Hocus Pocus
by Kurt Vonnegutpublished
October 1st 1997
(first published 1990)
by Berkley Trade
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binding
Paperback, 336 pages
isbn
0425161293
(isbn13: 9780425161296)
description
A small, exclusive college in upstate New York is nestled along the frozen shores of Lake Mohiga . . . and directly across from a maximum-security pri...more
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Vonnegut is able to somehow shape his stories like a wheel which pick up more and more speed, more and more issues, more and more ideas as they roll. This story elucidates its aims very subtlety, to the point that many people would probably take for granted what Vonnegut has accomplished by the book's end.
His main character, a young Vietnam vet, draws many parallels to the war in his perception and much of his experience is colored and at times directly affected by the war.
He finds solace an...more
His main character, a young Vietnam vet, draws many parallels to the war in his perception and much of his experience is colored and at times directly affected by the war.
He finds solace an...more
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Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
Lovers of satire
Hocus Pocus is the story of Eugene Debs Hartke, a Vietnam veteran, who after leaving the Army became a teacher at a private school and then a prison. After a prison break, he is mistaken for one of the ring leaders and ends up awaiting trial, dying of TB, contemplating his life and trying to count the number of women he has slept with.
In itself, that would make a good basis for an ordinary book, but as this is a novel written by Kurt Vonnegut, the basic story has little to do with making thi...more
In itself, that would make a good basis for an ordinary book, but as this is a novel written by Kurt Vonnegut, the basic story has little to do with making thi...more
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Read in March, 2007
Hocus Pocus introduced me to many various now-familiar aspects of KV's writing. The many colorful characters, the unimpressive schlub protagonists who are in so many ways their own antagonists, the incredibly intriguing and imaginative scenes that he paints so effortlessly (a child in Hiroshima who bends over to pick up a ball in a ditch feels a woosh of warm air across his back as he does so, then stands up to see a wasteland of devastation from a nuclear bomb), the witticisms that could and sh...more
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I can't say that this is one of Kurt Vonnegut's best works. To be honest, it's rather more depressing than many of his other novels - and they're a rather depressing lot anyway! Unlike his Bluebeard, though, this book lacks a deeply moving and somehow uplifting ending. It lacks a sense of resolution...perhaps that's what Vonnegut intended. It probably is.
But even so, Vonnegut retained his gifts as a writer. So although I found myself frequently feeling a little depressed by this book, I also...more
But even so, Vonnegut retained his gifts as a writer. So although I found myself frequently feeling a little depressed by this book, I also...more
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Read in January, 2005
Fiction. The memoirs of a man who fought in Vietnam, then returned to teach physics at a college for the rich and mentally underdeveloped. After being fired for subversion (damned freedom of speech), he was hired to teach across the lake at a prison for blacks. When the prisoners broke out and stormed the campus, the army was called in, the inmates were subdued, the college was turned into a prison, and he became the warden. After all that, he was arrested for the insurrection and became an inma...more
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Read in January, 2008
Kurt Vonnegut creates, with his own unique perspective and style, a novel of entropy and fragments that is quite enjoyable to read--here, in the wandering time line of memory are causes and effects of history and accident specific to one man's life and yet which tie together and comment on our history and society.
In some senses, the story takes a form of a mystery: we are presented with a character who is in "prison" and we are learning how he got there and what he has done to be...more
In some senses, the story takes a form of a mystery: we are presented with a character who is in "prison" and we are learning how he got there and what he has done to be...more
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Read in October, 2004
recommends it for:
those looking for a meandering memoir sort of novel
While I don't know if Hocus Pocus has appeared on any banned books lists, it fit with the spirit of the week.
This is probably the least objectionable of Vonnegut's later books, at least as language is concerned; as the main character never swears. He follows a precept from his grandfather "that profanity and obscenity entitle people who don't want unpleasant information to close their ears and eyes to you."
Eugene Debs Hartk...more
This is probably the least objectionable of Vonnegut's later books, at least as language is concerned; as the main character never swears. He follows a precept from his grandfather "that profanity and obscenity entitle people who don't want unpleasant information to close their ears and eyes to you."
Eugene Debs Hartk...more
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Read in May, 2005
There's something utterly terrible in finishing a book that made you feel like your whole being (as never before) was acknowledged as beautiful while you read it. Tears...a lot of tears. A ache in your heart...a yearning for the love affair that you've just had with this author (reaching for him in your quiet times and not being rejected but Validated) is over. Done. Kaput. But to know that you are for now and for ever in love with him. That a simple little word strategically placed within its p...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
hardcore Vonnegut fans
After Kurt Vonnegut passed away, I decided to read a novel of his I had not read yet as a sort of tribute, and picked up Hocus Pocus at random from the bookstore. Until that point, I had never read something by Vonnegut I hadn't loved. However, I struggled for months to finish this novel. Eventually, when I did get to the second half of the book, I had forgotten exactly who some characters and things were (eg: GRIOT) that were introduced back in the beginning of the novel, making it an even mo...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
Skeptics of any degree
Another brilliant, cynical Vonnegut whirlwind. It always amazes me how Vonnegut manages to tell stories with the structure of a well written essay. He presents information as it becomes relevant and interesting instead of in traditional chronological order. It takes an organizational genius to pull that off so smoothly.
