Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (2006, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

This exciting collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s short fiction is a most entertaining reminder of why, for more than 40 years, the author remains among the great voices of modern literature. Despite his distinctive, deceptively simple prose, Vonnegut’s works are treasure troves of depth, breadth, invention and wry, wise understatement. The 25 short stories in this audiobook illustrate the sweep of his vision. Vonnegut has never shied away from the controversial, and even in the earliest of these offerings, his use of imaginative futuristic settings and satire to air his concerns about war, technology, the ecology, and our growing and aging population, to name just a few, is adept enough to make his cautionary tales still sting. That he feels humanity is redeemable, however, is equally in evidence here. Several of his stories are warm and funny while others demonstrate with poignancy, if not unabashed sentimentality, man’s need for and capacity to love. The five readers, David Strathairn, Maria Tucci, Bill Irwin, Tony Roberts, and Dylan Baker, all well-known actors and veteran audiobook narrators, differentiate characters and are in fine harmony with their material.