Kindle
$12.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$25.16
Paperback
$16.14
Buy new:
-24% $25.16
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$25.16 with 24 percent savings
List Price: $32.95

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 10. Order within 15 hrs 1 min
Only 18 left in stock (more on the way).
$$25.16 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$25.16
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$17.27
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Thursday, May 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$25.16 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$25.16
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Suzanne McConnell
+ Follow
Kurt Vonnegut
+ Follow
See all
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Pity the Reader: On Writing With Style Hardcover – November 5, 2019

by Kurt Vonnegut (Author), Suzanne McConnell (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 531 ratings
See all formats and editions
Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
iphone with kindle app
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.

View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.

Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.

Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app: Link to the kindle app page Link to the kindle app page
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
View Kindle Edition
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$25.16","priceAmount":25.16,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"25","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"16","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"SJj3xS%2BEQ%2FRAALQBUs7vPZI%2F%2Bghi9c9RvN1oCPk%2FQ9qp2%2FjSnUbVLFT6KHA%2FeltUUwaPB8ScIqTil%2FLumrT%2F2qMxlUkRADSHfuAisLA5kyW63cMAfREYY2SsSXJiWeqFAdSi8Us2j6j%2FmzltCbXQiQ%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$17.27","priceAmount":17.27,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"17","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"27","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"SJj3xS%2BEQ%2FRAALQBUs7vPZI%2F%2Bghi9c9R8iBnZR2NencET%2BcLKNeUprzrN4C2XBVEmBoYDI4SyHDsHbvT7CEJ4g5nQZ46LRvtkNTpYmmF8F9vjxhb69DBC0qyBIe9RBMhF05tI0JdxeEhrPZHaDcDGkgHJ2Qu%2F0Rjafe5hPtjc%2Fke4ej6O8bZUgvKdUSezmOb","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

The art and craft of writing by one of the few grandmasters of American literature, a bonanza for writers and readers co-written by Kurt Vonnegut's former student.

Here is an entirely new side of Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut as a teacher of writing. Of course he's given us glimpses before, with aphorisms and short essays and articles and in his speeches. But never before has an entire book been devoted to Kurt Vonnegut the teacher. Here is pretty much everything Vonnegut ever said or wrote having to do with the writing art and craft, altogether a healing, a nourishing expedition. McConnell has outfitted us for the journey, and in these 37 chapters covers the waterfront of how one American writer brought himself to the pinnacle of the writing art, and we can all benefit as a result.

Kurt Vonnegut was one of the few grandmasters of American literature, whose novels continue to influence new generations about the ways in which our imaginations can help us to live. Few aspects of his contribution have not been plumbed--fourteen novels, collections of his speeches, his essays, his letters, his plays--so this fresh view of him, written by a former student, is a bonanza for writers and readers and Vonnegut fans everywhere.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    432 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Seven Stories Press
  4. Publication date
    November 5, 2019
  5. Dimensions
    6.29 x 1.53 x 9.31 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1609809629
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1609809621
  8. See all details
Next page
All the Little Raindrops: A Novel
"All the Little Raindrops: A Novel" by Mia Sheridan for $10.39
The chilling story of the abduction of two teenagers, their escape, and the dark secrets that, years later, bring them back to the scene of the crime. | Learn more

Frequently bought together

Pity the Reader: On Writing With Style
$25.16
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
Only 18 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Kurt Vonnegut: The Complete Novels: A Library of America Boxed Set
$95.02
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Complete Stories
$32.60
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A love song for the writing life by one of the world’s finest humanist writers, Kurt Vonnegut’s wry and compassionate voice is given a resonant echo chamber here by the wise and abidingly respectful presence of his former graduate student, Suzanne McConnell. Part homage, part memoir, and a 100% guide to making art with words, Pity the Reader: Writing With Style is a simply mesmerizing book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough!” —Andre Dubus III

The blend of memory, fact, keen observation, spellbinding descriptiveness and zany characters that populated Vonnegut’s work is on full display here, in a kind of workshop forum, with explanations by the writer himself, as recorded by a fellow writer, McConnell, who knew Vonnegut for decades. The result is Vonnegut as we’ve never seen him before, a man of kindness and generosity, humility and extraordinary introspection, whose humor and creativity served as a kind of protectorate, a shield, and most importantly a fountain of creativity to quench his life-long thirst for a better, kinder planet. It’s a must read for any young writer." —James McBride, author of the National Book Award-winning novel, The Good Lord Bird 

