Review: Not the Vonnegut You Know
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 1, 2012
I had high hopes for "Basic Training," but it's not Vonnegut's best. You can see elements of the master here - his sarcasm, his wit, his penchant for the fantastical, but the novella follows a more traditional story line than the typical Vonnegut novel meaning it's quite linear. Of course, the publisher says it was intended for Collier's or Saturday Evening Post so that's understandable.In the 1940s, some of Vonnegut's later work never would have flown. "Basic Training" might have had he found a publisher that would have taken it, but it isn't Vonnegut's best work. Still, not a bad story.