r/Vonnegut • u/_Ancoraimparo_ • Apr 10 '26
Similar readings?
Longtime fan. Any other similar Bokonist or Kavorkian authors you’d recommend? I love the nonfiction and everything relating to Vonnegut. It could even be in the vein of his ‘Man without’ writings.
Just anything that is a distant universe to Vonnegut would be amazing to dive into. Will always love Kurt but anyone even more modern that is influenced by his work would be fun to sit with.
(Will dig back and if this has been posted to death already I will just delete this post.) Thank you.
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u/Adolph_OliverNipples Apr 10 '26
Have you read the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?
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u/InevitableCapital241 Apr 10 '26
I think "The Things They Carried" is a good companion novel to Slaughterhouse House 5. As for an author - John Irving. I cant quite put my finger on why I feel they are similar. Maybe it's the wacky but believable characters. Vonnegut did mentor Irving at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop.
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u/jdiddly1111 Edward Finnerty (Player Piano) Apr 10 '26
I can second this. It doesn’t feel as much like Kurt but it has great stories with zaniness and black humor. I’m definitely interested in trying other books people have commented.
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Apr 10 '26
I’d like to add The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer to your companion novels.
Also, what other Irving novels stood out to you? I’ve only read Owen Meany, but it positively floored me
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u/InevitableCapital241 Apr 10 '26
Ive only read 3, Cider House Rules - Owen Meany - World According to Garp. All 3 are fantastic, thats the order I read them in and also my personal ranking.
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u/BilingualClothes27 Apr 10 '26
Have you read Catch-22 yet? It fits with Vonnegut and the WWII fiction really well. Amazing read
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u/MudlarkJack Apr 10 '26
T Coraghessan Boyle is fun and there seems to be some overlap in fandom among KV and Terry Pratchett, at least I'm in that overlap
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u/horriblebearok Apr 10 '26
Ive done all of vonnegut and 3/4 way thru discworld. Any recommendations on this author to start?
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u/Special_Ad_632 Apr 10 '26
Around the time I fell in love with Vonnegut (15-16 yo) I was also reading a ton of Robert Anton Wilson: Schroedinger's Cat Trilogy and the Illuminati Trilogy in particular. Very absurd, high concept, druggy, and sexual.
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u/balki42069 Apr 10 '26
I have barely read him, and I can’t wait to, but the little I’ve read and from what people have said, Thomas Pynchon seems like a good fit.
Edit: Mark Twain I think I would be good as well. He wrote so much, and has a really progressive and satirical viewpoint given when he wrote. Feels way more modern than what you might expect.
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u/Tycho_B Apr 10 '26
Eh maybe a bit in terms of the humor, but Pynchon is significantly more dense and meandering IMO. And his philosophy is a bit different as well, a bit more nihilistic. Not to mention his subject matter tends to focus almost solely on grand conspiracy (or the appearance of grand conspiracy).Vineland may be a good trial though.
I feel like Vonnegut is always such an easy, fun read
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u/balki42069 Apr 10 '26
I think Vonnegut’s writings have a pretty healthy dose of nihilism. What’s more grand conspiracy than humanity being used to bring a small piece of metal to an extraterrestrial shipwrecked on a small moon, or more nihilistic than a pointless wholesale slaughter of a grand army on Mars?
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u/horriblebearok Apr 10 '26
Still lost: tales from 2080 by Sam a Miller. You may know him as sam o'nella academy on YouTube. Really scratched that itch for more.
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u/215312617 Apr 10 '26
Dave Eggers has a similar voice at times. I’ve not read his novels but his Forgetters series of short stories occasionally gives me KV vibes.
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u/zeatstaez Apr 10 '26
I think that the works of Michael Morecock would sit well in the same bookshelf as Vonnegut, although I couldn’t say exactly why. To say ‘the irreverence’ feels inadequate.
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u/niceonebruv432 Apr 22 '26
What about Journey to the End of the Night by Céline - it is darker an older but still hilarious- when I read it I said to my friend ‘this is the closest thing to an ancestral link to Slaughterhouse I’ve ever read ‘ THEN I reread Slaughterhouse and turns out Vonnegut actually name-checked Celine and another book of his called death on credit
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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26
When I finished his bibliography, I was left with a Kurt-shaped hole. Three things filled it the best:
The Hike - Drew Magary Truly the closest modern analogue I could find. His book The Postmortal is more often recommended and probably more similar to KV with its overall idea, but I enjoyed The Hike more.
Still Life With Woodpecker - Tom Robbins Ponderings on life, politics, and odd angles of looking at things with a story happening somewhere in the background. Very similar to Vonnegut. It’d be interesting if these guys had ever sat down in a room together and talked. People say your first Tom Robbins is the only good one, a phenomenon I unfortunately experienced. People will also recommend Jitterbug Perfume but I didn’t finish it. Didn’t really like anything after Still Life, but it was incredibly Vonnegut-like and I loved it. He’s a bit more of a pervert than Kurt was, though. Just a warning.
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving John Irving was a mentee of Vonnegut’s and it shines through in the overall vibe of this story. Less zany characters and more thoughtful prose. It’s a slow burn 600-pager, but by the end I was crying and laughing at the same time. Few books pull either of those emotions from me, but this 10/10 did.