“Pity us not at all! What could be more welcome than Kurt Vonnegut’s acerbic writing advice expertly illuminated by veteran teacher/writer/editor Suzanne McConnell. A timely book for writers, readers, teachers and book-lovers alike. It’s unsentimental, unvarnished, and 100 percent treacle-free. If you’ve longed to be under Vonnegut’s spell once again, this is the book for you.” —Danielle Ofri, MD, author of What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear

"As both biography and artifact, Pity the Reader is priceless. But the practical guidelines on writing well are themselves worth the price of admission, even for those of us who do not write fiction, and even those who do not write at all. Indeed, many aspiring writers pay good money for the kind of advice and insight contained herein, not least of all in the form of tuition at any of the world’s many MFA programs." —Jeremy Justus, Provincetown Arts 

"I hate getting advice, personally. This is not that kind of book—it complains grumpily about the discomfort required to write truthfully and it celebrates the long history of art as 'a very human way of making life more bearable.' In short, it reminds us of the important things. Suzanne McConnell takes us eloquently into the joys of rediscovering Vonnegut, in a guide that will be profoundly useful to writers thinking about fiction’s purposes as well as its methods." —Joan Silber, author of Improvement, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award

"This is such a rich, generous book about writing and reading and Kurt Vonnegut as writer, teacher, and friend, that I find myself at a loss for the right good words. It’s a breeze to read.  Every page brings pleasure and insight. It captures the spirit of the man some of us were lucky enough to know and gives future generations a sense of him as a teacher and writer. It traces how Vonnegut grew as a writer and how his writing took shape. I have read it three times now and find it not only a meticulous homage and worthy memorial to a great human being and a lasting writer, but a true help, for all of us at any age, who yearn to write with style.” —Gail Godwin, bestselling author of A Southern Family among many others novels, and the forthcoming Old Lovegood Girls

About the Author

Author, editor, and writing teacher Suzanne McConnell was a student of Kurt Vonnegut’s at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop from 1965 to 1967, when Vonnegut—along with Nelson Algren and other notable authors—was in residence and finishing his masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut and McConnell became friends, and stayed so for the rest of his life. She has published short memoirs of him in the Brooklyn Railand the Writer’s Digest, and led a panel at the 2014 AWP conference titled “Vonnegut’s Legacy: Writing About War and Other Debacles of the Human Condition.” McConnell taught writing at Hunter College for thirty years, and she serves as the fiction editor of the Bellevue Literary Review. Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, her fiction also won first prize in the New Ohio Review’s 2015 Fiction Contest, first prize in Prime Number Magazine’s 2014 Awards for Flash Fiction, and second prize in So to Speak’s 2008 Fiction Contest. She lives in New York City and Wellfleet, Massachusetts, with her husband, the artist Gary Kuehn.

Kurt Vonnegut was one of the few grandmasters of American literature, whose novels continue to influence new generations about the ways in which our imaginations can help us to live. Few aspects of his contribution have not been plumbed—fourteen novels, a collection of his speeches, essays, letters, a play—so this fresh self-portrait, written with the aid of a former student, is a bonanza for writers and readers everywhere.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Seven Stories Press; First Edition (November 5, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1609809629
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1609809621
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.29 x 1.53 x 9.31 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 531 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Suzanne McConnell

    Suzanne McConnell

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Author, editor, and writing teacher, Suzanne McConnell was a student of Kurt Vonnegut’s at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop when Vonnegut was finishing his masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut and McConnell remained friends for the rest of his life. She has published memoirs of him in the Brooklyn Rail on-line and the Writer’s Digest, and led a panel at the 2014 AWP conference titled “Vonnegut’s Legacy: Writing About War and Other Debacles of the Human Condition.” McConnell taught at Hunter College for thirty years and serves as the Fiction Editor of the Bellevue Literary Review. Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, her fiction won first prize in the New Ohio Review’s 2015 Fiction Contest, first prize in Prime Number Magazine’s 2014 Awards for Flash Fiction, and second prize in So to Speak’s 2008 Fiction Contest. She grew up in San Diego, attended San Diego State College, and began writing while at University of Arkansas earning a BA in Sociology. She lives in New York City and Wellfleet, Massachusetts, with her husband, the artist Gary Kuehn.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Kurt Vonnegut

    Kurt Vonnegut

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Kurt Vonnegut was a writer, lecturer and painter. He was born in Indianapolis in 1922 and studied biochemistry at Cornell University. During WWII, as a prisoner of war in Germany, he witnessed the destruction of Dresden by Allied bombers, an experience which inspired Slaughterhouse Five. First published in 1950, he went on to write fourteen novels, four plays, and three short story collections, in addition to countless works of short fiction and nonfiction. He died in 2007.

