Cat's Cradle (Modern Critical Interpretations Series)
by Kurt Vonnegut
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There are two voices inside my head. Let's call them Lore and Enzo. At the moment L & E are quarreling on Cat's Cradle.
(...)
L) Oh come on! This books is wonderful. Perhaps it's the best novel Vonnegut has ever written.
E) Are you kidding me? Have you read the whole of it?
L) Of course I've read it from its first word to the very last one.
E) And haven't you noticed anything strange?
L) What are you talking about?
E) I mean, you know, it's a discontinuous novel. I can't deny it ha...more
(...)
L) Oh come on! This books is wonderful. Perhaps it's the best novel Vonnegut has ever written.
E) Are you kidding me? Have you read the whole of it?
L) Of course I've read it from its first word to the very last one.
E) And haven't you noticed anything strange?
L) What are you talking about?
E) I mean, you know, it's a discontinuous novel. I can't deny it ha...more
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Read in August, 2007
To begin with, did I like the book? I certainly did, as it was entertaining, delightfully light-hearted and irreverent, with an interestingly outlandish plot and equally absurd characters.
How about the quality of the writing? Call me a purist, but the use of fabricated dialects and invented vocabulary left a bad taste in my mouth. On the up-side, Vonnegut’s use of poetry as comic relief was novel and amusing, and his self-mocking aphorisms are definitely quotable. I took pause to thi...more
How about the quality of the writing? Call me a purist, but the use of fabricated dialects and invented vocabulary left a bad taste in my mouth. On the up-side, Vonnegut’s use of poetry as comic relief was novel and amusing, and his self-mocking aphorisms are definitely quotable. I took pause to thi...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
THE WORLD
Briefly, the premise of the book is the following: the narrator is writing an account about the day the a-bomb was dropped in Hiroshima. He manages to track down the offspring of Frank Hoenikker, one of the makers of the bomb, and fill in their accounts of what they remember from the day the bomb dropped. Simple enough plot, but also tied into the plot is the side story of Dr. Hoenikker's invention of Ice-Nine, a substance that will take any fluid and solidify it into ice. Then, there is ANOTHER...more
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Read in February, 2008
There may be some spoiler stuff in here...
Well, it was the same Vonnegut with his amazing descriptions (that sometimes make me laugh).
"My soul seemed as foul as smoke from burning cat fur."
"It was with deep, idiotic relief that I leaned on that fleshy, humid, barn-yard fool."
"My hair stood on end, as though Angela were rolling on the floor, foaming at the mouth, and babbling fluent Babylonian." (Incidentally I met a guy in eharmony who thought he co...more
Well, it was the same Vonnegut with his amazing descriptions (that sometimes make me laugh).
"My soul seemed as foul as smoke from burning cat fur."
"It was with deep, idiotic relief that I leaned on that fleshy, humid, barn-yard fool."
"My hair stood on end, as though Angela were rolling on the floor, foaming at the mouth, and babbling fluent Babylonian." (Incidentally I met a guy in eharmony who thought he co...more
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7 comments
Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
post evangelicals
"I don't know whether I agree or not. I just have trouble understanding how truth, all by itself, could be enough for a person."
"No damn cat, and no damn cradle."
When the music was done, I shrieked at Julian Castle, who was transfixed, too, "My God-life! Who can understand even one little minute of it?"
"Don't try," he said. "Just pretend you understand."
"That's-that's very good advice." I went limp. Castle quo...more
"No damn cat, and no damn cradle."
When the music was done, I shrieked at Julian Castle, who was transfixed, too, "My God-life! Who can understand even one little minute of it?"
"Don't try," he said. "Just pretend you understand."
"That's-that's very good advice." I went limp. Castle quo...more
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Read in April, 2008
Nothing in this review is true.
As much as I enjoy reading Vonnegut, one of the nagging little doubts I always have is that I'm missing something. That there's a hidden message in there that I'm not picking up on. Or, on the other hand, that I am picking up messages that just aren't there.
Which is, perhaps, the point of the whole book.
The world is full of lies. Good lies, bad lies and indifferent lies, but lies nonetheless, and we pick and choose the lies that make our lives...more
As much as I enjoy reading Vonnegut, one of the nagging little doubts I always have is that I'm missing something. That there's a hidden message in there that I'm not picking up on. Or, on the other hand, that I am picking up messages that just aren't there.
