Strangely, this is in my top 2 of Vonnegut books. It is almost universally acknowledged that Slaughter House Five is his very best. A masterpiece. Bluebeard is a very different narrative style for Vonnegut, but has the same, deeply moving emotion that makes Slaughter House a classic. It is a very well told story in what is a much more traditional voice. Evidence that Vonnegut would have been a genius in any style he chose. And this work is genius. I can make a lot of arguments for other books being in his top 2, but I can't make an argument why this one is not, which is ridiculous logic, but, in the end, it is the visceral response. It is that, when I think of Vonnegut, this and Slaughter House are the first two books I think of. Can you go wrong with Vonnegut, anyway? No, you can't. Even if you don't agree that it is perhaps his second best novel, you will be very unlikely to regret reading it.

I’ll never quite be the same after this wild romp through Vonnetut’s imagination. It was just plain fun! It hurts a little to realize that it really means something. In a way the story is about disillusionment. But it winds up being such a triumph of human spirit and meaning.

Again, Vonnegut has come up with a work of literature that leaves the reader (or at least me) breathless and hungry for more of his brilliant work. In all honesty, the book did lose something partway through, and right up until the end I would have rated it only about a 3-1/2. But the ending of this book (as with Mother Night and other Vonnegut novels) was worth the entire book. The secret in the potato barn was incredible; it was everything I'd thought it would be, and more.

A superb book, definitely worth reading. It also made me realize (since this was one of the first Vonnegut books I'd read) how interconnected his books really are; Rabo dates back to "Breakfast of Champions," where the reader is almost compelled to dislike him. However, during the course of this book, not only did I end up liking Rabo, I found myself cheering for him, and even understanding him. A must-read for any Vonnegut fan, and even for those who don't have a Vonnegut fetish like I do. Brilliant.

I didn’t know what to expect of this book. I found it funny, deep, engaging and relevant in 2026. Characters are well developed, story telling is straightforward but enigmatic and the ending is so satisfying.

It's Kurt Vonnegut ffs... I can't be expected to write a separate review for each of his books so here's my answer for 'Should I buy (insert KV book here)?

YES... (insert KV book here) is amazingly well written... you'll laugh out loud at least once... you'll cry at least once... You'll catch yourself at least once with super dumb expressions on your face and make sure no-one is looking at you... you'll have to put the book down at least once because it's too much feelz... You will read many phrases that you'll think 'I should write this down to mention to people!' but don't bother, there are too many and people will feel like you're obsessed with Kurt Vonnegut.

Seriously though, about Bluebeard... It's KV writing about abstract expressionists (painters), which I love, and I've always considered KV an abstract expressionist writer in a way... You sometimes have no idea what you are reading or have just read, but you stare off into space and simply say... "Wow... Deep."

Book was interesting start to finish. Easy to see why he has the disclaimer at the start. Well developed characters. Interesting story. Wished for a little more pop at the end.

5 stars for the Vonnegut book. 1 star for the Kindle edition.

This Kindle book is absolutely loaded with typos from poorly scanned and edited OCR. They must have had an unpaid intern take care of it. It goes to show me just how little the publishers care about ebooks, and how they'd like to slow demand for what they think they can't get insane profits from. It wouldn't surprise me if they purposely do a horrible job with every ebook just to get people running back to their precious overpriced paperbacks and hardcovers.

Examples of typos:

"Tor what?"

He, cheat and steal

"J already have," she said.

Talk about realism]

--The author wrote "realism!" in italics so the OCR thinks an italics exclamation point is a bracket. Nobody changed it. How could they miss this stuff? It's not just misspellings but also lack of commas, quotation marks, and so on. It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't on every couple of pages. The first few are no problem, nobody's perfect. But once they become a distraction, it really takes away from the reading experience.

The should at the very least have some respect for the late Mr Vonnegut and have an editor do a once over.

Have been reading him for years. This book let me escape from the horrible and hateful politics of 2019 and remember the history and devastation of WWII. And somehow be grateful again for being American and not tell Europeans I am Canadian when over there for fear they will react badly. (They should, and do.)

It was hysterically funny, tremendously sad and interestingly educational about this genre of art. Bad for sleep, though, as hard to put in down before 2 am.

Has typical Vonnegut themes, anti-war, corrosive American inventions and values. But the Bluebeard secret held my attention till the end. I was a tiny bit annoyed by lack of a central theme until the absolute end of the book. Still a good read though, with its humour and wry observations.

A great primer for friends who say they don’t understand abstract art.. ..if only they would read it🤣

Connect is always a good read

El narrador, de origen armenio, narra una mezcla de sus memorias y su día a día y cuenta cómo se convirtió en artista, su relación con el arte moderno y la influencia de este en su matrimonio, su papel como artista en la guerra y las secuelas tras su intervención en esta. En un antiguo granero, al igual que en la cámara de Barba Azul, guarda un secreto relacionado con su vida que no desea revelar. La historia se mueve entre presente y pasado sin saltos, de forma magistral.

The best book I ever read