but billy pilgrim finds himself talking to rotary, and then somebody will say something, and suddenly he's back in the battle of the bulge lying in the snow. and then he's back in front of rotary, and then he's in his office, and then he's somewhere on a far-flung planet at the far end of the universe where he's safe, and there's someone who loves him, and time has no meaning. and then he's back again. and this book with its, with its nonchronology, with its flashbacks, with its control humor and moments of terror really seemed to capture what a lot of us were feeling. so when i finished mockingbird, a portrait of harper lee, and i was looking around for another summit for a biography, first of all, i wanted to know who hasn't had a biography written about him or her, and who had a big impact on people my age. well, kurt vonnegut came to mind right away, and i was surprised that he had, in fact, never had a biography written about him. and it turned out he was a little bit miffed that nobody had ever taken the time. half a century of writing, 14 books in print, and nobody had ever wri