It took Vonnegut more than 20 years to put his Dresden experiences into words. He explained, "there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again." Slaughterhouse Five is a powerful novel incorporating a number of genres. Only those who have fought in wars can say whether it represents the experience well. However, what the novel does do is invite the reader to look at the absurdity of war. Human versus human, hedonist politicians pressing buttons and ordering millions to their deaths all for ideologies many cannot even comprehend. Flicking between the US, 1940's Germany and Tralfamadore, Vonnegut's semi- autobiographical protagonist Billy Pilgrim finds himself very lost. One minute he is being viewed as a specimen in a Tralfamadorian Zoo, the next he is wandering a post-apocalyptic city looking for corpses. Slaughterhouse Five-Or The Children's Crusade A Duty-Dance with Death is a remarkable blend of black humour, irony, the truth and the absurd. The author regards his work a "failure", millions of readers do not. Released the same time bombs were falling on South East Asia, this title caused controversy and awakening. Essential reading for all. So it goes. --Jon Smith

The Chosen One, 10 Nov 2008
I have recently embarked on a quest to read the fifty great American novels. (I'm on book thirty one) Slaughtehouse 5 was in good company - Portnoy's Complaint, Rabbit Run, In Cold Blood, Bonfire of the Vanities, The New York Trilogy, The Secret History, to name a few - but it emerged as the standout novel. It is a wondrous piece of storytelling and I can't wait to finish my quest (nineteen to go) so that I can return to Kurt Vonnegut and read everything he has written. He's the one!

Why all the fuss?, 07 Nov 2008
I bought this book on the basis of the rave reviews. I wish I hadn't. Although it is short I couldn't force myself to get past half-way - if there is something clever or entertaining about this book it went straight over my head.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Mustard Gas & Roses Indeed..., 24 Feb 2008
As someone currently living in Dresden, I always suggest visitors read this novel before coming for a visit. This city has many scars still to show from the bombings and subsequent fires, but for getting to the heart of what happened here... the true scope & terror of it... I feel nothing compares to Slaughterhouse 5.

As if that weren't enough, Vonnegut intersperses fact with fiction, history with humor, and the results are sublime. If you're not a fan going in, I bet you will be coming out.



Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

The Chosen One, 10 Nov 2008
I have recently embarked on a quest to read the fifty great American novels. (I'm on book thirty one) Slaughtehouse 5 was in good company - Portnoy's Complaint, Rabbit Run, In Cold Blood, Bonfire of the Vanities, The New York Trilogy, The Secret History, to name a few - but it emerged as the standout novel. It is a wondrous piece of storytelling and I can't wait to finish my quest (nineteen to go) so that I can return to Kurt Vonnegut and read everything he has written. He's the one!

Why all the fuss?, 07 Nov 2008
I bought this book on the basis of the rave reviews. I wish I hadn't. Although it is short I couldn't force myself to get past half-way - if there is something clever or entertaining about this book it went straight over my head.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Mustard Gas & Roses Indeed..., 24 Feb 2008
As someone currently living in Dresden, I always suggest visitors read this novel before coming for a visit. This city has many scars still to show from the bombings and subsequent fires, but for getting to the heart of what happened here... the true scope & terror of it... I feel nothing compares to Slaughterhouse 5.

As if that weren't enough, Vonnegut intersperses fact with fiction, history with humor, and the results are sublime. If you're not a fan going in, I bet you will be coming out.



Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

Listen:, 10 Sep 2008
Sordid, repellant, charming, witting, full of interesting insight and eminently readable. And so on.

It does make you wonder if this ever happened to Kurt.

Funny and thought-provoking, 21 Aug 2008
It's hard to know how to sum this up but it's definitely one of the most interesting and funny books I've read in a long time. It plays with conventions - hand-drawn images interspersed in the text, repeated breaking of the fourth wall (including making the author a protagonist), frequent non-sequiturs and so on - and yet it doesn't come across as fussy or pretentious. It's a genuinely funny exploration of the author's mind and a satire on America and, despite containing an interesting passage that describes how traditional storytelling is a bad thing, I still always wanted to know what happened next.

This is a book full of interesting ideas and memorable characters and I'd recommend this to anyone open-minded enough not to freak out when confronted by the first hand-drawn sketch.

Not Utter Claptrap but Dazzling Brilliance, 21 Dec 2006
'A Reader' clearly hasn't a clue. He just doesn't get it. 'Breakfast of Champions' is obviously one of the best satirical novels ever written (better in my opinion than the long-winded Catch 22). As I said, 'A Reader' hasn't a clue and here's why:

In 'Breakfast of Champions', Kurt Vonnegut has created a book resembling a children's encyclopedia. Is is written in simple language, short paragraphs and short sentences. It is acompanied by crude pictures drawn by the author himself. Vonnegut's principal strategy is to contrive the voice of a naif, which in his case is the voice of a fifty-year-old naif. The use of this voice has two risks: 1) It will pall and weary the reader with its limitations of tone. 2) The naive observations will finally seem to represent the mind of the author, which is to say that the book is apt to make Vonnegut himself appear simple-minded.

But on the other hand, the possibilities of the naive voice are considerable, and Vonnegut exploits them all: being naive, the narrator has no sense of structure or priority and thus can include anything, as indeed he does, moving in a few pages through matters of eschatology and teleology, cornball manners of the Midwest, irrelevant statistics, perverse sexuality, washroom graffiti, and automobile sales techniques. The satiric possibilities of the naive voice, moreover, are classic, and Vonnegut directs his innocent voice at American guile and idiocy with considerable effect. He explains, for example, with the same dull ingeniousness that he uses to explain the bucket of fried chicken, the function of the body bag in gathering together the fragments of a soldier killed in action...

Need I say more?

Claptrap, 07 Feb 2006
I’m not entirely sure why I persisted in reading this book, I guess I kept thinking “any minute now it’ll get funny, any minute now it’ll get clever”.

It didn’t.

I thought that this story was lazy; there is an underlying suggestion that Kurt Vonnegut can write well (I’m hoping so as I have Slaughterhouse Five in my ‘to read’ pile) but couldn’t be bothered, probably because there is barely a story to talk of.

I read in reviews of ‘pure hilarity and comedic chaos’; ‘knows how to dish up satire like none other’ and even ‘this has to be the most hilarious piece of fiction I have ever read’. Are you serious? For all our sakes read more books , I’ve read textbooks funnier than this. The comedy in this book borders on schoolboy slapstick, occasionally Vonnegut tries to be clever but fails miserably and resorts to pointless cartoons and tediously analogous mishaps for his one-dimensional characters.
I considered whilst reading this book that perhaps I wasn’t opening my mind to an intellectual humour, but frankly Vonneguts grasp on satire is comparable with Alanis Morrisette’s grasp on irony. In my experience satire is at it’s best when delivered intelligently with subtle reference to our every day lives, cleverly picking out the nuances of society and it’s structure and emphasizing their effect on the human condition. Not in stating the obvious every which way but Tuesday until the joke is so thoroughly beaten it may never draw breath again.

The comment - ‘Will leave you thinking about the structure of the earth we live on, and the kind of people we are’….Really?? I don’t think you’re going to learn much from this book as it doesn’t pose any new questions, it doesn’t delve into any psychology; it just loosely traverses the outlines of a few shallow characters without direction or conclusion.
A reviewer said it is a work of ‘deceptively simple fiction’…Please! The only deception in this book is the unfulfilled promise of hilarity. This book didn’t look at anything more than the fact that some people have money while others don’t. The oft-voiced idea that an unseen author is writing our lives and dictating the fates that befall us was handled clumsily. Vonnegut reminded us too frequently of his control over the characters and that he was shaping lives and outcomes with his own experiences, this didn’t add any humour or depth to the story.

I’m going away now to mourn the hours spent reading this drivel that I will never get back. In fact I’ll go and read Catch-22 and appreciate actual literary brilliance as opposed to lacklustre detritus. Perhaps I’m not cool enough to appreciate this book…well thank heavens, that means I’ll never have to read it again.

Buy it now., 12 Sep 2005
I'm not entirely sure how or why I came across this delightful book, but I am thankful that I did. The illustrations really do help to elevate this book into utter hillarity, as do the insane characters, which upon first impression don't seem central to the plot at all. Eventually though, everything comes together in what has to be one of the most bizarre endings I have ever read. Things that happen in this book just dont occur in other books. One of these things for example, is Vonneguts actual omnipotent presence in the book, he places himself in the story (with all the characters he has created at his mercy) to describe it like this in an amzon review does not do it justice.

Alltogether a briliant read, Happy 50th Kurt.

And so on.

