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Cat's Cradle

Kurt Vonnegut

4.16 · Rating details · 319,903 ratings · 9,938 reviews

Told with deadpan humour & bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon &, worse still, surviving it ...

Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he's the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire ...more

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Hardcover, 1st, 233 pages

Published 1963 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston

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Aug 04, 2007 Lorenzo Berardi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american, a-my-english-library, 2007

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 book 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 has a great ...more

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Nov 17, 2008 Manny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, pooh-dante, strongly-recommended

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Most people have read Cat's Cradle, so I won't bother to try and hide spoilers. Did you say you hadn't read it? Well, what are you waiting for? This isn't Ulysses, you know, it's short and funny! So, now that it's just us people who know the book, I want to say why I disagree with the criticism you often see, that it's too fragmentary. On the contrary, I think it's very focused, and makes its point with near-perfect economy and wit. There are two obvious themes. One is how the irresponsible use ...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Danger rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: ugly children, most plant-life, human beings, and members of ABBA

Shelves: my-fucking-favorites

I've read this book four times. It's better than the Bible, because unlike the Bible, this book knows it's fiction.

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Feb 16, 2011 mark monday rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: unstablenarratives, alpha-team, first-loves, mind-the-gap, these-fragile-lives

there are probably as many reviews of Cat's Cradle as there are stars in the sky, so no doubt there's little i can add that's of any value. who cares? i love hearing myself talk, so let's go for it!

.....

well, this is harder than i thought. it's as easy as describing why i love my favorite pillow or threadbare t-shirt, or why i like rainy days as much as sunny days. okay, here goes. the inventiveness of Cat's Cradle and its bleak, absurd humor was incredibly eye-opening to me in high school and ...more

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Jul 20, 2011 Lyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Vonnegut's best?

Many will say that it is and who am I to disagree. It does include all the best elements of Vonnegut in his genius: humor, dark and subtle, and sometimes not subtle at all, irreverence, absurdity blended with realism to create a surrealistic setting where the reader is cautiously intrigued by whatever is going on.

And the messages and themes, of love, relationships, responsibility, both internally and globally. Also, like several of his more endearing works, this one remains Vonnegut's best?

Many will say that it is and who am I to disagree. It does include all the best elements of Vonnegut in his genius: humor, dark and subtle, and sometimes not subtle at all, irreverence, absurdity blended with realism to create a surrealistic setting where the reader is cautiously intrigued by whatever is going on.

And the messages and themes, of love, relationships, responsibility, both internally and globally. Also, like several of his more endearing works, this one remains thought provoking years after being read, a quasi-morality play that the reader will revisit often and sometimes with little coaxing.

** 2018 addendum - it is a testament to great literature that a reader recalls the work years later and this is a book about which I frequently think. The great takeaway from this one is not so much ice-nine, although that is certainly memorable, but Bokonon and most specifically the beautiful Mona. A treatise on Bokononism and its effect on SF since, both in its facial aspect as well as Vonnegut's use as a satire on religion could and should be explored.

***** 2019 re-read

This was a bright star on my 2019 Vonnegut re-reading EXTRAVAGANZA!! and it did not disappoint. I first read this back in HS and several times in college and in the dark days before GoodReads. Back then I thought it was hilarious and outrageous.

While I still agree that it is one of his most outrageous works (My vote for top of that list though is Slapstick) and it is still funny, from my mid-century vantage I know see that in some ways this is his most scathingly cynical and the humor is a way of cutting the toxicity, like Anthony Burgess’ use of the language Nadsat to minimize the ultra-violence into a palatable offering. Vonnegut was 41 when this was published, and I am now 50

John is a disaffected but still naïve writer whose loss of his cat (John Wick?) triggers his response to chronicle the human side of the creation of the atomic bomb. Setting out to interview the family of Nobel prize winning physicist Felix Hoenikker, a principle researcher in that DYNAMITE!! Creation, John is led on a journey that winds up on the Caribbean island of San Lorenzo and a discovery of the playfully made up religion of Bokononism and also the end of the world.

