God Bless You, Dr Kevorkian – Kurt Vonnegut Jr (1999)

God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., published in 1999, is a satirical and imaginative work that blends journalism, fiction, and philosophical reflection. Using the conceit of conducting near-death interviews facilitated by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, Vonnegut becomes a “reporter on the afterlife” for WNYC radio, speaking with historical, literary, and everyday figures in the hereafter. The book is part playful fantasy, part social critique, and part meditation on mortality, morality, and meaning.

Plot Summary

Jack Kevorkian tightens the straps on the gurney, his face expressionless but his hands gentle. Kurt Vonnegut lies still, waiting to drift just close enough to death to step across the blue tunnel and into Heaven, then come back with a pocketful of stories. It’s become routine by now – the dance between life and death, curiosity and finality, and the relentless pursuit of answers from those who have none left to give.

On the other side of the tunnel, a garden of the dead waits, bustling with the famous and the forgotten. Vonnegut, WNYC’s roving reporter on the afterlife, wanders through the shimmering threshold, notebook in hand, humor in his pocket, and skepticism folded neatly in his coat. There, in the lush fields of eternity, awaits a cast unlike any assembled in life.

First comes Dr. Mary Ainsworth, the developmental psychologist brimming with joy at discovering Heaven’s nurseries. Here, babies lost too soon are cradled, cuddled, and loved into the angels they were denied the chance to become on Earth. Salvatore Biagini, a retired construction worker, recounts how he fell while rescuing his schnauzer from a pit bull, proudly affirming that dying for Teddy was far better than dying for nothing in the Vietnam War.

Music swells, and Louis Armstrong leads a brass band welcoming Birnum Birnum, an Australian Aborigine and civil rights hero, into Heaven. Birnum stands as a reminder of erased peoples and quiet triumphs, while Armstrong, ever the performer, laughs about the talents of Tasmanians once written off as subhuman. Nearby, John Brown paces with a noose still draped around his neck, his eyes glowing like coins. He speaks fiercely of the country he called beautiful even as it hanged him, reflecting on the price of freedom and the blood that fertilizes change.

Roberta Gorsuch Burke appears next, the embodiment of loyalty, having been a sailor’s wife for seventy-two years and carrying her love into eternity. Clarence Darrow, the great defense attorney, surprises Vonnegut by welcoming cameras in the courtroom, seeing justice as little more than Roman spectacle, an entertainment thinly veiled in solemnity.

At last, Vonnegut’s fellow Hoosier, Eugene V. Debs, arrives, wings unfolding as he speaks of lower classes and prison cells, his voice shaking with old passions. Debs mourns a nation that builds prisons as monuments, questioning if the Sermon on the Mount still has ears on Earth to hear it.

On another gurney ride, Vonnegut meets Harold Epstein, the gentle gardener who thanks God for the gift of garden madness and hopes everyone could taste the joy he and his wife shared. Vivian Hallinan, described by the living as colorful, laughs at the word, preferring to be known as a traitor to her class, a socialist wrapped in charm, wit, and defiance.

The gurney lowers again, and now Adolf Hitler steps forward, a shadow eager to apologize, to ask for a small monument and a two-word German phrase carved beneath his name – a request as feeble as it is chilling. John Wesley Joyce, keeper of the Lion’s Head Bar, chuckles about the writers who invaded his tavern, drinking with a ferocity rivaled only by their need to talk. Frances Keane, the romance language expert, shrugs off her three divorces in Italian, Spanish, and French, telling life itself to go fly a kite.

Sir Isaac Newton stands at the tunnel’s mouth, peering into its mysteries, lamenting all the great ideas that passed him by. Vonnegut tries to explain the tunnel’s material – dreams, he says – but Newton frowns, unsatisfied. Shakespeare, too, awaits, only to scoff at Vonnegut’s dialect and the awards given to the film adaptations of his work. To questions of authorship, Shakespeare waves away curiosity, offering riddles instead of confessions, and leaves Vonnegut trailing behind, feeling like a fool.

Peter Pellegrino, the balloonist, soars across Heaven, claiming the sky as his true home. He teases Saint Peter, insisting Heaven is nothing compared to crossing the Alps in a hot air balloon. James Earl Ray, haunted assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., refuses to cross into eternity, demanding a prison cell to match the one he knew in life, spitting bitter words even Saint Peter cannot quiet.

