Summer 2014 Book Club discussion
This topic is about
Cat’s Cradle
First Book: Cat's Cradle
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Kurt Vonnegut's 8 basics of creative writing:
1.Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
I feel like rules #1 and #4 were at the front of his mind while writing Cat's Cradle - I honestly felt like every sentence of the book was useful and efficient. That's definitely one of the things that stood out most to me in the novel
I really like those rules!! I like Rule #3 in and of itself. With respect to the book, 8 has made me think of it differently. As I was reading, and then after I finished, I began to realize that I liked the book so much because I couldn't predict exactly what would happen. However, upon reading rule 8, I rethought my opinion. I think now that 1) I didn't give myself time to predict because I read it very quickly and 2) Vonnegut was very skilled as he followed his own rule. He gave you all the information you needed, and presented it in a way so that you could make assumptions as to what would happen next, but (at least for me) his writing style made you read on to make sure you predicted correctly and to get more of his storytelling. I really liked reading Cat's Cradle and I'm absolutely fascinated by ice nine. But I do have a question about it: (spoiler alert!! if you haven't finished the book, don't finish reading this post)
When papa's body falls into the water and causes all of it to become ice nine, does that water go on to taint all of the oceans on earth, or is it somehow limited to San Lorenzo?
Mollie wrote: "I really like those rules!! I like Rule #3 in and of itself. With respect to the book, 8 has made me think of it differently. As I was reading, and then after I finished, I began to realize that I..." It's all over the whole world, all the rivers, lakes, tributaries, everything cuz all the oceans are connected. the only water saved was what ever had been completely isolated from the rest of the world's water supply.I think going by Jonah was supposed to be understood as a biblical reference, and I don't think he was trying to make this subtle at all. He explains his name preference by saying "somebody or something has compelled me to be certain places at certain times, with out fail," as if it was to be immediately understood that he was comparing himself to Jonah the Prophet. I mainly found it interesting because at the time of writing this, the narrator was a self-proclaimed Bokononist. I just don't know what to think of, with the knowledge of knowing the context in which he was writing this, the narrator sort of placing himself in the position of or drawing a parallel with a figure from his former religion. what do y'all think?
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I had another question that I wanted to hear your opinions on: what role do you think Mona plays in the story? Do you think the book could have done without her character?
I was wondering that about Mona myself...I think I concluded that at least for me, she was a furthering of the "appearance vs. reality" theme that pervaded every aspect of San Lorenzo. People believed in her and were drawn to her for her sex appeal, but in the end the narrator realizes that even she is not what she seems to be.I also thought it was really interesting how Mona paralleled Hoenniker's wife. Both were obviously attractive to every man they met, and both ended up with unlikely partners (or at least, not with the people who expressed the most affection for them and seemed bitter about their final choices -- Philip Castle and Asa Breed).
Speaking of which, what does everyone think about the relationship between Hoenniker and his wife? It seemed to be puzzling for a lot of the characters in the book -- does anyone think it's significant that such a strange character had such a sought-after wife, and do you think it says anything about Felix Hoenniker?
I think it's also important to remember that Mona was sort of what finally convinced Jonah to convert to Bokononism. So she's like part classic temptress, and part missionary almost, and I thought that was a good example of his commentary on religion through out the novel. Vonnegut seems to be saying that people are tempted into religious beliefs, not because they truly believe it but because it provides a satisfying way to reconstruct their own reality, just like Jonah was trying to do with Mona.
My comment really has nothing to do with what has been said above, but I thought I would mention it.Toward the end of the book, after the ice-nine taken over the world, Newt mentions that he went to school with "Mongoloids". I did not know what a Mongoloid was in that sense until I took my SPED class last semester. It is an old term used to describe people with Down Syndrome, not people whose origins are in Mongolia. This shows that people back then did not (and we still don't) know what is best for people who are not typically-developed. Newt was a dwarf, not someone who had intellectual disabilities.
Anyway, that was my little SPED lecture for y'all today. It doesn't contribute much to the story line, but part of my job is to educate the people (a.k.a. y'all).
So, a pretty easy, though important one to start us off: Why does the narrator, John, start the novel by saying, "Call me Jonah"?