Felix’ creation of ICE-NINE and of his absent minded professor innocence is a surgical tool in Vonnegut’s able social commentary to discuss the deadly combination of naïve research and military purpose.

Speaking of Burgess and his made up language, Vonnegut here tries his hand at an expansive dictionary with some words he would later use to describe his 1974 anthology Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons.

description

...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, 1001-book, science, humor, fiction

427. Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
Cat's Cradle is the fourth novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1963. It explores issues of science, technology, and religion, satirizing the arms race and many other targets along the way. After turning down his original thesis in 1947, the University of Chicago awarded Vonnegut his master's degree in anthropology in 1971 for Cat's Cradle. At the opening of the book, the narrator, an everyman named John (but calling himself Jonah), describes 427. Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
Cat's Cradle is the fourth novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1963. It explores issues of science, technology, and religion, satirizing the arms race and many other targets along the way. After turning down his original thesis in 1947, the University of Chicago awarded Vonnegut his master's degree in anthropology in 1971 for Cat's Cradle. At the opening of the book, the narrator, an everyman named John (but calling himself Jonah), describes a time when he was planning to write a book about what important Americans did on the day Hiroshima was bombed. While researching this topic, John becomes involved with the children of Felix Hoenikker, a Nobel laureate physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb. John travels to Ilium, New York, to interview the Hoenikker children and others for his book. ...
گهواره گربه - کورت ونه‌ گات جونیور، انتشاراتیها ( نشر افق، ثالث)؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: بیست و دوم ماه می سال 2011 میلادی
عنوان: گهواره گربه؛ نویسنده: کورت ونه‌ گات جونیور، مترجم: علی اصغر بهرامی؛ تهران، نشر افق، 1383؛ در 406 ص؛ چاپ دوم 1386؛ چاپ سوم 1392؛ چاپ چهارم 1394؛ شابک: 9789643691615؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی - سده 20 م
عنوان: گهواره گربه؛ نویسنده: کورت ونه‌ گات، مترجمها: مهتاب کلانتری؛ منصوره وفایی؛ تهران، ثالث، 1383؛ در 375 ص؛ شابک: 9643800385؛
رمان «گهواره گربه»، چهارمین اثر نویسنده ی آمریکایی: «کورت ونه‌ گات» است، که نخستین بار در سال 1963 میلادی، چاپ شده است. ایشان در این کتاب، در باره ی علم، تکنولوژی، و مذهب، بحث می‌کنند، و مسابقه ی تسلیحاتی، و بسیاری از مفاهیم جدی دیگر را، به سخره می‌گیرند. عنوان کتاب، از بازی کودکانه ای گرفته شده، که با نخی بازی می‌کنند؛ که دو سرش گره خورده، و بین انگشتان دو نفر، دست به دست می‌شود. در صفحات نخستین رمان، «فلیکس هوینکر»، مخترع فرضی «بمب اتم» را می‌یابیم، که درست، در لحظه ی افتادن، یا پرتاب بمب، مشغول همین بازی ست. «گهواره گربه»، در سال 1964 میلادی، کاندیدای دریافت جایزه ی «هوگو»، برای بهترین رمان، بوده است. ا. شربیانی ...more

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Jan 16, 2017 Steve rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Another review in the KISS series (Keep It Short, Steve)

In Anne Fadiman’s superb book about books called Ex Libris, she divides readers into two categories: those who keep their books in pristine condition (courtly lovers) and those who delight in marginalia (carnal lovers). I started out as one of the former (conditioned, no doubt, by fear of library fines), but became one of the latter. Cat’s Cradle was my first prurient experience, dating back to high school. Part of the reason was that I Another review in the KISS series (Keep It Short, Steve)

In Anne Fadiman’s superb book about books called Ex Libris, she divides readers into two categories: those who keep their books in pristine condition (courtly lovers) and those who delight in marginalia (carnal lovers). I started out as one of the former (conditioned, no doubt, by fear of library fines), but became one of the latter. Cat’s Cradle was my first prurient experience, dating back to high school. Part of the reason was that I snagged my copy at a garage sale for a dime – cheap even then. But the real motivation was to highlight this great little rhyme:

Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.

