John Irving - the author of A Prayer for Owen Meany - was a close friend of Kurt Vonnegut, and EW has published some of Irving's thoughts about the creator of Kilgore Trout. If you like Vonnegut, you'll love Irving's stories about him.
I watched the Six-Day War in Vonnegut's kitchen in Iowa City. My now-eldest son Colin was then two years old, and Kurt didn't have any kids that age, so there weren't any toys around for Colin. Kurt and I were trying to watch the war, but it's tough to watch a war with a two-year-old. So Kurt got the idea that if we took all the pans and pots out of the kitchen cabinet, and gave Colin a couple of wooden spoons, then he could entertain himself, and we would have the appropriate background music for watching a war. And so that's what we did. We gave Colin two wooden spoons, and all the pots and pans in Vonnegut's kitchen, and turned up the volume...
...He was one of the very few and very select father figures in my life. There were a couple of wrestling coaches, a couple of English teachers, and Kurt. That was it. I just feel lucky that our paths crossed, because he gave me a lot of encouragement at a time when I was vulnerable and insecure enough to need it. He was a gentleman of the old school, but at the same time he had a warmth that was really childlike. He was a very loyal and sentimental friend. And everybody who knew him is gonna miss him.
