Re-Reading Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle"

I've already commented (here) about the recent passing of novelist Kurt Vonnegut at age 84. (The image on the left appeared on Vonnegut's website shortly after his death, meaning, I guess, "that bird has flown.")

We had a rainy morning in northern California and I didn't feel like going out. So I picked up my copy of "Cat's Cradle" and spent the next three hours re-reading a book that I had first digested nearly four decades ago. I've read all of Vonnegut's novels, but this was always my favorite.

It was interesting to be taken back to the world of the early 1960s in which the "Cat's Cradle" is set. It made me feel young again.

Vonnegut is funny. And perceptive, of course. And quite dark and cynical too. But the era in which this book is set was dark as well: atmospheric atomic weapons testing by the US and the Soviet Union, and a near miss of World War III during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. (Kind of makes today's "Global Warming" fears look like a walk in the park in comparison.) Those were some scary times. But looking back at them, I realized that if we can survive that, we can survive almost anything. (Of course, my parents' generation probably felt the same away about the Depression and World War II.)

Anyway, it's a interesting world that Vonnegut puts together. Some of the elements include: the inventor of the A-Bomb. Ice-9, a material that makes water hard. A holy fool, Bokonon, who starts a paradoxical religion. A Midget. Large company R&D. A Caribbean island. The "Grand Ah-Whoom, or the end of the world. A dysfunctional family. And so on. Read it for yourself.

Hollywood did a pretty decent job of making a film out of Slaughterhouse-Five (directed by George Roy Hill, 1972), but failed miserably bringing Breakfast of Champions (1999) to the big screen. I'm glad they never tried with "Cat's Cradle." It works best in the imagination of the reader.

"All of the true things I am about
to tell you are shameless lies." — Bokonon (Cat's Cradle)

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Note: When I went to Amazon to create the link for "Cat's Cradle," I noticed that it was #4 on their bestseller list, and that three other Vonnegut books were in their Top 100. I noticed that the same thing happened several years ago right after novelist Saul Bellow died — his books also zoomed to the top and went on back order. I guess there's a pattern there!

Comments

[Shakespeare's Fool]

Roger,
It's a rainy day here in Boston.
Now, where's my copy??????
John

[Joanna Young]

You're back reading books.

This made me wonder how the twitter / reading swap was going?

Joanna

[Carma Dutra]

I have never read "Cat's Cradle", but I will now.

Yes there is a definite surge of remembrance of someone when they die. Usually that is a good thing.

[Roger von Oech]

John: I'm sure you'll find one. BTW: "Jonathan Rotenberg" is one I haven't heard in a long, long time. I met him in the early-to-mid 80s when I used to produce software conferences.

Joanna: I never stopped reading. I've read four books in the past two weeks. I've stopped Twittering though. I wrote one update, perhaps I'll do another!

Carma: There have to be better ways to promote a book than dying!