That one deserved stars, a yellow marker, and the granddaddy of all desecrations – a dog-ear. I liked how it was framed as such a natural conclusion to the activity of thinking. We tell ourselves that our efforts to understand have paid off.

If I’m honest, I don’t recall much of the book’s premise. I remember thinking Vonnegut was one of those cool, sort of counter-cultural writers who wielded his satirical axe well. He may have been a bit darker than Tom Robbins, and less playful with his words, but he was similarly entertaining, incisive and free-wheeling. The book tracks the unusual offspring of the man who invented the A-bomb. They possess a substance called ice-nine that can make water freeze at room temperatures. And you can imagine what might happen if it fell into the wrong hands. The Russians and Americans procured some as did the dictator of a secluded Caribbean island where a religion called Bokononism is practiced despite being illegal and, according to Bokonon himself, based on lies. Still, anything that sells “living by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy” will have its appeal.

Vonnegut would poke fun at religion, politics, and just about any other human institution where our base natures hide in some gussied up form. And he may well have had a point. If I remember this cautionary tale correctly, a follow-up poem of my own might apply:

Monkey got to play, fish got to swim;
Man got to risk his life to some psycho’s whim.
Monkey got to doze, fish got to coast;
Man got to rest assured he won’t become a ghost.

And it may give us pause.
...more

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Jul 04, 2014 Michael rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Hasty and jokey, Cat's Cradle begins as a satire about a journalist's attempt to investigate the life of one of the creators of the atomic bomb, but ends as a bleak allegory about the annihilation of life on earth. Vonnegut's irreverent wit and straightforward prose make his work a useful gateway to adult fiction for teens, and this novel ranks amongst his best. Adults who never encountered Vonnegut's books during their youth, by contrast, might find the book's pessimism or its hyper-episodic ...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

I loved this book!

It turned out to be one of those easy-to-read stories that leave you thinking, and thinking, and thinking. The science fiction aspect of the plot is not important at all. It is the impact of power, knowledge and ritual on every single individual that made me want to restart reading it as soon as I finished. I absolutely adore the creation of Bokononism and the development of a new language to suit the needs of the religion-in-the-making.

Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam experiments ...more

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May 19, 2017 Evgeny rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

A group read with the following wonderful people: Ashley and Erin. Please let me know if I missed somebody.

Before I start talking about the plot let me give you a piece of advice. If after you finish reading this one the first question that comes to your mind would be ,"WTF did I just read?" it is perfectly normal and common. You can imagine now how easy is it to discuss the plot. Anyhow, Dr. Felix Hoenikker happened to be one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb. The MC named John A group read with the following wonderful people: Ashley and Erin. Please let me know if I missed somebody.

Before I start talking about the plot let me give you a piece of advice. If after you finish reading this one the first question that comes to your mind would be ,"WTF did I just read?" it is perfectly normal and common. You can imagine now how easy is it to discuss the plot. Anyhow, Dr. Felix Hoenikker happened to be one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb. The MC named John (whose name comes up exactly once) decided/forced/hired/given a job to write a book about him.

At this point I have to stop and ask the following question - I am going to do it lots of times here - as everybody and their brother know it took a lot of brilliant scientists to develop the bomb. How comes in the book Dr. Felix Hoenikker was held solely responsible for it? This is a very serious question as two such bombs were used to kill a lot of civilians - some of them died fast, some slowly and painfully. To continue my serious questions (I am quite curious at the moment) - were the people who created it able to sleep at night peacefully after they learned how the first couple of their creations were used? I really hope that pesky little thingy called conscience bothered them at least a little and at least sometimes.

Anyhow John interviewed relatives, colleagues, and neighbors of the good inventor learning more and more about him. The guy was weird (David Lynch type weird) and so is the tale.
Eraserhead

For the first half I was fascinated by weirdness and mad glimpses at the mind of a genius. In the second half it all went to hell. The weirdness increased tenfold, the tale became disjoint and... well... weird (this time in the bad sense). I can tell exactly the moment it happens: when John arrived to St. Lorenzo.