The Chosen One, 10 Nov 2008
I have recently embarked on a quest to read the fifty great American novels. (I'm on book thirty one) Slaughtehouse 5 was in good company - Portnoy's Complaint, Rabbit Run, In Cold Blood, Bonfire of the Vanities, The New York Trilogy, The Secret History, to name a few - but it emerged as the standout novel. It is a wondrous piece of storytelling and I can't wait to finish my quest (nineteen to go) so that I can return to Kurt Vonnegut and read everything he has written. He's the one!

Why all the fuss?, 07 Nov 2008
I bought this book on the basis of the rave reviews. I wish I hadn't. Although it is short I couldn't force myself to get past half-way - if there is something clever or entertaining about this book it went straight over my head.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Mustard Gas & Roses Indeed..., 24 Feb 2008
As someone currently living in Dresden, I always suggest visitors read this novel before coming for a visit. This city has many scars still to show from the bombings and subsequent fires, but for getting to the heart of what happened here... the true scope & terror of it... I feel nothing compares to Slaughterhouse 5.

As if that weren't enough, Vonnegut intersperses fact with fiction, history with humor, and the results are sublime. If you're not a fan going in, I bet you will be coming out.



Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

Listen:, 10 Sep 2008
Sordid, repellant, charming, witting, full of interesting insight and eminently readable. And so on.

It does make you wonder if this ever happened to Kurt.

Funny and thought-provoking, 21 Aug 2008
It's hard to know how to sum this up but it's definitely one of the most interesting and funny books I've read in a long time. It plays with conventions - hand-drawn images interspersed in the text, repeated breaking of the fourth wall (including making the author a protagonist), frequent non-sequiturs and so on - and yet it doesn't come across as fussy or pretentious. It's a genuinely funny exploration of the author's mind and a satire on America and, despite containing an interesting passage that describes how traditional storytelling is a bad thing, I still always wanted to know what happened next.

This is a book full of interesting ideas and memorable characters and I'd recommend this to anyone open-minded enough not to freak out when confronted by the first hand-drawn sketch.

Not Utter Claptrap but Dazzling Brilliance, 21 Dec 2006
'A Reader' clearly hasn't a clue. He just doesn't get it. 'Breakfast of Champions' is obviously one of the best satirical novels ever written (better in my opinion than the long-winded Catch 22). As I said, 'A Reader' hasn't a clue and here's why:

In 'Breakfast of Champions', Kurt Vonnegut has created a book resembling a children's encyclopedia. Is is written in simple language, short paragraphs and short sentences. It is acompanied by crude pictures drawn by the author himself. Vonnegut's principal strategy is to contrive the voice of a naif, which in his case is the voice of a fifty-year-old naif. The use of this voice has two risks: 1) It will pall and weary the reader with its limitations of tone. 2) The naive observations will finally seem to represent the mind of the author, which is to say that the book is apt to make Vonnegut himself appear simple-minded.

But on the other hand, the possibilities of the naive voice are considerable, and Vonnegut exploits them all: being naive, the narrator has no sense of structure or priority and thus can include anything, as indeed he does, moving in a few pages through matters of eschatology and teleology, cornball manners of the Midwest, irrelevant statistics, perverse sexuality, washroom graffiti, and automobile sales techniques. The satiric possibilities of the naive voice, moreover, are classic, and Vonnegut directs his innocent voice at American guile and idiocy with considerable effect. He explains, for example, with the same dull ingeniousness that he uses to explain the bucket of fried chicken, the function of the body bag in gathering together the fragments of a soldier killed in action...

Need I say more?

Claptrap, 07 Feb 2006
I’m not entirely sure why I persisted in reading this book, I guess I kept thinking “any minute now it’ll get funny, any minute now it’ll get clever”.

It didn’t.

I thought that this story was lazy; there is an underlying suggestion that Kurt Vonnegut can write well (I’m hoping so as I have Slaughterhouse Five in my ‘to read’ pile) but couldn’t be bothered, probably because there is barely a story to talk of.

I read in reviews of ‘pure hilarity and comedic chaos’; ‘knows how to dish up satire like none other’ and even ‘this has to be the most hilarious piece of fiction I have ever read’. Are you serious? For all our sakes read more books , I’ve read textbooks funnier than this. The comedy in this book borders on schoolboy slapstick, occasionally Vonnegut tries to be clever but fails miserably and resorts to pointless cartoons and tediously analogous mishaps for his one-dimensional characters.
I considered whilst reading this book that perhaps I wasn’t opening my mind to an intellectual humour, but frankly Vonneguts grasp on satire is comparable with Alanis Morrisette’s grasp on irony. In my experience satire is at it’s best when delivered intelligently with subtle reference to our every day lives, cleverly picking out the nuances of society and it’s structure and emphasizing their effect on the human condition. Not in stating the obvious every which way but Tuesday until the joke is so thoroughly beaten it may never draw breath again.

The comment - ‘Will leave you thinking about the structure of the earth we live on, and the kind of people we are’….Really?? I don’t think you’re going to learn much from this book as it doesn’t pose any new questions, it doesn’t delve into any psychology; it just loosely traverses the outlines of a few shallow characters without direction or conclusion.
A reviewer said it is a work of ‘deceptively simple fiction’…Please! The only deception in this book is the unfulfilled promise of hilarity. This book didn’t look at anything more than the fact that some people have money while others don’t. The oft-voiced idea that an unseen author is writing our lives and dictating the fates that befall us was handled clumsily. Vonnegut reminded us too frequently of his control over the characters and that he was shaping lives and outcomes with his own experiences, this didn’t add any humour or depth to the story.

I’m going away now to mourn the hours spent reading this drivel that I will never get back. In fact I’ll go and read Catch-22 and appreciate actual literary brilliance as opposed to lacklustre detritus. Perhaps I’m not cool enough to appreciate this book…well thank heavens, that means I’ll never have to read it again.

Buy it now., 12 Sep 2005
I'm not entirely sure how or why I came across this delightful book, but I am thankful that I did. The illustrations really do help to elevate this book into utter hillarity, as do the insane characters, which upon first impression don't seem central to the plot at all. Eventually though, everything comes together in what has to be one of the most bizarre endings I have ever read. Things that happen in this book just dont occur in other books. One of these things for example, is Vonneguts actual omnipotent presence in the book, he places himself in the story (with all the characters he has created at his mercy) to describe it like this in an amzon review does not do it justice.

Alltogether a briliant read, Happy 50th Kurt.

And so on.

Make sure you've read Slaughterhouse 5 first, 18 Aug 2007
This is the second book of Vonnegut I've read, the first one being Vonnegut's best know novel, "Slaughterhouse 5". If it was not for "Slaughterhouse 5" I would take "A cat's cradle" as a very imaginative, weird and funny book, but probably not one that keeps me thinking for some time once finished. The tone is just too light and the story too improbable to be taken otherwise. But this is highly deceptive and once you realise that Vonnegut's war experience in Dresden has been central to his vision of life, this book appears not just as light entertainment but as a more profound reflection on the meaning of life (pretty meaningless in the author's view I gather) and, incidentally, on the role of religion and the power science gives to some very irresponsible and unbalanced people (this book was written during the cold war and the possibility of the world being completely wiped out by nuclear war was then seen as very real).

The message may be too pessimistic to make the novel completely enjoyable but it makes for an interesting and very funny read until someone presses the wrong the button.


read it again, 02 Jul 2005
The first time I read this book I thought it was good, six years on I read it again and thought it was great, another six years and I've just finished it again and think it may be the greatest book I've ever read.

'No damn cat, and no damn cradle.', 16 Jun 2004
Lacks the inherant pathos and humour of Slaughterhouse-5 but, don't let that put you off! This is a superbly imaginitative story that incorporates a brilliantly biting, satirical sideswipe at the cynicism of religion, the dangerous nihilism of science and the abundant stupidity of both!

The protaginist is a writer who, whilst investigating the life of Dr Felix Hoenikker (co-creator of the Atomic Bomb), becomes aware of the deadly Ice-09, a 'lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet'.

I won't spoil the plot, suffice it to say that, the bulk of the story involves the writer's pursuit and eventual, catastrophic encounter with the deadly chemical.

Vonnegut keeps the story moving along at a comfortable pace, in short chapters, whilst we are introduced to some of the most colourful characters in 20th Century fiction, from seemingly amoral 'mad' scientists to cynical pseudo-messiahs.

I loved the witty dialogue of the Hoenikkers and, the cynical aphorisms of 'Bokonon'. I also liked the way that Vonnegut portrayed his message that, religion is based upon (supposedly harmless) untruths that allegedly, explain the issues that elude science (the unexplainable).

Just buy it!

