As Good as Slaughterhouse 5?

books:


	• Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut Dell Publishing, 1998 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 370 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Absurd and fantastic book

"Cat's cradle" is written in very Vonnegut style, in the midst of fiction and realism. The book starts describing the narrator's intention of writing a book about what important Americans did on the day Hiroshima was bombed with major attention on the "father of atomic bomb" fictional Nobel laureate physicist Felix Hoenikker. During his research the narrator gets acquainted with the scientist's childern though several letters, and finally ends up in the plane with them flying to an island where Frank Hoenikker suppose to become the next president.

Bokononism as a new religion defined by Vonnegut, created in the fictional island of San Lorenzo, one of the poorest countries in the world that was yield by each government to the next without any resistance during last several centuries. None of the islanders cares about anything except fishing, bokonizm and sex (defined as "boko-maru" in unpublished Bokonist books). All the intrigues are about a powerful material called Ice-9, the last discovery of great scientist, the only existing piece of which was shared among his children.

Narrator fells in love with beautiful Mona, who as well as all other native Bokonists make suiside by Bokonon's order. At the end he appears alone with four Americans on San Lorenzo as a "new Robinson family" and finally meets Bokonon, the creator of Boknist religion. The book leave reader guessing what will happen next and is absurd and fantastic.

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Vonnegut at his best

Brilliant. Science face to face with sociology. The master of parody and cynicism provokes/demands thought.

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Very Good, but no better

It is an interesting book with a masterful writing style. My appreciation of this book was largely literary. But it is not personally touching or inspiring or meaningful. For that read Paulo Coelho. The story is not exactly as "thought-provoking" as people have been claiming. For that read philosophy.

Some parts are very funny, many parts are interesting, and it is a very easy read. The plot is purposely ridiculous, and tangibly depressing. It is worthwhile, if you know what to expect (satire, dry humor, captivating writing, but not anything deep, moving, inspiring, wise, etc.)

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Arguably Vonnegut's best

I discovered Vonnegut in high school and fell madly in love. Besides being a wonderful writer, he's a perfect transition point for someone just beginning to tackle literary fiction, because while his style is accessible, his ideas are complex.

I've read all of his stuff, and CAT'S CRADLE was always one of my favorites, along with BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS and MOTHER NIGHT. But this is the one I've returned to most often, probably three or four times, so the day after he died, I picked it up again as a personal farewell. Like all of his stuff, it's deeply human, mingling a sincere love for our best with a wry acknowledgment of our ever-present worst. Summarizing this book takes the joy out of it, so I'll just say that it's about a new religion, a nuclear scientist, a midget, a failed writer, and the end of the world. If you've never read Vonnegut, you could do worse than to start here.