And thus I was sure I could rate the book with 4 stars adding my voice to the chorus of countless book fans. It was supposed to be funny; I did not think so but it surely was witty and I loved some of the quotes. How about this one:
"Maturity...is knowing what your limitations are...Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything."

Unfortunately during the second part I had a serious internal struggle not to DNF the book. At least now I know why pseudo-intellectual hipster snobs hold Vonnegut in such high regard. I have to say that quite a few normal people like it too. From my side I will read other works of Vonnegut; before now I only read some of his short stories that were perfectly normal and thus not as well known.

The book is not hopeless by all means and fully deserves 3 stars. I am glad I read it, but I have no desire whatsoever to reread it even if it would be the last book left in the world.

P.S. What's up with Vonnegut's fascination with midgets?
Midget

...more

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Sep 23, 2014 Dan Schwent rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014

When he embarks on a project to write a book about the creators of the atomic bomb, Jonah has no idea what he's going to unearth: Dr Felix Hoenikker and Ice-Nine, a substance that will instantly freeze any water it comes into contact with into more Ice-Nine, a substance capable of destroying all life on earth. Can Jonah find the missing Hoenikker children and secure their chips of Ice-Nine to safeguard the world?

Here we are, my second experience with Kurt Vonnegut and one of his Big Important ...more

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Oct 08, 2010 Linda Hopf rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: could-not-finish

I stopped at page 175 and I have NEVER done that. I never give up on books I start. This book made me re-think that practice. Normally, even if I do not like a book, I can find something about it to keep me going but with Cat's Cradle I just had to quit. I need to feel something - curiousity, irritation, sadness, happiness, love, desire, anger, escapism, like I am learning something new, that I need the lesson this book is offering... whatever. I need to connect to the book, the story, the ...more

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Jan 31, 2008 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

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 happiest. The lie ...more

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Jan 01, 2010 Lawyer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: social-commentary, group-read, 20th-century, 2013, religion, science-fiction, satire, modern-american-fiction, humanism, free-will

Cat's Cradle: Vonnegut's String Game

photo CatsCradle1963_zpsdaf7b2ad.jpg

Cat's Cradle, First Edition,Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Published in 1963, "Cat's Cradle" is Kurt Vonnegut's fourth novel. I consider it one of the great satirical works of the 20th Century. Often referred to as a modern Mark Twain, Vonnegut's view of American society more fully embraces a society and its group values, while Twain's targets for his biting wit were more specifically aimed, although with the same verve and joy in the revelation of the foibles of ...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Jennifer (aka EM) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: for-the-desert-island

This was a difficult re-read. In the flush of youth, when I first read it (at my cynical, pessimistic - and arrogant - peak), every line spoke to me. Now, I am amazed at how flimsy the story, and how brittle and bleak - but oh-so-deeply entrenched - is the cynicism. I don't remember it that way. Today, it made me deeply, almost unbearably sad to think that the world - that I - felt so aligned with the dominant worldview of this novel. It still speaks to me, but it says different things.

I haven't ...more

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Jan 09, 2017 Darwin8u rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, aere-perennius

"...for the quotation captured in a couplet the cruel paradox of Bakononist thought, the heartbreaking necessity about lying about reality, and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it.

Midget, midget, midget, how he struts and winks,
For he knows a man's as big as what he hopes and thinks!"
-- Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

description

I first read this in 9th grade. The grade my two kids are right now. Life has a way of making you feel both old and insignificant. When I first read this book I was ...more

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Nov 30, 2017 David Schaafsma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-20th-century, wwii

“Live by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.”

Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, one of the great anti-war novels of all time, is based on Vonnegut’s own experience as a soldier during WWII in the bombing and destruction of Dresden. The book is darkly funny, veering into science/speculative fiction, but underneath it all is barely contained rage and despair at the stupidity of the human race, especially with respect to the conduct of war and the destruction of “Live by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.”

Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, one of the great anti-war novels of all time, is based on Vonnegut’s own experience as a soldier during WWII in the bombing and destruction of Dresden. The book is darkly funny, veering into science/speculative fiction, but underneath it all is barely contained rage and despair at the stupidity of the human race, especially with respect to the conduct of war and the destruction of civilians in cities. Cat’s Cradle, his fourth novel, continues Vonnegut’s rage against the war machine, this time focused on Doctor Irving Langmuir, one of the architects of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, fictionalized in the guise of Dr Felix Hoenikker, whom Vonnegut has constructing a cat’s cradle when the bomb is actually dropped. Vonnegut met and talked with Langmuir at one time.

Here’s how to make a cat’s cradle:

https://www.wikihow.com/Play-The-Cat%...

In this book Vonnegut actually structures it as a kind of elaborate (though seemingly random) cat’s cradle. As Vonnegut observes, it is a cheat: No cat. No cradle. Just a series of exes, a pattern appearing to be beautiful, but ultimately meaningless, absurd, like Vonnegut’s basic philosophy. If bombs are dropped on cities to win wars, life is senseless. Or acts like this are senseless. His books, Vonnegut once said, "are essentially mosaics made up of a whole bunch of tiny little chips. . . and each chip is a joke.”

The book begins like Moby Dick: Call me Johan. Johan is writing a book about the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Much of the action takes place on a fictional island, San Lorenzo, with mostly poor people and a dictator. The country follows the Bokoninist religion, one that Vonnegut made up. All religion is absurd to Vonnegut, though one principle of Bokoninism makes sense to him: All religion is s pack of lies. Vonnegut uses this religion in various books, involving wampeters, granfalloons, karasses, stuppas, and so on. The plot is silly, fun, dark, all of that, but one point has to do with man’s relation to technology and science, especially that which loses its connection to people. The threat of nuclear destruction in the Cold War is a major theme. The Cuban Missile Crisis happened in 1962; Vonnegut’s book came out in 1963.

“Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory and shows of flags and well-oiled guns.”

One thing that it looks at are the Books of Bokonin, whose fourteenth book answers the question:

"What can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?"

It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period.
This is it: "Nothing.”

Johan concludes his writing: “If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who.”
...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Megan Baxter rated it really liked it · review of another edition

What is it about Vonnegut's authorial voice? It's simultaneously wry and tender, sarcastic and gentle. I don't know of any other authors that can manage that particular combination. And here, writing about the end of the world in so many different ways, it is on full display.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

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Nov 15, 2015 Phrynne rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I struggled a bit with this one. Kurt Vonnegut's writing is always a little unusual but this book seemed to be excessively disjointed and rambling. I felt my brain wandering off into more interesting thoughts and had to keep rereading bits. Keeping track of all the characters' names was hard too. Not a successful read for me I am afraid.

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Sep 09, 2013 Ms. Smartarse rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, mid-xx-century, quotable, translated_into_romanian, dark-comedy

Originally published as Cat's Cradle.

John had "only" wanted to write an account of the day the atomic bomb had dropped over Hiroshima. He had been diligently gathering data for it, even going so far as contacting the chief scientist's youngest son. And what a story that avenue had revealed! But... that had been 2 wives, 250,000 cigarettes, 3,000 quarts of booze... and a different religion ago. He's a Bokononist now. A much more sarcastic, realistic-sounding, but also a shameless lie of a ...more

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Apr 24, 2017 Warwick rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, united-states, fiction, new-york, caribbean

Think what a paradise this world would be if men were kind and wise.

In 1963, when this book first came out, the world was still unclenching after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The nervy terror beneath the posturing of the Cold War is writ large here, and in cartoon colours; indeed the very name of the Cold War finds a deadly literality in Vonnegut's ‘ice-nine’, the chemical compound that will destroy all life on earth. Vonnegut's tone – a desperate hilarity which, I think, reflects real fear – has

Think what a paradise this world would be if men were kind and wise.

And we will all go together when we go!
What a comforting fact that is to know!
Universal bereavement,
An inspiring achievement!
Yes, we all will go together when we go!