Ideology through entertainment, 24 Feb 2003
"Cat's cradle" is a book that forces you to like it. It will eventually put a smile on your face through sheer persistence in its vision which is pervasive, cynical and at times very very humourous.

The story, which follows directly from "Ice Nine", revolves around a man's hunt for the missing pieces of the substance, after he accidentally discovers that they exist and how to go about locating them. During his trip, he comes across an immense array of characters, all of which have something profound to reveal, whether they realise it or not.

There is not a lot to say about the book's dogma, as it doesn't seem to have a central point. Rather, it is a collage of several ideas, expressed strongly, though often vaguely, by the assortment of memorable characters featured. The author displays a witty and sharp writing style with emphasis on dialogue and minimal waste of paper, although I found his prose somewhat lacking in terms of literature.

All in all, "Cat's cradle" is an honest, straightforward book with more good moments than bad, aimed at leaving the reader entertained, satisfied and, possibly, this bit wiser.

Ideology through entertainment, 24 Feb 2003
"Cat's cradle" is a book that forces you to like it. It will eventually put a smile on your face through sheer persistence in its vision which is pervasive, cynical and at times very very humourous.

The story, which follows directly from "Ice Nine", revolves around a man's hunt for the missing pieces of the substance, after he accidentally discovers that they exist and how to go about locating them. During his trip, he comes across an immense array of characters, all of which have something profound to reveal, whether they realise it or not.

There is not a lot to say about the book's dogma, as it doesn't seem to have a central point. Rather, it is a collage of several ideas, expressed strongly, though often vaguely, by the assortment of memorable characters featured. The author displays a witty and sharp writing style with emphasis on dialogue and minimal waste of paper, although I found his prose somewhat lacking in terms of literature.

All in all, "Cat's cradle" is an honest, straightforward book with more good moments than bad, aimed at leaving the reader entertained, satisfied and, possibly, this bit wiser.

Kurt Vonnegut's second SF novel was published way back in 1959 but remains horribly timeless. For all the book's wild inventiveness, it's one of the most blackly nihilistic comedies ever published in the genre. The tragicomic godgame is presided over by Winston Niles Rumfoord, who has accidentally become a standing wave in space/time and knows the past and the future. Since the future is fixed, he can't change it even though it involves him arranging nasty fates for many people--in particular Malachi Constant, richest man in the world since his father's career of interpreting the Bible as a coded guide to the stockmarket. Despite his struggles, Constant is destined for a grimly comic pilgrimage around the Solar System to Titan, home since 203,117 BC of the visiting alien Salo whose presence has warped the whole of human history. Salo's far-off people manipulated us into building Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China and other vast constructions as reassuring signals to their stranded emissary--who himself is carrying a message of truly cosmic unimportance. Small wonder that Rumfoord tries to cheer up humanity by founding the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. Vonnegut scatters crazed ideas in all directions, forcing you into painful laughter at the grandiose futility of his cosmos. Another worthy Millennium SF Masterworks classic. --David Langford

The Chosen One, 10 Nov 2008
I have recently embarked on a quest to read the fifty great American novels. (I'm on book thirty one) Slaughtehouse 5 was in good company - Portnoy's Complaint, Rabbit Run, In Cold Blood, Bonfire of the Vanities, The New York Trilogy, The Secret History, to name a few - but it emerged as the standout novel. It is a wondrous piece of storytelling and I can't wait to finish my quest (nineteen to go) so that I can return to Kurt Vonnegut and read everything he has written. He's the one!

Why all the fuss?, 07 Nov 2008
I bought this book on the basis of the rave reviews. I wish I hadn't. Although it is short I couldn't force myself to get past half-way - if there is something clever or entertaining about this book it went straight over my head.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Mustard Gas & Roses Indeed..., 24 Feb 2008
As someone currently living in Dresden, I always suggest visitors read this novel before coming for a visit. This city has many scars still to show from the bombings and subsequent fires, but for getting to the heart of what happened here... the true scope & terror of it... I feel nothing compares to Slaughterhouse 5.

As if that weren't enough, Vonnegut intersperses fact with fiction, history with humor, and the results are sublime. If you're not a fan going in, I bet you will be coming out.



Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

Listen:, 10 Sep 2008
Sordid, repellant, charming, witting, full of interesting insight and eminently readable. And so on.

It does make you wonder if this ever happened to Kurt.

Funny and thought-provoking, 21 Aug 2008
It's hard to know how to sum this up but it's definitely one of the most interesting and funny books I've read in a long time. It plays with conventions - hand-drawn images interspersed in the text, repeated breaking of the fourth wall (including making the author a protagonist), frequent non-sequiturs and so on - and yet it doesn't come across as fussy or pretentious. It's a genuinely funny exploration of the author's mind and a satire on America and, despite containing an interesting passage that describes how traditional storytelling is a bad thing, I still always wanted to know what happened next.

This is a book full of interesting ideas and memorable characters and I'd recommend this to anyone open-minded enough not to freak out when confronted by the first hand-drawn sketch.

Not Utter Claptrap but Dazzling Brilliance, 21 Dec 2006
'A Reader' clearly hasn't a clue. He just doesn't get it. 'Breakfast of Champions' is obviously one of the best satirical novels ever written (better in my opinion than the long-winded Catch 22). As I said, 'A Reader' hasn't a clue and here's why:

In 'Breakfast of Champions', Kurt Vonnegut has created a book resembling a children's encyclopedia. Is is written in simple language, short paragraphs and short sentences. It is acompanied by crude pictures drawn by the author himself. Vonnegut's principal strategy is to contrive the voice of a naif, which in his case is the voice of a fifty-year-old naif. The use of this voice has two risks: 1) It will pall and weary the reader with its limitations of tone. 2) The naive observations will finally seem to represent the mind of the author, which is to say that the book is apt to make Vonnegut himself appear simple-minded.

But on the other hand, the possibilities of the naive voice are considerable, and Vonnegut exploits them all: being naive, the narrator has no sense of structure or priority and thus can include anything, as indeed he does, moving in a few pages through matters of eschatology and teleology, cornball manners of the Midwest, irrelevant statistics, perverse sexuality, washroom graffiti, and automobile sales techniques. The satiric possibilities of the naive voice, moreover, are classic, and Vonnegut directs his innocent voice at American guile and idiocy with considerable effect. He explains, for example, with the same dull ingeniousness that he uses to explain the bucket of fried chicken, the function of the body bag in gathering together the fragments of a soldier killed in action...

Need I say more?

Claptrap, 07 Feb 2006
I’m not entirely sure why I persisted in reading this book, I guess I kept thinking “any minute now it’ll get funny, any minute now it’ll get clever”.

It didn’t.

I thought that this story was lazy; there is an underlying suggestion that Kurt Vonnegut can write well (I’m hoping so as I have Slaughterhouse Five in my ‘to read’ pile) but couldn’t be bothered, probably because there is barely a story to talk of.

I read in reviews of ‘pure hilarity and comedic chaos’; ‘knows how to dish up satire like none other’ and even ‘this has to be the most hilarious piece of fiction I have ever read’. Are you serious? For all our sakes read more books , I’ve read textbooks funnier than this. The comedy in this book borders on schoolboy slapstick, occasionally Vonnegut tries to be clever but fails miserably and resorts to pointless cartoons and tediously analogous mishaps for his one-dimensional characters.
I considered whilst reading this book that perhaps I wasn’t opening my mind to an intellectual humour, but frankly Vonneguts grasp on satire is comparable with Alanis Morrisette’s grasp on irony. In my experience satire is at it’s best when delivered intelligently with subtle reference to our every day lives, cleverly picking out the nuances of society and it’s structure and emphasizing their effect on the human condition. Not in stating the obvious every which way but Tuesday until the joke is so thoroughly beaten it may never draw breath again.

The comment - ‘Will leave you thinking about the structure of the earth we live on, and the kind of people we are’….Really?? I don’t think you’re going to learn much from this book as it doesn’t pose any new questions, it doesn’t delve into any psychology; it just loosely traverses the outlines of a few shallow characters without direction or conclusion.
A reviewer said it is a work of ‘deceptively simple fiction’…Please! The only deception in this book is the unfulfilled promise of hilarity. This book didn’t look at anything more than the fact that some people have money while others don’t. The oft-voiced idea that an unseen author is writing our lives and dictating the fates that befall us was handled clumsily. Vonnegut reminded us too frequently of his control over the characters and that he was shaping lives and outcomes with his own experiences, this didn’t add any humour or depth to the story.

I’m going away now to mourn the hours spent reading this drivel that I will never get back. In fact I’ll go and read Catch-22 and appreciate actual literary brilliance as opposed to lacklustre detritus. Perhaps I’m not cool enough to appreciate this book…well thank heavens, that means I’ll never have to read it again.