Which is, perhaps, the point of the whole book.
The world is full of lies. Good lies, bad lies and indifferent lies, but lies nonetheless, and we pick and choose the lies that make our lives...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
people who think "too much."
I'm 58 yrs old and never read Vonnegut. I thought I ought to see what all the fuss was about and lo, I see this book on a friend's bookshelf. ("It was supposed to happen.") Seems to me Vonnegut was high--stoned or tripping. It reads like a dream. Five minuetes after finishing it, I couldn't remember the ending. The novel is dark, fatalistic social commentary: "Everything is meaningless. Man is vile, makes nothing worth making, knows nothing worth knowing." [And] "A fat w...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommended to Alex by:
Matt Rusteika, of all people, in his living room in Southie.recommends it for: Josef Stalin
Perhaps Vonnegut's best story. Certainly 'Slaughterhouse 5' is most acclaimed for its historical relevance, and 'Breakfast of Champions' might be the most fun. But here Vonnegut has crafted a tight story of human woe splayed against a scrim of the world's end.
In so doing, he succeeds where other 'serious' sci-fi writers of his time (like Philip K. Dick) often fail. It seems all too easy, one one side, to play up the apocalypse far and away from our protagonist's worries, and easier stil...more
In so doing, he succeeds where other 'serious' sci-fi writers of his time (like Philip K. Dick) often fail. It seems all too easy, one one side, to play up the apocalypse far and away from our protagonist's worries, and easier stil...more
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
anyone willing to be open-minded about their beliefs and appreciative of dark humour
As part of my plan to read at least one "classic" a month (and also a desire to read/re-read Kurt Vonnegut's body of work), I picked up Cat's Cradle. I remember writing an essay on this novel for my AP English class; unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to the essay itself, as it would be interesting to see my younger self's impressions.
The narrator, John, is a writer wh...more
The narrator, John, is a writer wh...more
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Read in February, 2007
This year we lost one of our most valued satirists. In "Cat's Cradle," Kurt Vonnegut takes the reader on an absurd and by turns hilariously searing journey to a fictious island nation, where the narrator becomes entangled in a web of intrigue and disaster courtesy of the family of a scientist who has invented "Ice Nine," a dangerous substance that freezes any source of water it touches.
On the surface, "Cat's Cradle" sounds like a straight-up sci-fi piece, but...more
On the surface, "Cat's Cradle" sounds like a straight-up sci-fi piece, but...more
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This is the first and only Vonnegut work I've read from start to finish, and I have to agree with his own self-assessment: he is a "major minor writer". A smart book, but not a very good one, I think.
I felt that the story, despite all of its science fiction trappings and self-conscious wackiness, was really simply an essay on Vonnegut's own Bokononism, a flat exposition of a worldview. The book doesn't produce much in the way of emotional depth or rich characterization; instead i...more
I felt that the story, despite all of its science fiction trappings and self-conscious wackiness, was really simply an essay on Vonnegut's own Bokononism, a flat exposition of a worldview. The book doesn't produce much in the way of emotional depth or rich characterization; instead i...more
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so i'm stoned, but this is the one that i read.
You Gotta Read It.
now that i think about it.
it will take an afternoonish.
three children receive a gift from the greatest, yet buffoonish scientist ever, who happens to be their father.
he gives them Ice-9.
Bypassing what it is and how it works and whatnot,
Ice-9 has the power to destroy shit.
Like Bom Shiva.
The most destructive poisons and bile to come out of the churnned snake could not be contained -- all the pots w...more
You Gotta Read It.
now that i think about it.
it will take an afternoonish.
three children receive a gift from the greatest, yet buffoonish scientist ever, who happens to be their father.
he gives them Ice-9.
Bypassing what it is and how it works and whatnot,
Ice-9 has the power to destroy shit.
Like Bom Shiva.
The most destructive poisons and bile to come out of the churnned snake could not be contained -- all the pots w...more
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
"I reread this right before Vonnegut's death. He's one of my idols, and this was probably the fifth time I've read this book. I got just as much from reading it this time as I did the first time when I was 15 or so. I attribute this partially to my inability to remember details from the books I read, but mostly to Vonnegut's genius. This time around, the most intriguing concept in the book for me was the fake religion, Bokonism. I've always loved the Bokonist concept of a "Karass"...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Vonnegut fans, people who like satire
This was my first reading of this book and I'm sure what to say about it. Basically what I got from this book...Don't try to find the "whys" in life because there aren't any. I'm not sure if I agree with that. The "whys" certainly are hard to comprehend...I guess it is something to be pondered.