Vonnegut's apocalyptic outlook is saved from the taint of adolescent cynicism because of his constant reminders that things could be so much better. There's a melancholy utopianism in his worldview, which is represented, in Cat's Cradle, by the Caribbean religion of Bokononism. Unlike most religions, Bokononism is up-front about its fictional nature: honesty, for Vonnegut, is the quickest path to wisdom, however uncomfortable, and the extracts from Bokononist teachings are among the most appealing parts of his story.

‘Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.’

It took me a while to warm up to Cat's Cradle. Vonnegut's approach is broadbrush, his language basic (though there are some nice lines – we hear that one character ‘ran to the heart of the house in the brainless ecstasy of a volunteer fireman’). The cast is made up of cut-out stock figures, including the brash American abroad, the high-minded impersonal scientist, the fat third-world dictator, the teenage hula-girl sex object. But in the second half of the (short) book, with everyone brought together on a remote fictional island, these elements start to combine in surprisingly powerful ways. When you look back on the book, this is the bit you remember: cartoon characters on an island, swapping religious parables and making jokes about imminent extinction. I suspect people who read this some years ago have forgotten the whole first half in New York – I suspect this because I read it a couple of days ago, and that bit's already hazy to me.

And the ending is so memorable because, despite the slapstick, it is deadly serious. Maybe a few years, or even months ago, one could have enjoyed the story uncomplicatedly, but it's funny how these things come around again. In his introduction to the Penguin Modern Classics edition, Benjamin Kunkel meditates on the following Bokononist verses:

Duffle, in the Bokononist sense, is the destiny of thousands upon thousands of persons when placed in the hands of a stuppa. A stuppa is a fogbound child.

‘Even the silly coinages of Bokonon,’ Kunkel deadpans, ‘seem to have taken on, for Americans at least, a certain utility and precision.’ But – oh god! – he wrote this in 2008, under George W Bush – a poor leader, but a peerless statesman in comparison to the detestable thundercunt presently in office, who has turned a book that should be a period piece into a model of contemporary relevance. Vonnegut would have been disgusted, but wholly unsurprised. ...more

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May 04, 2014 Himanshu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hulk-smashed-my-mind, unforgettables, reviewed, favorites, to-re-read, sci-fi, quickies

“Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.”

You must have already come across this quote somewhere I'm sure. But if not, then come, let's bask in the glory of its supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (:D) wisdom. After reading my second Vonnegut, I could only fathom one feeling for us humans in this vast unending universe: Pity. Don't these lines elucidate just how miserable we really ...more

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Jan 10, 2015 Paul rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: satire

4.5 stars
Rather funny and biting satire on religion, politics and the possibility of humanity managing to destroy the world; written at about the time of the Cuban missile crisis. It is narrated by John, who is also the main protagonist. There is a Moby Dick reference right at the beginning when John says “Call me Jonah”.
John is writing a book about what famous Americans did on the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He is interested in Dr Felix Hoenikker who had been involved in the 4.5 stars
Rather funny and biting satire on religion, politics and the possibility of humanity managing to destroy the world; written at about the time of the Cuban missile crisis. It is narrated by John, who is also the main protagonist. There is a Moby Dick reference right at the beginning when John says “Call me Jonah”.
John is writing a book about what famous Americans did on the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He is interested in Dr Felix Hoenikker who had been involved in the development of the bomb. As he is deceased John contacts his three rather odd children. The journey moves to a Caribbean island with a dictator. The whole encompasses a substance called ice nine, which makes water solidify at room temperature. It was invented by Hoenikker and his children appropriated it after his death. By various nefarious means the Americans and Soviets have it, as does the dictator of the Caribbean island of San Lorenzo (loosely based on Haiti). San Lorenzo also has its own religion Bokononism. This has been outlawed at the suggestion of its founder; thus making it more attractive. As does the fact that, as its founder says, it’s all “shameful lies” anyway.
The plot is about as far-fetched as it can be; but it is funny. The title of the novel refers of course to the children’s game of the same name and sums up Vonnegut’s approach to religion and politics (as expressed by one of the characters)
“No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's . . . No damn cat, no damn cradle.”
Vonnegut seems to think the whole world is a bit of a mess and that fact in itself is actually rather funny. The whole is a bit disjointed, but there are some wonderful quotes and comments on modern life, Vonnegut never forgets he is an entertainer and there is none of the wordiness and complexity of some of his contemporaries.
It’s great fun and very readable with some satisfying pokes at the pomposity of religion, science and politics and we continue to need to be reminded how vital that is.
...more