Buy it now., 12 Sep 2005
I'm not entirely sure how or why I came across this delightful book, but I am thankful that I did. The illustrations really do help to elevate this book into utter hillarity, as do the insane characters, which upon first impression don't seem central to the plot at all. Eventually though, everything comes together in what has to be one of the most bizarre endings I have ever read. Things that happen in this book just dont occur in other books. One of these things for example, is Vonneguts actual omnipotent presence in the book, he places himself in the story (with all the characters he has created at his mercy) to describe it like this in an amzon review does not do it justice.

Alltogether a briliant read, Happy 50th Kurt.

And so on.

Make sure you've read Slaughterhouse 5 first, 18 Aug 2007
This is the second book of Vonnegut I've read, the first one being Vonnegut's best know novel, "Slaughterhouse 5". If it was not for "Slaughterhouse 5" I would take "A cat's cradle" as a very imaginative, weird and funny book, but probably not one that keeps me thinking for some time once finished. The tone is just too light and the story too improbable to be taken otherwise. But this is highly deceptive and once you realise that Vonnegut's war experience in Dresden has been central to his vision of life, this book appears not just as light entertainment but as a more profound reflection on the meaning of life (pretty meaningless in the author's view I gather) and, incidentally, on the role of religion and the power science gives to some very irresponsible and unbalanced people (this book was written during the cold war and the possibility of the world being completely wiped out by nuclear war was then seen as very real).

The message may be too pessimistic to make the novel completely enjoyable but it makes for an interesting and very funny read until someone presses the wrong the button.


read it again, 02 Jul 2005
The first time I read this book I thought it was good, six years on I read it again and thought it was great, another six years and I've just finished it again and think it may be the greatest book I've ever read.

'No damn cat, and no damn cradle.', 16 Jun 2004
Lacks the inherant pathos and humour of Slaughterhouse-5 but, don't let that put you off! This is a superbly imaginitative story that incorporates a brilliantly biting, satirical sideswipe at the cynicism of religion, the dangerous nihilism of science and the abundant stupidity of both!

The protaginist is a writer who, whilst investigating the life of Dr Felix Hoenikker (co-creator of the Atomic Bomb), becomes aware of the deadly Ice-09, a 'lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet'.

I won't spoil the plot, suffice it to say that, the bulk of the story involves the writer's pursuit and eventual, catastrophic encounter with the deadly chemical.

Vonnegut keeps the story moving along at a comfortable pace, in short chapters, whilst we are introduced to some of the most colourful characters in 20th Century fiction, from seemingly amoral 'mad' scientists to cynical pseudo-messiahs.

I loved the witty dialogue of the Hoenikkers and, the cynical aphorisms of 'Bokonon'. I also liked the way that Vonnegut portrayed his message that, religion is based upon (supposedly harmless) untruths that allegedly, explain the issues that elude science (the unexplainable).

Just buy it!

Ideology through entertainment, 24 Feb 2003
"Cat's cradle" is a book that forces you to like it. It will eventually put a smile on your face through sheer persistence in its vision which is pervasive, cynical and at times very very humourous.

The story, which follows directly from "Ice Nine", revolves around a man's hunt for the missing pieces of the substance, after he accidentally discovers that they exist and how to go about locating them. During his trip, he comes across an immense array of characters, all of which have something profound to reveal, whether they realise it or not.

There is not a lot to say about the book's dogma, as it doesn't seem to have a central point. Rather, it is a collage of several ideas, expressed strongly, though often vaguely, by the assortment of memorable characters featured. The author displays a witty and sharp writing style with emphasis on dialogue and minimal waste of paper, although I found his prose somewhat lacking in terms of literature.

All in all, "Cat's cradle" is an honest, straightforward book with more good moments than bad, aimed at leaving the reader entertained, satisfied and, possibly, this bit wiser.

Ideology through entertainment, 24 Feb 2003
"Cat's cradle" is a book that forces you to like it. It will eventually put a smile on your face through sheer persistence in its vision which is pervasive, cynical and at times very very humourous.

The story, which follows directly from "Ice Nine", revolves around a man's hunt for the missing pieces of the substance, after he accidentally discovers that they exist and how to go about locating them. During his trip, he comes across an immense array of characters, all of which have something profound to reveal, whether they realise it or not.

There is not a lot to say about the book's dogma, as it doesn't seem to have a central point. Rather, it is a collage of several ideas, expressed strongly, though often vaguely, by the assortment of memorable characters featured. The author displays a witty and sharp writing style with emphasis on dialogue and minimal waste of paper, although I found his prose somewhat lacking in terms of literature.

All in all, "Cat's cradle" is an honest, straightforward book with more good moments than bad, aimed at leaving the reader entertained, satisfied and, possibly, this bit wiser.

It deserves the title 'SF Masterwork', 15 Aug 2007
For some reason it was America that held the monopoly on the SF satirical novel. Vonnegut, and later Sladek and Sheckley and indeed Dick with his more subtle comedy, produced some sublime works which turned society on its head and forced us to take a long hard look.
For Nineteen Fifty-Nine this is a remarkable novel, published at a time when SF was arguably becoming very serious about itself.
There is nothing scientific or realistic about `The Sirens of Titan'. As Dick was later to do to incredible effect, Vonnegut used the language of SF to make his own points without letting any of those annoying scientific facts get in the way of the story.
The central figure, Winston Niles Rumfoord, is a billionaire with his own private spaceship which he promptly flies into a Syno-Chronastic Infundibulum which transforms him (and his dog Kazak who happened to be with Rumfoord on the ship) into a wave of energy pulsing between our sun and Betelgeuse. The upshot of this is that Rumfoord can see the past and future simultaneously. Niles reappears on Earth every fifty-nine days and has spoken to no one but his wife and butler until the day he summons fellow billionaire Malachi Constant.
Rumfoord tells Constant that he will travel to Mars, then to Mercury, back to Earth and then to Titan, amongst other things.
Malachi of course is highly sceptical and so Vonnegut begins a tour-de-force of storytelling in which Rumfoord manipulates the entire world, while using Malachi - in some cases quite literally - as a puppet.
What only becomes clear later is that Rumfoord himself is only a tiny part in a two hundred thousand year old plan by the Tralfamadoreans to get a spare part to a stranded messenger on Titan. He is taking a secret message to a race in another part of the galaxy, the final irony being that the message is a simple dot, which translates in Tralfamadorean as `greetings!'
Vonnegut employs many SF clichés in new and surprising ways. The billionaire's private prototype spaceship for instance is straight out of an EE `Doc' Smith adventure. The flying saucers of course, by Nineteen Fifty-Nine were a familiar staple of B-movies. Salo, the Tralfamadorean who has been waiting on Titan for Two Hundred Thousand Years for his spare part, is a three-legged robot who, unaccountably, has developed more compassion and emotion than most of the human cast.
Above all, in a genre that was previously awash with novels about the superiority of Humanity, The Sirens of Titan emphasises the sheer insignificance of our world.
The only British successor of any note to Vonnegut is Douglas Adams, whose Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy's central premise (that the Earth was designed by mice as a giant organic computer to answer one specific question) is very similar to that of Vonnegut's. One should also note Kingsley Amis' `The Alteration' which can hold its own as a British novel in the satirical SF novel stakes against all-comers. See also Richard Cowper. These have been unjustly overshadowed by the popularity of the US authors for reasons which cannot be fathomed.


Superb, bleakly blackly funny and provocotive, 09 Aug 2007
This is my first read of a Kurt Vonnegut novel. I can only say i found it gripping. It's imaginative, and so astoundingly modern in its tone, you could be forgiven for thinking it was written this year!

The pace never lets up. It is thought provoking and enormously (though darkly) funny. It really is a five star read. And I'm going to look in to some of his other novels too. I've been told that "Slaughter house 5" is also a fine read.

It's a weird, warped, beautifully captured universe. I'd find it hard to believe anybody wouldn't enjoy this.

"God Does Not Care About You", 04 Sep 2006
Kurt Vonnegut careens from crazed premise to crazed premise like a narrative pinball. A TARDIS in book form, the novel contains more ideas than it seems possible to cram into its 224 pages, with Vonnegut's imagination almost being a chronosynclastic infundibulum of its own, "a place where all truths fit together". And holding it all together is the idea that there is nothing or nobody holding it all together.

Like most of Vonnegut's novels, the humour is fast, sharp and pitch black. In many ways, the story is similar to Voltaire's "Candide", although perhaps more sympathetic. In "Candide", Voltaire's characters are little more than archetypes off which to bounce ideas off, or even collide them headfirst into them. Vonnegut clearly invites us to feel for his characters, despite how repellent and awful they may at first appear.