Mary Shelley appears next, radiant with youthful energy, lost in admiration for her revolutionary parents and brilliant companions. She reminds Vonnegut that Frankenstein birthed two monsters, not one – the scientist and his creation – and nods knowingly when told that people today confuse the two. Philip Strax, radiologist and poet, chuckles from the edge of a crowd desperate for Joe DiMaggio’s autograph, reciting feminist lines with a twinkle in his eye and a deep reverence for the lives his mammograms saved.

Carla Faye Tucker, pickaxe murderer and born-again Christian, drifts slowly toward the gates, pausing to wish she could drag the Texas governor into Hell alongside her. There is no Hell, Saint Peter assures, but her fury lingers, bittersweet and sharp.

Then comes Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut’s own creation, alive and grumbling about NATO, ethnic cleansing, and the disease of modern violence. Trout’s words echo through Vonnegut’s interviews, a reminder that history’s cruelties evolve but never vanish.

Finally, Isaac Asimov greets Vonnegut, a tireless writer even in Heaven, busy crafting a six-volume set on the absurdities of earthly beliefs. Asimov reveals that writing was always his escape, his salvation, and even Hell would be bearable so long as he could put pen to paper.

With Kevorkian in handcuffs, the gurney silent, and the lethal injection chamber suddenly still, Vonnegut looks back across his strange journey. Saints, scientists, poets, murderers, dreamers, and revolutionaries all passed before his eyes, each carrying a fragment of truth, a shard of absurdity, a hint of what it means to be human.

In the end, there is only the blue tunnel, the fading sound of laughter and argument, the murmur of regrets and triumphs tangled together. Vonnegut steps away, notebook closed, whispering ta ta into the echoing stillness.

Main Characters

• Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: The narrator and central figure, Vonnegut embarks on near-death journeys to interview the dead. Sardonic, reflective, and deeply human, he balances humor with sharp social observation, offering readers a mix of wit, empathy, and existential musing.

• Dr. Jack Kevorkian: The controversial pathologist known for assisting suicides, Kevorkian here is cast as Vonnegut’s partner in orchestrating controlled near-death experiences. Though largely a background figure, his presence embodies the book’s tension between life and death, ethics and curiosity.

• Saint Peter: The archetypal gatekeeper of Heaven, Saint Peter appears repeatedly, mediating Vonnegut’s encounters and adding both bureaucratic humor and theological weight to the narrative.

• Historical Figures (e.g., Adolf Hitler, Mary Shelley, Eugene Debs, Isaac Asimov, William Shakespeare): Each encounter offers a glimpse into their character as Vonnegut imagines it, revealing unexpected remorse, wit, or insight that reinterprets their legacies through his humanistic lens.

Theme

• Death and the Afterlife: Central to the book is the playful yet profound exploration of what awaits beyond death. Vonnegut uses the afterlife as a canvas to reexamine earthly struggles, guilt, redemption, and the absurdity of mortality.

• Humanism and Moral Responsibility: As a self-described humanist, Vonnegut underscores the importance of decency, compassion, and community. His conversations with figures like Eugene Debs and Mary Shelley highlight the enduring struggle for justice, empathy, and human dignity.

• Satire of Modern Society: Through wry commentary on politics, war, celebrity culture, and media, Vonnegut satirizes the absurdities and contradictions of contemporary life. His imagined interviews expose societal hypocrisies and challenge readers to reflect on their own world.

• The Search for Meaning: Beneath the humor runs a thread of existential questioning. Vonnegut probes the purpose of human life, the weight of legacy, and the longing for understanding, often arriving at bittersweet or paradoxical conclusions.

Writing Style and Tone

Vonnegut’s writing here is characteristically dry, witty, and aphoristic. He wields a deceptively light touch, using short vignettes and conversational prose to smuggle in sharp critiques and profound truths. His language is accessible yet layered, inviting both laughter and reflection. The playful, irreverent tone softens the weight of the philosophical topics, making mortality and ethics approachable rather than oppressive.

The tone oscillates between sardonic humor and tender melancholy. Vonnegut’s voice is that of the wise fool – irreverent toward authority, skeptical of progress, and compassionate toward human failings. He uses irony not merely for laughs but as a means of truth-telling, crafting a tone that is at once comic, tragic, and deeply humane. The book’s structure – a series of brief, self-contained episodes – mirrors the fleeting nature of life itself, capturing moments of insight before moving lightly to the next.