Cat's Cradle

Rating:
Summary: ...It Might Have Been....
Review: This is a wacky, swift, many charactered Vonn book, wrapped around his frequent theme of human ridiculousness.

Jonah is the narrator, a man fascinated by the day the Hiroshima bomb was dropped, who sets off to investigate one Feliz Hoenikker, noted scientist and possible "father" of the bomb. What ensues is a funky, quirky, Vonnegutian swirl of synchronicity, and faux Taosit/Existential philosophy, born as Bokononism.

Cat's Cradle is a quick read, featuring 127 chapters, some a page long, few beyond three pages long. Including Jonah there is Newt, a midget, Mona, the most beautiful woman in the world, the mysterious Bokonon, gruff, crude American's, scientifically bizarre ice-water, a statue lover, a Ukrainian spy, an ex-pat ex-convict major domo, a frozen dog, and the possible end of the world, among others.

Truly a trip through Vonnegut. Through it all though, the essential foolishness and gullability of man is turned up to light.

"Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are 'It Might Have Been.'"

Rating:
Summary: Truly thought provoking!
Review: I had to read this book for my ethics class, and it was chalked full of metaphors and symbolism in regards to society and what people tend to believe is important. The story is a fast-paced page turner, and even though it has been decades since its publication, the issues it brings up are still very relevant today.

Rating:
Summary: I see no damn cat! I see no damn cradle!
Review: My father is a Vonnegut fanatic so this book came highly recommended to me. Having finished it a few days ago I feel that I can make a fair assessment of the book.
I have read one of Vonnegut's other works before Breakfast of Champions having read that and now this I notice a trend of Vonnegut's style of writing. You almost get a feeling that he is stalling, not inserting any action. In Cats Cradle nothing exciting happened until there were 30 pages left in a 200 page book. It wasn't even as if he had built up the anticipation for something to happen either. Vonnegut just keeps reintroducing more and more information for you to swallow. He even goes so far as to make up words for his Bokonism religion. The words were often times hard to remember which was which, presenting discontent. However the book was not all bad. The book provides a very radical insight of the world and makes one truly question their beliefs. However it's a very pessimistic view, as is common in most of Vonnegut's work. After finishing the book I felt very depressed and didn't enjoy my reaction to the conclusion to the book. Vonnegut depicts how the human race will inevitably destroy itself. All and all this book is okay if you're on vacation and get to read it everyday. Otherwise you forget some details on the religious words and what have you. That is why I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.


Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: Who else could combine a newspaper journalist, the apocolypse, a midget, an invented religion complete with its own tennents, terms, and texts, and the father of the atom bomb into a fun and thoughtful novel. NO ONE! A fun a thrilling novel that you will need to read twice!