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
531 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Matthew Rapaport
5.0 out of 5 stars Great look at a talented writer, his philosophy of writing, and his work.
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2024
Verified Purchase
This book is a sweet homage to Kurt Vonnegut (KV), both friend and mentor to its author. The book is part memoir told through Ms. McConnell’s eyes and those of other writers and friends of KV. It is also an explication of KV’s philosophy of writing and also of life. The book is not about the details of the writing process or sentence structure, but there are sections on these things in the context of KV’s admonitions about making one’s writing worthy. It is much more about what motivates and supports (psychologically and socially) writing, or at least good writing, meant to be taken seriously as literature.

I’ve read several books on writing that use literature for illustration purposes. This is the first whose literary focus is work with which I am familiar. I’ve read half of KV’s fourteen novels and his Welcome to the Monkey House (pub 1968) collection of short stories. I am no expert here, but it was enough to appreciate much of what Ms. McConnell told us about KV and his writing. I think of myself as a writer, more essayist than novelist, though I have self-published several novels. Ms. McConnell has given me much to consider about my own writing in her easy-going review of Mr. Vonnegut’s oeuvre. I might address this subject more in my blog.

Pity the Reader is a delightful trip through the career, mind, and work of Kurt Vonnegut. Any reader, particularly writers, will learn something from the lessons in Ms. McConnell’s literary portrait.
Helpful
 Report
Ben Ridley
5.0 out of 5 stars insightful
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2024
Verified Purchase
valuable advice from from one of the best and most widely loved authors
Helpful
 Report
Fred Cheyunski
4.0 out of 5 stars More Vonnegut Insight
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
As a long-time Vonnegut reader, particularly of stories and non-fiction alongside familiarity with some of his novels (e.g. see my review of “A Man Without a Country”), my interest was piqued when I saw this title had been released. On the one hand, since I was preparing a couple of academic/professional papers I thought I might benefit from the writing advice. On the other hand, as the book is a compilation/distillation of Vonnegut’s material on the topic by his former student McConnell, I feared it would just be a rehash of what I have already read.

Fortunately, I was glad I took a chance with this book as I got some more Vonnegut insight into writing as well as about the man and a writer’s life. It was fun to see McConnell incorporate Will Schutz's notion of "endarkenment" as a means of capturing and portraying her mentor's use of irony and humor for illumination and learning.

More particularly, the book consists of an Introduction and 37 chapters: (1) Advice for Everyone on Writing Anything, (2) About Writing Fiction, (3) The Prime Mover, (4) Detouring Forward, (5) Dead Ahead, (6) Breakthrough, (7) Fear of Finding a Worthy Subject or A Dearth of Death, (8) The Last Word on the Prime Mover or Fear Not, (9) Soul Growth, (10) Sanctuary, (11) What Makes Great Art or Art and Soul, (12) Agents of Change, (13) Writers as Teachers or The Noblest Profession, (14) Vonnegut in Class, (15) Heft and Comfort, (16) Talent, (17) Diligence, (18) Pitfalls, (19) Methodologism, (20) Materializations, (21) Propagation, (22) Regeneration, (23) The Mother of All Pearls, (24) Beginnings, (25) Plot, (26) Character, (27) Prose, the Audial, (28) Prose, the Visual, (29) The Joke Biz, (30) Black Humor, (31) Much Better Stories: Re-vision and Revision, (32) Eeny-Meeny-Miny-Moe or Choice, (33) Making a Living, (34) Caring for Your Piece in the Game, (35) Farting Around in Life and Art, (36) Love, Marriage, and Baby Carriage, (37) Better Together or Community. There are also Acknowledgments, Permissions, Bibliography, and an extensive Notes section (documenting the origins of all the Vonnegut texts used).

Given my focus at the time, I particularly appreciated the writing tips such as to keep it simple, revise (revise, revise) to get to clear language, sound like yourself, and have “guts to cut.” As per the title and one of Vonnegut’s caveats, we have to ‘Pity the Reader’ in recognizing the difficulty of reading while endeavoring to make it interesting, captivating, and entertaining while imparting something of true value. Finding such balance is the real art that Vonnegut worked so hard at during his career as an author. As he said, “I keep losing and regaining my equilibrium, which is the basic plot of all popular fiction. And I myself am a work of fiction.”

In addition, I liked the passages that make reference to his work related to artists as in “Breakfast of Champions” and “Blue Beard” as well as to his own drawings (see my review of Hollebecq’s “The Map and the Territory”). As Vonnegut says, artists are like the ‘canary in the coalmine’ and agents of change in their own way as he was with his humor and his own drawings (One drawback to the Kindle edition is that the “doodles” that McConnell mentions do not seem to be included.)

