in America and The World Today...and it puts into context works such as The Sirens of Titan...not as Science Fiction, but more a logical consequence of How Things Get Done in the world/jungle we all still somehow manage to inhabit. Bring a raincoat and an umbrella...But look for a heavy duty Insights into a Great Mind, trained by circumstance and Talent...A Must Read for anyone who wishes to get to know the Mind behind A True Master Writer.

Vonnegut tells about writing, life, and his suicide attempt. A trip into the mind one of the great writers of our time.