The new Gollancz edition has much to recommend for itself, being published in a knowingly pulpy format, complete with eyecatching book design and a cheerfully informative foreword by Jasper Fforde.

Vonnegut's best novel, 12 Feb 2006
I have read this early Vonnegut many times, and it never loses its freshness. If all Sci Fi were like this, the genre might actually attract good writers. This is a masterpiece of ingenujity, black humour, and fine writing that uses sci-fi ideas (but ideas superior to those found in the average sci-fi novel) to produce the most nihlistic ever written. The pay-off (which I will not spoil for others) has to be the darkest comment on human pride and ambition, and on the meaning of the universe that anyone has ever written. Forget Slaughterhouse 5, however good, and buy this right away.

A different sort of SF, 31 Dec 2003
If you think SF is about Star Wars, then think again.
This is a typical vonnegut novel, with the narrative being a bit odd, even taking on a crazed air. People familiar with other books from the same author will find this familiar.
The book is about fate, religion and mans place in the universe. This all sounds a bit heavy, but it is all done in a humorous and absurdist way. A bit like 'Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy'. For all this, the book does have something serious to say, and as such is a memorable and important book.
Like all of his books, reading it is a bit like taking a fairground ride, and an enjoyable one at that. Read it.

The Chosen One, 10 Nov 2008
I have recently embarked on a quest to read the fifty great American novels. (I'm on book thirty one) Slaughtehouse 5 was in good company - Portnoy's Complaint, Rabbit Run, In Cold Blood, Bonfire of the Vanities, The New York Trilogy, The Secret History, to name a few - but it emerged as the standout novel. It is a wondrous piece of storytelling and I can't wait to finish my quest (nineteen to go) so that I can return to Kurt Vonnegut and read everything he has written. He's the one!

Why all the fuss?, 07 Nov 2008
I bought this book on the basis of the rave reviews. I wish I hadn't. Although it is short I couldn't force myself to get past half-way - if there is something clever or entertaining about this book it went straight over my head.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Mustard Gas & Roses Indeed..., 24 Feb 2008
As someone currently living in Dresden, I always suggest visitors read this novel before coming for a visit. This city has many scars still to show from the bombings and subsequent fires, but for getting to the heart of what happened here... the true scope & terror of it... I feel nothing compares to Slaughterhouse 5.

As if that weren't enough, Vonnegut intersperses fact with fiction, history with humor, and the results are sublime. If you're not a fan going in, I bet you will be coming out.



Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

Listen:, 10 Sep 2008
Sordid, repellant, charming, witting, full of interesting insight and eminently readable. And so on.

It does make you wonder if this ever happened to Kurt.

Funny and thought-provoking, 21 Aug 2008
It's hard to know how to sum this up but it's definitely one of the most interesting and funny books I've read in a long time. It plays with conventions - hand-drawn images interspersed in the text, repeated breaking of the fourth wall (including making the author a protagonist), frequent non-sequiturs and so on - and yet it doesn't come across as fussy or pretentious. It's a genuinely funny exploration of the author's mind and a satire on America and, despite containing an interesting passage that describes how traditional storytelling is a bad thing, I still always wanted to know what happened next.

This is a book full of interesting ideas and memorable characters and I'd recommend this to anyone open-minded enough not to freak out when confronted by the first hand-drawn sketch.

Not Utter Claptrap but Dazzling Brilliance, 21 Dec 2006
'A Reader' clearly hasn't a clue. He just doesn't get it. 'Breakfast of Champions' is obviously one of the best satirical novels ever written (better in my opinion than the long-winded Catch 22). As I said, 'A Reader' hasn't a clue and here's why:

In 'Breakfast of Champions', Kurt Vonnegut has created a book resembling a children's encyclopedia. Is is written in simple language, short paragraphs and short sentences. It is acompanied by crude pictures drawn by the author himself. Vonnegut's principal strategy is to contrive the voice of a naif, which in his case is the voice of a fifty-year-old naif. The use of this voice has two risks: 1) It will pall and weary the reader with its limitations of tone. 2) The naive observations will finally seem to represent the mind of the author, which is to say that the book is apt to make Vonnegut himself appear simple-minded.

But on the other hand, the possibilities of the naive voice are considerable, and Vonnegut exploits them all: being naive, the narrator has no sense of structure or priority and thus can include anything, as indeed he does, moving in a few pages through matters of eschatology and teleology, cornball manners of the Midwest, irrelevant statistics, perverse sexuality, washroom graffiti, and automobile sales techniques. The satiric possibilities of the naive voice, moreover, are classic, and Vonnegut directs his innocent voice at American guile and idiocy with considerable effect. He explains, for example, with the same dull ingeniousness that he uses to explain the bucket of fried chicken, the function of the body bag in gathering together the fragments of a soldier killed in action...

Need I say more?

Claptrap, 07 Feb 2006
I’m not entirely sure why I persisted in reading this book, I guess I kept thinking “any minute now it’ll get funny, any minute now it’ll get clever”.

It didn’t.

I thought that this story was lazy; there is an underlying suggestion that Kurt Vonnegut can write well (I’m hoping so as I have Slaughterhouse Five in my ‘to read’ pile) but couldn’t be bothered, probably because there is barely a story to talk of.

I read in reviews of ‘pure hilarity and comedic chaos’; ‘knows how to dish up satire like none other’ and even ‘this has to be the most hilarious piece of fiction I have ever read’. Are you serious? For all our sakes read more books , I’ve read textbooks funnier than this. The comedy in this book borders on schoolboy slapstick, occasionally Vonnegut tries to be clever but fails miserably and resorts to pointless cartoons and tediously analogous mishaps for his one-dimensional characters.
I considered whilst reading this book that perhaps I wasn’t opening my mind to an intellectual humour, but frankly Vonneguts grasp on satire is comparable with Alanis Morrisette’s grasp on irony. In my experience satire is at it’s best when delivered intelligently with subtle reference to our every day lives, cleverly picking out the nuances of society and it’s structure and emphasizing their effect on the human condition. Not in stating the obvious every which way but Tuesday until the joke is so thoroughly beaten it may never draw breath again.

The comment - ‘Will leave you thinking about the structure of the earth we live on, and the kind of people we are’….Really?? I don’t think you’re going to learn much from this book as it doesn’t pose any new questions, it doesn’t delve into any psychology; it just loosely traverses the outlines of a few shallow characters without direction or conclusion.
A reviewer said it is a work of ‘deceptively simple fiction’…Please! The only deception in this book is the unfulfilled promise of hilarity. This book didn’t look at anything more than the fact that some people have money while others don’t. The oft-voiced idea that an unseen author is writing our lives and dictating the fates that befall us was handled clumsily. Vonnegut reminded us too frequently of his control over the characters and that he was shaping lives and outcomes with his own experiences, this didn’t add any humour or depth to the story.

I’m going away now to mourn the hours spent reading this drivel that I will never get back. In fact I’ll go and read Catch-22 and appreciate actual literary brilliance as opposed to lacklustre detritus. Perhaps I’m not cool enough to appreciate this book…well thank heavens, that means I’ll never have to read it again.

Buy it now., 12 Sep 2005
I'm not entirely sure how or why I came across this delightful book, but I am thankful that I did. The illustrations really do help to elevate this book into utter hillarity, as do the insane characters, which upon first impression don't seem central to the plot at all. Eventually though, everything comes together in what has to be one of the most bizarre endings I have ever read. Things that happen in this book just dont occur in other books. One of these things for example, is Vonneguts actual omnipotent presence in the book, he places himself in the story (with all the characters he has created at his mercy) to describe it like this in an amzon review does not do it justice.

Alltogether a briliant read, Happy 50th Kurt.

And so on.

Make sure you've read Slaughterhouse 5 first, 18 Aug 2007
This is the second book of Vonnegut I've read, the first one being Vonnegut's best know novel, "Slaughterhouse 5". If it was not for "Slaughterhouse 5" I would take "A cat's cradle" as a very imaginative, weird and funny book, but probably not one that keeps me thinking for some time once finished. The tone is just too light and the story too improbable to be taken otherwise. But this is highly deceptive and once you realise that Vonnegut's war experience in Dresden has been central to his vision of life, this book appears not just as light entertainment but as a more profound reflection on the meaning of life (pretty meaningless in the author's view I gather) and, incidentally, on the role of religion and the power science gives to some very irresponsible and unbalanced people (this book was written during the cold war and the possibility of the world being completely wiped out by nuclear war was then seen as very real).

