2 B R O 2 B
2 B R O 2 B
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Book Excerpt
ring accidents, was an adventure for volunteers.
The population of the United States was stabilized at forty-million souls.
One bright morning in the Chicago Lying-in Hospital, a man named Edward K. Wehling, Jr., waited for his wife to give birth. He was the only man waiting. Not many people were born a day any more.
Wehling was fifty-six, a mere stripling in a population whose average age was one hundred and twenty-nine.
X-rays had revealed that his wife was going to have triplets. The children would be his first.
Young Wehling was hunched in his chair, his head in his hand. He was so rumpled, so still and colorless as to be virtually invisible. His camouflage was perfect, since the waiting room had a disorderly and demoralized air, too. Chairs and ashtrays had been moved away from the walls. The floor was paved with spattered dropcloths.
The room was being redecorated. It was being redecorated as a memorial to a man who had voluntee
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I loved this short story. It was simple and creepy. Creepy is good. Give it a try!
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Really interesting short story. Short and quick, it makes you think about the dark side of this "utopian" society.
06/15/2012
The end made me think of how the humans in that reality would choose to reform their world. That is, once they became fed up with being mostly populated with deceptively old men who thought themselves no more insane than schizophrenics or monetary systems.
09/04/2011
A thought-provoking story that touches on some of the burning issues of the day by showing how they've been "resolved" in the future.
You, of course, get the sublime writing style of Vonnegut to take through it.
You, of course, get the sublime writing style of Vonnegut to take through it.
08/26/2011
Interesting, thought-provoking & depressing in equal amounts. I wouldn't say it was brilliantly written though and if such a scenario ever arises in the future, I imagine it would be dealt with quite differently. ie not entirely voluntarily, so the main premise has rather a big drawback.
10/22/2010
a tale that proved to be smack in the middle of utopia and dystopia... an interesting point... i would want to see this as a short film, preferably directed by David Lynch...
05/13/2010
Good story.
The reader's various voices are pretty hammy, though. It was a good effort to energize the story, but it was ultimately distracting.
The reader's various voices are pretty hammy, though. It was a good effort to energize the story, but it was ultimately distracting.
08/05/2009
Great futuristic short.
06/19/2009
Wonderful.
Funny, though-provoking, prescient, concise.
Vonnegut manages in a few pages what most lesser authors never achieve in a lifetime of novels.
Funny, though-provoking, prescient, concise.
Vonnegut manages in a few pages what most lesser authors never achieve in a lifetime of novels.
02/26/2009
Typical Vonnegut, and that is not a bad thing.
12/30/2008
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FEATURED AUTHOR - Six-time BRAG Medallion Honoree, #1 Best-selling Historical Fantasy author Maria Grace has her PhD in Educational Psychology and is a 16-year veteran of the university classroom where she taught courses in human growth and development, learning, test development and counseling. None of which have anything to do with her undergraduate studies in economics/sociology/managerial studies/behavior sciences. She pretends to be a mild-mannered writer/cat-lady, but most of her vacations require helmets… Read more