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Jun 14, 2012 Penny rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, books-they-say-i-should-read, highly-recommended, bookclub, scifi-and-fantasy-club-bookshelf, classics, science-fiction, hugo-nominee

Although I found the ending rather abrupt, I thought this was a fantastic book! The style of short chapters was unusual but fit well with the narration.

The story is told from the point of view of a writer John (or Jonah) who has converted from Christianity to Bokononism and is attempting to write a book about the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He meets many weird characters (or members of his karass) along the way and describes among other things, his journey to Bokononism.

I ...more

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Apr 04, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, science-fiction, merkins

The best way to cure Reader’s Block is to reread authors whose works induce chest pains of happiness in one’s . . . chest, so I did this with Mr. Vonnegut this afternoon. Sadly, upon rereading Cat’s Cradle, which I first tackled in 2007 at the summit of Arthur’s Seat as a love-drunk twenty-year-old starting to lick the world’s honeyest creases after a period of long-term depression, I was more disappointed than delighted. I suspect this book is read largely in one’s teens when confronting the ...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Rod rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned, favorites, science-fiction, thornton-melon-gets-an-f

I now regret all those years in which I wasn't reading Vonnegut, because I should have been reading Vonnegut.

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Sep 08, 2014 Apatt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.”

You can always find great quotes in Vonnegut books that are effective even outside of the book’s context. The above quote hints at one of the book’s central themes of dangerous knowledge or technology. Cleverly conceived but applied without wisdom, compassion or humanity, to ...more

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Jun 08, 2017 Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: a-own-book-form, mad-scientists, 3-star, buddy-or-group-read, read-in-2017, got-in-2017, classics-i-have-finally-conquered, reviewed, classics

“Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.”

Another strange buddy read with Ashley, Evgeny, Christopher and anyone else brave enough to participate.

Um. Good (sort-of), but weird, and not always “good-weird.”

Blending science and morality, religion with warning, weapons and the man’s desire to create and destroy, it’s a powerful satirical novel that works in some levels and loses me on others. Nothing new for me, I’m sad to say. Damn ...more

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Apr 29, 2019 Tracey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-am-passionate-about, 5-star-books, 2019-best-of, kurt-vonnegut

Even before the first page I knew I was going to like this one.
It says;

Nothing in this book is true.

'Live by the forma* that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.'
The books of Bokonon. I : 5

*Harmless untruths

The illogical makes so much sense and the logical becomes nonsense when I read Vonnegut. I never misunderstand or struggle with what I'm reading, he carries you along with his words. No effort from the reader apart from to let yourself be immersed in the story.

Vonneguts writing is ...more

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May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: canada-and-usa, scifi-future-speculative-fict

Apocalyptic sci fi/utopia revolving around ice-nine (side effect of developing nuclear bombs), with lots of religious philosophy (Bokonism), i.e. that people need the reassurance of beliefs regardless of whether they are true or not - which they aren't.

Note to self: Before rereading, read Manny's review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Dictionary of Bokonism: http://bernd.wechner.info/Bokononism/...
Including:

boko-maru: The mingling of awareness. A Bokononist ritual during which two ...more

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About Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut

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Kurt Vonnegut, Junior was an American novelist, satirist, and most recently, graphic artist. He was recognized as New York State Author for 2001-2003.

He was born in Indianapolis, later the setting for many of his novels. He attended Cornell University from 1941 to 1943, where he wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Vonnegut trained as a chemist and worked as a ...more

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Quotes from Cat's Cradle

“Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.” — 2151 likes

“In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.

And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close to mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.

"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.

"Certainly," said man.

"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.

And He went away.” — 1397 likes

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