The message may be too pessimistic to make the novel completely enjoyable but it makes for an interesting and very funny read until someone presses the wrong the button.


read it again, 02 Jul 2005
The first time I read this book I thought it was good, six years on I read it again and thought it was great, another six years and I've just finished it again and think it may be the greatest book I've ever read.

'No damn cat, and no damn cradle.', 16 Jun 2004
Lacks the inherant pathos and humour of Slaughterhouse-5 but, don't let that put you off! This is a superbly imaginitative story that incorporates a brilliantly biting, satirical sideswipe at the cynicism of religion, the dangerous nihilism of science and the abundant stupidity of both!

The protaginist is a writer who, whilst investigating the life of Dr Felix Hoenikker (co-creator of the Atomic Bomb), becomes aware of the deadly Ice-09, a 'lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet'.

I won't spoil the plot, suffice it to say that, the bulk of the story involves the writer's pursuit and eventual, catastrophic encounter with the deadly chemical.

Vonnegut keeps the story moving along at a comfortable pace, in short chapters, whilst we are introduced to some of the most colourful characters in 20th Century fiction, from seemingly amoral 'mad' scientists to cynical pseudo-messiahs.

I loved the witty dialogue of the Hoenikkers and, the cynical aphorisms of 'Bokonon'. I also liked the way that Vonnegut portrayed his message that, religion is based upon (supposedly harmless) untruths that allegedly, explain the issues that elude science (the unexplainable).

Just buy it!

Ideology through entertainment, 24 Feb 2003
"Cat's cradle" is a book that forces you to like it. It will eventually put a smile on your face through sheer persistence in its vision which is pervasive, cynical and at times very very humourous.

The story, which follows directly from "Ice Nine", revolves around a man's hunt for the missing pieces of the substance, after he accidentally discovers that they exist and how to go about locating them. During his trip, he comes across an immense array of characters, all of which have something profound to reveal, whether they realise it or not.

There is not a lot to say about the book's dogma, as it doesn't seem to have a central point. Rather, it is a collage of several ideas, expressed strongly, though often vaguely, by the assortment of memorable characters featured. The author displays a witty and sharp writing style with emphasis on dialogue and minimal waste of paper, although I found his prose somewhat lacking in terms of literature.

All in all, "Cat's cradle" is an honest, straightforward book with more good moments than bad, aimed at leaving the reader entertained, satisfied and, possibly, this bit wiser.

Ideology through entertainment, 24 Feb 2003
"Cat's cradle" is a book that forces you to like it. It will eventually put a smile on your face through sheer persistence in its vision which is pervasive, cynical and at times very very humourous.

The story, which follows directly from "Ice Nine", revolves around a man's hunt for the missing pieces of the substance, after he accidentally discovers that they exist and how to go about locating them. During his trip, he comes across an immense array of characters, all of which have something profound to reveal, whether they realise it or not.

There is not a lot to say about the book's dogma, as it doesn't seem to have a central point. Rather, it is a collage of several ideas, expressed strongly, though often vaguely, by the assortment of memorable characters featured. The author displays a witty and sharp writing style with emphasis on dialogue and minimal waste of paper, although I found his prose somewhat lacking in terms of literature.

All in all, "Cat's cradle" is an honest, straightforward book with more good moments than bad, aimed at leaving the reader entertained, satisfied and, possibly, this bit wiser.

It deserves the title 'SF Masterwork', 15 Aug 2007
For some reason it was America that held the monopoly on the SF satirical novel. Vonnegut, and later Sladek and Sheckley and indeed Dick with his more subtle comedy, produced some sublime works which turned society on its head and forced us to take a long hard look.
For Nineteen Fifty-Nine this is a remarkable novel, published at a time when SF was arguably becoming very serious about itself.
There is nothing scientific or realistic about `The Sirens of Titan'. As Dick was later to do to incredible effect, Vonnegut used the language of SF to make his own points without letting any of those annoying scientific facts get in the way of the story.
The central figure, Winston Niles Rumfoord, is a billionaire with his own private spaceship which he promptly flies into a Syno-Chronastic Infundibulum which transforms him (and his dog Kazak who happened to be with Rumfoord on the ship) into a wave of energy pulsing between our sun and Betelgeuse. The upshot of this is that Rumfoord can see the past and future simultaneously. Niles reappears on Earth every fifty-nine days and has spoken to no one but his wife and butler until the day he summons fellow billionaire Malachi Constant.
Rumfoord tells Constant that he will travel to Mars, then to Mercury, back to Earth and then to Titan, amongst other things.
Malachi of course is highly sceptical and so Vonnegut begins a tour-de-force of storytelling in which Rumfoord manipulates the entire world, while using Malachi - in some cases quite literally - as a puppet.
What only becomes clear later is that Rumfoord himself is only a tiny part in a two hundred thousand year old plan by the Tralfamadoreans to get a spare part to a stranded messenger on Titan. He is taking a secret message to a race in another part of the galaxy, the final irony being that the message is a simple dot, which translates in Tralfamadorean as `greetings!'
Vonnegut employs many SF clichés in new and surprising ways. The billionaire's private prototype spaceship for instance is straight out of an EE `Doc' Smith adventure. The flying saucers of course, by Nineteen Fifty-Nine were a familiar staple of B-movies. Salo, the Tralfamadorean who has been waiting on Titan for Two Hundred Thousand Years for his spare part, is a three-legged robot who, unaccountably, has developed more compassion and emotion than most of the human cast.
Above all, in a genre that was previously awash with novels about the superiority of Humanity, The Sirens of Titan emphasises the sheer insignificance of our world.
The only British successor of any note to Vonnegut is Douglas Adams, whose Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy's central premise (that the Earth was designed by mice as a giant organic computer to answer one specific question) is very similar to that of Vonnegut's. One should also note Kingsley Amis' `The Alteration' which can hold its own as a British novel in the satirical SF novel stakes against all-comers. See also Richard Cowper. These have been unjustly overshadowed by the popularity of the US authors for reasons which cannot be fathomed.


Superb, bleakly blackly funny and provocotive, 09 Aug 2007
This is my first read of a Kurt Vonnegut novel. I can only say i found it gripping. It's imaginative, and so astoundingly modern in its tone, you could be forgiven for thinking it was written this year!

The pace never lets up. It is thought provoking and enormously (though darkly) funny. It really is a five star read. And I'm going to look in to some of his other novels too. I've been told that "Slaughter house 5" is also a fine read.

It's a weird, warped, beautifully captured universe. I'd find it hard to believe anybody wouldn't enjoy this.

"God Does Not Care About You", 04 Sep 2006
Kurt Vonnegut careens from crazed premise to crazed premise like a narrative pinball. A TARDIS in book form, the novel contains more ideas than it seems possible to cram into its 224 pages, with Vonnegut's imagination almost being a chronosynclastic infundibulum of its own, "a place where all truths fit together". And holding it all together is the idea that there is nothing or nobody holding it all together.

Like most of Vonnegut's novels, the humour is fast, sharp and pitch black. In many ways, the story is similar to Voltaire's "Candide", although perhaps more sympathetic. In "Candide", Voltaire's characters are little more than archetypes off which to bounce ideas off, or even collide them headfirst into them. Vonnegut clearly invites us to feel for his characters, despite how repellent and awful they may at first appear.

The new Gollancz edition has much to recommend for itself, being published in a knowingly pulpy format, complete with eyecatching book design and a cheerfully informative foreword by Jasper Fforde.

Vonnegut's best novel, 12 Feb 2006
I have read this early Vonnegut many times, and it never loses its freshness. If all Sci Fi were like this, the genre might actually attract good writers. This is a masterpiece of ingenujity, black humour, and fine writing that uses sci-fi ideas (but ideas superior to those found in the average sci-fi novel) to produce the most nihlistic ever written. The pay-off (which I will not spoil for others) has to be the darkest comment on human pride and ambition, and on the meaning of the universe that anyone has ever written. Forget Slaughterhouse 5, however good, and buy this right away.

A different sort of SF, 31 Dec 2003
If you think SF is about Star Wars, then think again.
This is a typical vonnegut novel, with the narrative being a bit odd, even taking on a crazed air. People familiar with other books from the same author will find this familiar.
The book is about fate, religion and mans place in the universe. This all sounds a bit heavy, but it is all done in a humorous and absurdist way. A bit like 'Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy'. For all this, the book does have something serious to say, and as such is a memorable and important book.
Like all of his books, reading it is a bit like taking a fairground ride, and an enjoyable one at that. Read it.

