Review: Good for Fans (for others, probably not so much...)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 22, 2012
Kurt Vonnegut is probably one of my top 5 favorite authors of all time.  With that said, I was really excited to see this novella unearthed -- there's been plenty of Vonnegut B-sides and "outtakes" published recently since his death (my favorite of these is probablyARMAGEDDON IN RETROSPECT).  With this influx previously-unpublished material, there was some good material and some not so great.  Many of these works remained unpublished because they were a little undercooked, and in that regard, BASIC TRAINING really doesn't live up to Vonnegut's solid publishing track record.  That's not to say that it isn't good -- it is -- but it doesn't compare to much of his work that he published in later years.The core story involves a young pianist who works on a farm under an unhinged relative who labels himself "The General."  The protagonist, and his relatives on the farm, tries to find a way to please this tyrant and escape to Chicago.As a fan, it's really quite fun to read BASIC TRAINING.  It's fun to see many of the Vonnegut trademarks (his absurdist slant, his satirical caricatures) in early form.  However, I really don't think I would recommend this to someone who hasn't read Vonnegut before.  Vonnegut's novels are generally so short that I would recommend something likeCat's CradleorSlaughterhouse-Fivefirst.  If readers have come this far and still aren't convinced of Vonnegut's stature in American literature, BASIC TRAINING won't be the story to sway you.