Related to change, there are places where Vonnegut’s characters describe “. . . notions about what was required for a society’s transformation----[namely,] a gifted leader who described cultural changes which should be made; two or more respected citizens who testified that this leader was well worth listening to; and a glib, personable explainer, who told the general public what the leader was up to.” Such remarks led me to recall the three branches of the classical learning (see my review of Joseph’s “The Trivium”).

Regarding writing as a career, Vonnegut suggests one consider choosing another profession that’s satisfying, lucrative, and that can provide raw material and support for writing as an advocation (as many of us might pursue unless such effort might become self-supporting; also see my review of Scholes’ “English After the Fall” and Varna et al’s “Communication Major for the Undecided”). Later remarks suggest, that we “. . . embrace the designations within which your work seems to fall, cleave to those with which you have an affinity, and thereby empower yourself.” Indeed, McConnell has done a masterful job in weaving together Vonnegut’s wisdom yet again to help empower us as writers.
27 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars What can I say
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2024
Verified Purchase
A peek into the wonderfully dark mind of Vonnegut
Helpful
 Report
Leo Aprendi
5.0 out of 5 stars Vonnegut the teacher & McConnell the teacher/student
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2023
Verified Purchase
Very good book in terms of content and layout (paperback). McConnell, a former student of KV in the mid-60s in Iowa, does a very good job assembling KV's insightful and often humorous teachings and heuristics on creative writing (novels and short stories). McConnell herself has been a teacher, editor, and writer for many decades, so she also brings her own experience to bear.

Quibble: Scattered throughout the book are KV's "8 basic rules for creative writing 101," which should have simply been printed together on one or two pages of this volume for easy reference, even if they had indeed appeared before in Bogombo Snuff Box. Note: this book contains far more than those 8 rules (which, again, are included, but merely dispersed), so this is a fine volume for the KV fan and both the apprentice and experienced writer.

Paperback is of good quality paper, 432pp. including notes.

I also heard the Audible version with Karen White as the narrator and while opinions will differ, I often found her delivery more than a little grating--esp. in overdoing the imagined midwestern swagger of KV's voice. She would have done well to turn down the ham factor by about 50%. In other places she sounded fine.

I recommend careful listening to the audio sample before buying. Nonetheless I listened all the way through bc the content is so good, and afterwards bought the book so I can read it without any narrator.

Bottom line about KV's advice to writers is this: don't waste the reader's time. Respect it. Keep him or her interested. Cut ruthlessly. Don't forget plot, and absolutely never forget that you are in the entertainment business.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Sabi
3.0 out of 5 stars Leider etwas lädiert…
Reviewed in Germany on August 29, 2023
Verified Purchase
Das Buch kam pünktlich an. Leider hatte es leichte Dellen am Buchcover, ich habe es trotzdem behalten. Vielleicht sollte man Büchersendungen besser abpolstern.
Report
antony brennan
4.0 out of 5 stars Pure Vonnegut
Reviewed in Australia on February 24, 2024
Verified Purchase
If you like Vonnegut you will like this book. If you are a budding or working writer who likes Vonnegut you will like this book. If you are a budding or working writer who likes Vonnegut and you are interested in biographical information about him, you will like this book. If you check all the above boxes and you are interested in reading a book by someone who knew him well who uses snippets of Vonneguts work and discusses how he approached his writing, you are on a winner with this book. If you have never heard of Kurt Vonnegut you should read this book.
One person found this helpful
 Report
Books by BJ Thompson ~ Weaving Words on Either Side of Cocktail Hour
4.0 out of 5 stars A Window into the Vonnegut Style and Soul
Reviewed in Canada on March 23, 2021
Verified Purchase
A comprehensive melange of the personal and professorial that allows for Vonnegut's writer style to have greater meaning.

The book took several reading sessions to complete, as you have to concentrate/ponder each insight, but if you're up for the mental work, it's time well spent.

A Vonnegut fan or not, if you're a writer, this should be a must-read. 4 out of 5 stars simply because it could be a dry read at times.
One person found this helpful
 Report
slow-cooker
3.0 out of 5 stars Was eine Seminarteilnehmerin über ihn schreibt
Reviewed in Germany on April 30, 2021
Verified Purchase
Informationen aus zweiter Hand
Report
Nick Shears
4.0 out of 5 stars perhaps a little too much _about_ Vonnegut instead of _by_ him.
Reviewed in Australia on July 3, 2023
Verified Purchase
I was hoping to read Vonnegut writing about writing.
The book contains a fair bit of that, but since it’s an edited version, with Suzanne McConnell, there’s a lot more.
I would like to have read more of Vonnegut’s unfiltered thoughts, but I’m glad to have learned a bit more about him anyway.
Report