If you're new to Vonnegut, start with this one, 04 Oct 2007
Vonnegut (may he rest in peace) has been my favourite author ever since I graduated out of 'youth' books 25+ yrs ago, and I've read all that he's written, in many cases several times over. Galapagos may not be his greatest work but it's certainly in the top-5, and in many ways it's my personal favourite - a really interesting, intellectually challenging, fun and life-affirming read. Rather than summarise or 'analyse' the book here, I'll just say this: if you've never read Vonnegut before and are wondering where to start, I'd recommend starting here. You'll get a really good feel for his style, and can then decide for yourself whether you like him.

A winner for vonnegut fans, 18 Sep 2007
This is not a straightforward, run of the mill normal story. Like Vonnegut's most famous work, Slaughterhouse 5, it is told out of sequence, eccentrically and erratically. Much of the main plot is reported rather than seen, and you are told of events several times before they happen. Conceits like the asterisk before the name of everyone about to die keep you aware you are reading a story rather than being absorbed into a universe. This distancing is in keeping with the abstract feeling of the narrator - but what would you expect from the narration of a nosey ghost?

I found the ending an engaging puzzle, particularly when I considered the well known symptom of the illness the narrator has contracted before his death. Daren't say more, as I'd hate to spoil it for anyone.

Vonnegut is a quirky, interesting and funny writer but he is not for everyone. If you like his prose you will probably thoroughly enjoy this - it's a short, easy and appealing read. If a good old fashioned story is your thing, you'd do better to pick something else.

Evolution of a species, 28 Aug 2006
The survivors of the "Nature Cruise of the Century", marooned on the Galápagos archipelago, have slowly evolved into furry mammals with tiny brains and flippers as humankind has been rendered redundant by the creations of its unnecessarily large brains. Thought-provoking and blackly humorous as ever, Vonnegut delivers a timely warning for the future of humanity, and possibly his best example of the "devil's in the details" style for which he has rightly become famous.

A nice idea poorly executed, 08 May 2006
I do like the premise of the book - exploring how humans evolve so they have smaller brains. However the storytelling is almost non-existent.
I realise that the story is supposed to be a narration by an observer, but the entire book has an irritating feel about it. Major events are glossed over - blink and you'd miss several characters deaths - whereas many incidental asides are pored over in minute detail.
The book doesn't flow; it stutters, jumps, stops and starts. The plot isn't particularly believable, and there is zero charactisation.
I couldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Gripping read, 16 Oct 2005
I was gripped from start to finish with this book. I love the way Vonnegut writes and how he builds his characters. I was wary of the fact that he used asterisks to communicate that the character would die before the day was out, but actually found it more compelling. It was interesting how the end was really the beginning of the new life, but I found the ending rather abrupt, and therefore slightly disappointing.

The Chosen One, 10 Nov 2008
I have recently embarked on a quest to read the fifty great American novels. (I'm on book thirty one) Slaughtehouse 5 was in good company - Portnoy's Complaint, Rabbit Run, In Cold Blood, Bonfire of the Vanities, The New York Trilogy, The Secret History, to name a few - but it emerged as the standout novel. It is a wondrous piece of storytelling and I can't wait to finish my quest (nineteen to go) so that I can return to Kurt Vonnegut and read everything he has written. He's the one!

Why all the fuss?, 07 Nov 2008
I bought this book on the basis of the rave reviews. I wish I hadn't. Although it is short I couldn't force myself to get past half-way - if there is something clever or entertaining about this book it went straight over my head.

Realities of War, 25 Apr 2008
Catch 22 exposes the ruthless realities of war and subsequently the harsh realities of life, as the novel depicts war as a microcosm of life itself. By doing this Heller are showing to the reader that war is just as inevitable as life itself and that life is sometimes as harsh and unyielding as war.

Mustard Gas & Roses Indeed..., 24 Feb 2008
As someone currently living in Dresden, I always suggest visitors read this novel before coming for a visit. This city has many scars still to show from the bombings and subsequent fires, but for getting to the heart of what happened here... the true scope & terror of it... I feel nothing compares to Slaughterhouse 5.

As if that weren't enough, Vonnegut intersperses fact with fiction, history with humor, and the results are sublime. If you're not a fan going in, I bet you will be coming out.



Didn't Live up to Expectation, 25 Nov 2007
It bored me half to death. Slow moving, uninteresting, frustrating and somewhat confusing. Would have been better if the writer had stuck to one plot. Only worth reading to say you've read it.

Listen:, 10 Sep 2008
Sordid, repellant, charming, witting, full of interesting insight and eminently readable. And so on.

It does make you wonder if this ever happened to Kurt.

Funny and thought-provoking, 21 Aug 2008
It's hard to know how to sum this up but it's definitely one of the most interesting and funny books I've read in a long time. It plays with conventions - hand-drawn images interspersed in the text, repeated breaking of the fourth wall (including making the author a protagonist), frequent non-sequiturs and so on - and yet it doesn't come across as fussy or pretentious. It's a genuinely funny exploration of the author's mind and a satire on America and, despite containing an interesting passage that describes how traditional storytelling is a bad thing, I still always wanted to know what happened next.

This is a book full of interesting ideas and memorable characters and I'd recommend this to anyone open-minded enough not to freak out when confronted by the first hand-drawn sketch.

Not Utter Claptrap but Dazzling Brilliance, 21 Dec 2006
'A Reader' clearly hasn't a clue. He just doesn't get it. 'Breakfast of Champions' is obviously one of the best satirical novels ever written (better in my opinion than the long-winded Catch 22). As I said, 'A Reader' hasn't a clue and here's why:

In 'Breakfast of Champions', Kurt Vonnegut has created a book resembling a children's encyclopedia. Is is written in simple language, short paragraphs and short sentences. It is acompanied by crude pictures drawn by the author himself. Vonnegut's principal strategy is to contrive the voice of a naif, which in his case is the voice of a fifty-year-old naif. The use of this voice has two risks: 1) It will pall and weary the reader with its limitations of tone. 2) The naive observations will finally seem to represent the mind of the author, which is to say that the book is apt to make Vonnegut himself appear simple-minded.

But on the other hand, the possibilities of the naive voice are considerable, and Vonnegut exploits them all: being naive, the narrator has no sense of structure or priority and thus can include anything, as indeed he does, moving in a few pages through matters of eschatology and teleology, cornball manners of the Midwest, irrelevant statistics, perverse sexuality, washroom graffiti, and automobile sales techniques. The satiric possibilities of the naive voice, moreover, are classic, and Vonnegut directs his innocent voice at American guile and idiocy with considerable effect. He explains, for example, with the same dull ingeniousness that he uses to explain the bucket of fried chicken, the function of the body bag in gathering together the fragments of a soldier killed in action...

Need I say more?

Claptrap, 07 Feb 2006
I’m not entirely sure why I persisted in reading this book, I guess I kept thinking “any minute now it’ll get funny, any minute now it’ll get clever”.

It didn’t.

I thought that this story was lazy; there is an underlying suggestion that Kurt Vonnegut can write well (I’m hoping so as I have Slaughterhouse Five in my ‘to read’ pile) but couldn’t be bothered, probably because there is barely a story to talk of.

I read in reviews of ‘pure hilarity and comedic chaos’; ‘knows how to dish up satire like none other’ and even ‘this has to be the most hilarious piece of fiction I have ever read’. Are you serious? For all our sakes read more books , I’ve read textbooks funnier than this. The comedy in this book borders on schoolboy slapstick, occasionally Vonnegut tries to be clever but fails miserably and resorts to pointless cartoons and tediously analogous mishaps for his one-dimensional characters.
I considered whilst reading this book that perhaps I wasn’t opening my mind to an intellectual humour, but frankly Vonneguts grasp on satire is comparable with Alanis Morrisette’s grasp on irony. In my experience satire is at it’s best when delivered intelligently with subtle reference to our every day lives, cleverly picking out the nuances of society and it’s structure and emphasizing their effect on the human condition. Not in stating the obvious every which way but Tuesday until the joke is so thoroughly beaten it may never draw breath again.

The comment - ‘Will leave you thinking about the structure of the earth we live on, and the kind of people we are’….Really?? I don’t think you’re going to learn much from this book as it doesn’t pose any new questions, it doesn’t delve into any psychology; it just loosely traverses the outlines of a few shallow characters without direction or conclusion.
A reviewer said it is a work of ‘deceptively simple fiction’…Please! The only deception in this book is the unfulfilled promise of hilarity. This book didn’t look at anything more than the fact that some people have money while others don’t. The oft-voiced idea that an unseen author is writing our lives and dictating the fates that befall us was handled clumsily. Vonnegut reminded us too frequently of his control over the characters and that he was shaping lives and outcomes with his own experiences, this didn’t add any humour or depth to the story.