Despite innumerable differences, I found myself very empathetic to the main character. Mostly because I, like him, am a member of the “servant class” and have dealt (albe...more
Despite innumerable differences, I found myself very empathetic to the main character. Mostly because I, like him, am a member of the “servant class” and have dealt (albe...more
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I actually like this Vonnegut novel even though it's not one of his best - The main character's name is Eugene Debs Hartke, Eugene Debs being one of Vonnegut's "heroes" - reading this book's the first time I'd heard of Debs. I've read a few things Vonnegut's written where he quote the following passage from a statement Debs made to the court before being sentenced for violating the sedition act:
Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my ...more
Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my ...more
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recommends it for:
really, really, really completionist Vonnegut fans
I love Kurt Vonnegut. It would be difficult to overstate how formative Cat's Cradle was for me. I got a major kick out of Slaughterhouse Five.
But this book was missing everything that made those great. There's no winking wisdom behind the satircal bitterness. No blindingly fresh observations from the mouths of...more
But this book was missing everything that made those great. There's no winking wisdom behind the satircal bitterness. No blindingly fresh observations from the mouths of...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Mark by:
Everyonerecommends it for: Everyone
I hadn't read any Vonnegut before now, so I can't give any comparisons to his other works. It is interesting that he had a brother who is noted for his scientific research on weather modification, particularly cloud seeding.
I found this book at a thrift store for fifty cents about a week ago and thought I might find out what all the hype is about.
REVIEW:
Biting satire/social commentary. A telling of what someone in 1990 might envision 2001 to be. Funny in an effortless way. I am a conv...more
I found this book at a thrift store for fifty cents about a week ago and thought I might find out what all the hype is about.
REVIEW:
Biting satire/social commentary. A telling of what someone in 1990 might envision 2001 to be. Funny in an effortless way. I am a conv...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in May, 2008
I always have a hard time reviewing books I like. I suppose my academic training over the years, so focused on analysis and argumentation makes me prone to pessimism.
Way to spend $100,000!
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The whole time I kept thinking about The Tin Drum. Same sort of serendipitous situations though that kid wasn't in Vietnam. Lot's of sex talk though.
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It is a hard thing to kee...more
Way to spend $100,000!
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The whole time I kept thinking about The Tin Drum. Same sort of serendipitous situations though that kid wasn't in Vietnam. Lot's of sex talk though.
---------------------------------------------------------------
It is a hard thing to kee...more
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Read in November, 2002
"Every kind of animal thinks its own kind of animal is wonderful. So people getting married think they're wonderful, and that they're going to have a baby that's wonderful, when actually they're as ugly as rhinoceroses." 50
Bergeron's epitaph for the planet:
"WE COULD HAVE SAVED IT,
BUT WE WERE TOO DOGGONE CHEAP." 143
"I have looked up who the Freethinkers were. They were members of a short-lived sect, mostly of German descent, who believed that nothing but sleep aw...more
Bergeron's epitaph for the planet:
"WE COULD HAVE SAVED IT,
BUT WE WERE TOO DOGGONE CHEAP." 143
"I have looked up who the Freethinkers were. They were members of a short-lived sect, mostly of German descent, who believed that nothing but sleep aw...more
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Read in January, 2005
This one is “written” by Eugene Debs Hartke (named after but not to be confused with Eugene V. Debs), unapologetic Vietnam vet, special ed teacher, shameless playboy, all-around likeable guy. He’s writing the story on small scraps of found paper in a prison that was once the special ed college in which he taught – to show the little scraps of paper, there are oddly placed division lines throughout the book, small chapter Vonnegut style to the extreme. He was sent to prison for complici...more
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Read in December, 2007
Vonnegut is my new personal savior. He says in this book "I have no reforms to propose. I think that any form of government, not just capitalism, is whatever the people who have all our money, drunk or sober, sane or insane, decide to do today."
He also says that Harvard should be renamed as "Plantation Owners Tech"
Eugene Hardk, the protagonist of Hocus Pocus is a brilliant sungenius Vietnam Veteran who womanizes his way through this novel in the most empathetic way ...more
He also says that Harvard should be renamed as "Plantation Owners Tech"
Eugene Hardk, the protagonist of Hocus Pocus is a brilliant sungenius Vietnam Veteran who womanizes his way through this novel in the most empathetic way ...more
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Read in April, 2008
Very interesting book written in typical Vonnegut style about a man who goes from being a university professor to a prison warden to a prisoner within a few years. This man is a Vietnam was veteran, and sees a lot of life as it relates to war and the societal downfalls of our world. Two of my favorite quotes from the book are, "At least the World will end, an event anticipated with great joy by many. It will end very soon, but not in the year 2000, which has come and gone. From that I concl...more
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Vonnegut is one of the few writers that makes me laugh out loud while reading. On the other hand, his books are depressing. Like most of of Vonnegut's works, Hocus Pocus is difficult to sum up. It involves a Vietnam veteran turned physics professor who has killed a lot of people and slept with a lot of women during the course of his life. Across the lake from the university where the veteran works is a prison where he will work later in his life and from which many convicts will escape. I'll sto...more
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Middle of the road Vonnegut. Sure it was funny, satirical and insightful, but it felt more like a light confection than some of his other works. Written in short, digestible snippets, it was an easy read, although, like most of his stuff, it's not presented chronologically.
Written in 1991 and set in 2001, he comes up with some clever predictions about life in the 21st century. Sometimes he's spot on (his environmental assumptions ring true), sometimes he misses badly (most US businesses owned...more
Written in 1991 and set in 2001, he comes up with some clever predictions about life in the 21st century. Sometimes he's spot on (his environmental assumptions ring true), sometimes he misses badly (most US businesses owned...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.78 (4344 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.72 (4030 ratings) number of reviews: 152
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quote
"...we took the 10 machines we agreed were the most beguiling, and we put them on permanent exhibit in the foyer of this library underneath a sign whose words can surely be applied to this whole ruined planet nowadays: THE COMPLICATED FUTILITY OF IGNORANCE"
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