Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84

On another occasion he explained that his goal in writing novels was to "catch people before they become generals and Senators and Presidents" and "poison their minds with humanity. Encourage them to make a better world."

Saddened to hear this. I didn't much like Slaughterhouse-Five-- it seemed a little bland but I think the aversion was augmented by a teacher who disdained what I found to be a fascinating depiction of Jesus (he thought there was no way Vonnegut would be portraying Jesus in any kind of good light and was rather trying to disprove the very existence of Jesus, which made him happy and was he wanted to think; I disagreed as it seemed to be much more complex than that but hey, he was grading me)-- and so avoided his work, but finally last summer I read God Bless You Dr Kevorkian, which is lovely and certainly exemplifies his stated goal.