Product Description

Wilbur Swain and his twin sister, Eliza, are so immensely hideous, helpless and vile in their infancy that their wealthy parents are forced to send them to live on a nearby asteroid. But behind their facade of idiocy, the monstrous pair possess a joint intelligence that could outstrip the most advanced computers...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16513 in Books
• Published on: 1991-10-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 170 pages

Customer Reviews

One of Vonnegut's best
Slapstick (subtitled "Lonesome No More") as well as describing the strange childhood of the Swain twins, also paints a picture of a post apocalyptic world, where new York has been destroyed, and people are camping out in the ground floor of the abandoned Empire State Building.
The damaged male twin has managed to become the last president of the USA with a campaign built on the slogan "Lonesome No More", offering everybody the chance to join new extended families by the addition of new middle names.
The book is another of Kurt's attempts (IMHO) to describe the loneliness and futility of existence, but also that that life has an ironic humorous side. Whilst not dealing with the same big issues as Slaughterhouse 5, it speaks to me of much that is flawed but admirable in the human spirit- and it's bloody funny.

Patrick Apple-2 Beverley's review
A beautiful, amazing book, about genius, stupidity and human nature that manages to be funny with a bitter irony without ever losing the seriousness and beauty of its convoluted plot. As with all Vonnegut's books, it is told in flashback from the point of view of one of the characters, jumping around in time and referring to the present day in between long narratives of the past. Its stroke of genius is in the 'middle names' system employed by Wilbur Swain as President of America. If you want to get a new middle name for yourself based on the book's system, go to www.kevan.org and click 'Lonesome No More!'

how many great books can one man write
could this possible be the pre-story to the isabelle & nathanial from six feet under?