I would say, in a nutshell, that elements of this book were excellent (Bokononism, Ice Nine, etc.), but the whole of the book came together a little choppy. The characters were ...more
I would say, in a nutshell, that elements of this book were excellent (Bokononism, Ice Nine, etc.), but the whole of the book came together a little choppy. The characters were ...more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
Heck yea!
I'd always meant to read Vonnegut but just never got around to it. Sadly it took his death to finally get me into his work. I was going to start with his "famous" one -- Slaughterhouse Five -- but went with his tile on the recommendation of a friend. It is insanely brilliant.
Its story is told simply but plumbs great depths. And it presents a faux religion - Bokonoism - which is so brilliant it practically makes the book a two-for-one sale on fine literature.
Now here's one tho...more
Its story is told simply but plumbs great depths. And it presents a faux religion - Bokonoism - which is so brilliant it practically makes the book a two-for-one sale on fine literature.
Now here's one tho...more
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This classic contains a perennially useful reminder (excerpted below) in Chapter 45, which is entitled, "Why Americans are Hated":
Clare Minton's letter to the Times was published during the worst era of Senator McCarthy, and her husband was fired twelve hours after the letter was printed.
"What was so awful about the letter?" I asked.
"The highest possible form of treason," said Minton, "is to say that Americans aren't loved wherever they go, wha...more
Clare Minton's letter to the Times was published during the worst era of Senator McCarthy, and her husband was fired twelve hours after the letter was printed.
"What was so awful about the letter?" I asked.
"The highest possible form of treason," said Minton, "is to say that Americans aren't loved wherever they go, wha...more
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Read in April, 2007
I suppose most boys go through a Vonnegut phase somewhere around junior high or high school. Just like people go through a Led Zeppelin phase. We then grow old, start thinking that he's not much of a prose stylist, fall in with a bad crowd that bad-mouths Vonnegut as a cranky misanthrope with a tendency towards gimmicks, and stop reading him.
This is a mistake. Well, in the case of "Cat's Cradle," at least, it's a mistake. "Cat's Cradle" and "Slaughterhouse-5," a...more
This is a mistake. Well, in the case of "Cat's Cradle," at least, it's a mistake. "Cat's Cradle" and "Slaughterhouse-5," a...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Heather by:
Books A Million Display
If I was having a dinner party, not only would I invite Kurt Vonnegut, but Dr. Koenikker's three delusional and delightfully entertaining children, Newt (the Midget), Frank (the Caribbean to-be king) and the monster of a daughter whose name slips my mind. Dinner would probably consist of the children telling stories of their childhood and not really paying attention to anything or anyone else at the table.
I would rank this book along with East of Eden as my two favorite books of all time at ...more
I would rank this book along with East of Eden as my two favorite books of all time at ...more
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Read in August, 2007
I enjoyed this book much more than Slaughterhouse-Five, and that inked, bound toilet paper known as Galapagos. Cat's Cradle featured a wide variety of interesting and diverse characters, from a medical student dropout form Cornell who happens to be a midget, to a Calypso sex figure that embodies all there is to know about Bokononism. Bokononism almost makes the book worthwhile by itself, as it is the logical ends to a thought process that begins with an island abandoning the "harmful" ...more
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Read in January, 2008
I've been a Vonnegut fan (like everyone else) for as long as I've been reading novels but did not read this early work until a few weeks ago.
I really like The Sirens of Titan but have never been able to finish Player Piano. I believe this was his third book following the two previously mentioned. It contains all of that wonderful Vonnegut smart-assed-ness of the later classic stuff. His encapsulated style begins to develop here. Very short chapters are featured through out. Classic satire feat...more
I really like The Sirens of Titan but have never been able to finish Player Piano. I believe this was his third book following the two previously mentioned. It contains all of that wonderful Vonnegut smart-assed-ness of the later classic stuff. His encapsulated style begins to develop here. Very short chapters are featured through out. Classic satire feat...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.25 (14341 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.20 (1132 ratings) number of reviews: 817popular shelves
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