Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Written: Jun 17 '01 (Updated Nov 24 '04)
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Pros: An engaging quick read packed to the gills with wit and intelligence
Cons: Story never really goes anywhere, readers who are plot-oriented may feel they're left hungry.
The Bottom Line: A clever book where the reader is treated to seeing life through very different eyes. Cynical, satirical, hilarious. Vonneguts' new religion provides a humorous commentary on society.
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| snpmurray's Full Review: |
This amusing book presents us the memoirs of a man intricately involved in the commencement of the Apocalypse.
Writing to us from a most unenviable position in history, Jonah tells us his most peculiar tale.
Jonah has, by accident, become the nucleus around which the story of the end of humanity itself has spun.
Journalistic Jonah sets out to biograph Felix Hoenikker, impenetrable genius, and father of the atom bomb. In following the story of Hoenikkers' peculiar passions, and those of his equally peculiar children, Jonah becomes inadvertently involved in a chain-reaction which will ultimately change life for everyone on earth.
The trail weaves from Hoenikkers laboratory, all the way to a seemingly insignificant island nation, where all inhabitants follow a religion they condemn as much as they adore. Jonah encounters along the way a most eclectic cast of misfits; leaders of nations, ambassadors, and the most beautiful woman in the world....all bound up in his unfortunate destiny, and its connection to Hoenikker.
Through Jonahs' memoirs, reflecting on events as one converted to the religion of the islanders, Kurt Vonnegut deftly shifts the viewpoint of the reader. Knocking ones' world-view refreshingly off-kilter, he presents our world through the eyes of a devout "Bokononist", a religion which professes itself a convenient set of lies. This marvelous mechanism provides Vonnegut with a vehicle through which to re-interpret the events and circumstances of our world. Often hilarious, and frequently inciteful, this new way of seeing the world is as cynical as it is realistic. The fourteenth book of Bokonon reveals, in one word, for example, what a thoughtful man can hope for mankind, in the light of one million years of history.......Nothing!
This book is a humorous and clever illustration of how life can be interpreted as meaningful and meaningless, both together at once. Love for ones' fellow man, the arbitrary nature of mans laws, and the murder of a pet cat are all introspective cues for the Bokononist.
Vonnegut has a style all his own. It is a short book, and after reading it, it took some reflection, due to its rather loose plot, to see what had been imparted to me by it. It left me with admiration for the author. Through humor and quirky inventiveness he takes us into his world view, a view which is both touching and darkly satirical.
I highly recommend it. I smile sometimes at how spectacular can be the visions of science fiction writers. Kurt Vonnegut neatly knits fantastic concepts with rewarding incites. I salute you sir!
The looseness of the plot, and its whirling, eclectic style took some getting used to. For much of the first half of the book it is truly difficult to see where anything is going. Some journeys, of course, are not entirely about the destination!
Some of my other science fiction book reviews:
Rama Revealed
Prelude to Space
Stand on Zanzibar
The Demolished Man
The Stars my Destination
Cat's Cradle
The Gods Themselves
Watchmen
A Canticle for Leibowitz
The Hammer of God
The Left Hand of Darkness
Flowers for Algernon
Lord of Light
Rendevous with Rama
The Tombs of Atuan
The Dispossessed
I am Legend
The Einstein Intersection
Earth Abides
Peace on Earth
The Farthest Shore
Methuselah's Children
A Call to Arms
To your Scattered Bodies Go
The Lion of Comarre / Against the Fall of Night
To Say Nothing of the Dog
The Doomsday Book
Frankenstein Unbound
Batman - The Dark Knight Returns
Imperial Earth
A Case of Conscience
Solaris
The Sands of Mars
The Land of Laughs
Eden
His Masters Voice
Citizen of the Galaxy
King David's Spaceship
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Double Star
The Fabulous Riverboat
Songs of Distant Earth
Way Station
The Fountains of Paradise
The Long Tomorrow
Lincolns Dreams
Alas Babylon
More Than Human
1984
The Forever War
All the Myriad Ways
I Sing the Body Electric
Gateway
Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said
This Immortal
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Recommended:
Yes
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Location: Sedona, Arizona
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