I’m going away now to mourn the hours spent reading this drivel that I will never get back. In fact I’ll go and read Catch-22 and appreciate actual literary brilliance as opposed to lacklustre detritus. Perhaps I’m not cool enough to appreciate this book…well thank heavens, that means I’ll never have to read it again.

Buy it now., 12 Sep 2005
I'm not entirely sure how or why I came across this delightful book, but I am thankful that I did. The illustrations really do help to elevate this book into utter hillarity, as do the insane characters, which upon first impression don't seem central to the plot at all. Eventually though, everything comes together in what has to be one of the most bizarre endings I have ever read. Things that happen in this book just dont occur in other books. One of these things for example, is Vonneguts actual omnipotent presence in the book, he places himself in the story (with all the characters he has created at his mercy) to describe it like this in an amzon review does not do it justice.

Alltogether a briliant read, Happy 50th Kurt.

And so on.

Make sure you've read Slaughterhouse 5 first, 18 Aug 2007
This is the second book of Vonnegut I've read, the first one being Vonnegut's best know novel, "Slaughterhouse 5". If it was not for "Slaughterhouse 5" I would take "A cat's cradle" as a very imaginative, weird and funny book, but probably not one that keeps me thinking for some time once finished. The tone is just too light and the story too improbable to be taken otherwise. But this is highly deceptive and once you realise that Vonnegut's war experience in Dresden has been central to his vision of life, this book appears not just as light entertainment but as a more profound reflection on the meaning of life (pretty meaningless in the author's view I gather) and, incidentally, on the role of religion and the power science gives to some very irresponsible and unbalanced people (this book was written during the cold war and the possibility of the world being completely wiped out by nuclear war was then seen as very real).

The message may be too pessimistic to make the novel completely enjoyable but it makes for an interesting and very funny read until someone presses the wrong the button.


read it again, 02 Jul 2005
The first time I read this book I thought it was good, six years on I read it again and thought it was great, another six years and I've just finished it again and think it may be the greatest book I've ever read.

'No damn cat, and no damn cradle.', 16 Jun 2004
Lacks the inherant pathos and humour of Slaughterhouse-5 but, don't let that put you off! This is a superbly imaginitative story that incorporates a brilliantly biting, satirical sideswipe at the cynicism of religion, the dangerous nihilism of science and the abundant stupidity of both!

The protaginist is a writer who, whilst investigating the life of Dr Felix Hoenikker (co-creator of the Atomic Bomb), becomes aware of the deadly Ice-09, a 'lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet'.

I won't spoil the plot, suffice it to say that, the bulk of the story involves the writer's pursuit and eventual, catastrophic encounter with the deadly chemical.

Vonnegut keeps the story moving along at a comfortable pace, in short chapters, whilst we are introduced to some of the most colourful characters in 20th Century fiction, from seemingly amoral 'mad' scientists to cynical pseudo-messiahs.

I loved the witty dialogue of the Hoenikkers and, the cynical aphorisms of 'Bokonon'. I also liked the way that Vonnegut portrayed his message that, religion is based upon (supposedly harmless) untruths that allegedly, explain the issues that elude science (the unexplainable).

Just buy it!

Ideology through entertainment, 24 Feb 2003
"Cat's cradle" is a book that forces you to like it. It will eventually put a smile on your face through sheer persistence in its vision which is pervasive, cynical and at times very very humourous.

The story, which follows directly from "Ice Nine", revolves around a man's hunt for the missing pieces of the substance, after he accidentally discovers that they exist and how to go about locating them. During his trip, he comes across an immense array of characters, all of which have something profound to reveal, whether they realise it or not.

There is not a lot to say about the book's dogma, as it doesn't seem to have a central point. Rather, it is a collage of several ideas, expressed strongly, though often vaguely, by the assortment of memorable characters featured. The author displays a witty and sharp writing style with emphasis on dialogue and minimal waste of paper, although I found his prose somewhat lacking in terms of literature.

All in all, "Cat's cradle" is an honest, straightforward book with more good moments than bad, aimed at leaving the reader entertained, satisfied and, possibly, this bit wiser.

Ideology through entertainment, 24 Feb 2003
"Cat's cradle" is a book that forces you to like it. It will eventually put a smile on your face through sheer persistence in its vision which is pervasive, cynical and at times very very humourous.

The story, which follows directly from "Ice Nine", revolves around a man's hunt for the missing pieces of the substance, after he accidentally discovers that they exist and how to go about locating them. During his trip, he comes across an immense array of characters, all of which have something profound to reveal, whether they realise it or not.

There is not a lot to say about the book's dogma, as it doesn't seem to have a central point. Rather, it is a collage of several ideas, expressed strongly, though often vaguely, by the assortment of memorable characters featured. The author displays a witty and sharp writing style with emphasis on dialogue and minimal waste of paper, although I found his prose somewhat lacking in terms of literature.

All in all, "Cat's cradle" is an honest, straightforward book with more good moments than bad, aimed at leaving the reader entertained, satisfied and, possibly, this bit wiser.

It deserves the title 'SF Masterwork', 15 Aug 2007
For some reason it was America that held the monopoly on the SF satirical novel. Vonnegut, and later Sladek and Sheckley and indeed Dick with his more subtle comedy, produced some sublime works which turned society on its head and forced us to take a long hard look.
For Nineteen Fifty-Nine this is a remarkable novel, published at a time when SF was arguably becoming very serious about itself.
There is nothing scientific or realistic about `The Sirens of Titan'. As Dick was later to do to incredible effect, Vonnegut used the language of SF to make his own points without letting any of those annoying scientific facts get in the way of the story.
The central figure, Winston Niles Rumfoord, is a billionaire with his own private spaceship which he promptly flies into a Syno-Chronastic Infundibulum which transforms him (and his dog Kazak who happened to be with Rumfoord on the ship) into a wave of energy pulsing between our sun and Betelgeuse. The upshot of this is that Rumfoord can see the past and future simultaneously. Niles reappears on Earth every fifty-nine days and has spoken to no one but his wife and butler until the day he summons fellow billionaire Malachi Constant.
Rumfoord tells Constant that he will travel to Mars, then to Mercury, back to Earth and then to Titan, amongst other things.
Malachi of course is highly sceptical and so Vonnegut begins a tour-de-force of storytelling in which Rumfoord manipulates the entire world, while using Malachi - in some cases quite literally - as a puppet.
What only becomes clear later is that Rumfoord himself is only a tiny part in a two hundred thousand year old plan by the Tralfamadoreans to get a spare part to a stranded messenger on Titan. He is taking a secret message to a race in another part of the galaxy, the final irony being that the message is a simple dot, which translates in Tralfamadorean as `greetings!'
Vonnegut employs many SF clichés in new and surprising ways. The billionaire's private prototype spaceship for instance is straight out of an EE `Doc' Smith adventure. The flying saucers of course, by Nineteen Fifty-Nine were a familiar staple of B-movies. Salo, the Tralfamadorean who has been waiting on Titan for Two Hundred Thousand Years for his spare part, is a three-legged robot who, unaccountably, has developed more compassion and emotion than most of the human cast.
Above all, in a genre that was previously awash with novels about the superiority of Humanity, The Sirens of Titan emphasises the sheer insignificance of our world.
The only British successor of any note to Vonnegut is Douglas Adams, whose Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy's central premise (that the Earth was designed by mice as a giant organic computer to answer one specific question) is very similar to that of Vonnegut's. One should also note Kingsley Amis' `The Alteration' which can hold its own as a British novel in the satirical SF novel stakes against all-comers. See also Richard Cowper. These have been unjustly overshadowed by the popularity of the US authors for reasons which cannot be fathomed.


Superb, bleakly blackly funny and provocotive, 09 Aug 2007
This is my first read of a Kurt Vonnegut novel. I can only say i found it gripping. It's imaginative, and so astoundingly modern in its tone, you could be forgiven for thinking it was written this year!

The pace never lets up. It is thought provoking and enormously (though darkly) funny. It really is a five star read. And I'm going to look in to some of his other novels too. I've been told that "Slaughter house 5" is also a fine read.

It's a weird, warped, beautifully captured universe. I'd find it hard to believe anybody wouldn't enjoy this.

"God Does Not Care About You", 04 Sep 2006
Kurt Vonnegut careens from crazed premise to crazed premise like a narrative pinball. A TARDIS in book form, the novel contains more ideas than it seems possible to cram into its 224 pages, with Vonnegut's imagination almost being a chronosynclastic infundibulum of its own, "a place where all truths fit together". And holding it all together is the idea that there is nothing or nobody holding it all together.

Like most of Vonnegut's novels, the humour is fast, sharp and pitch black. In many ways, the story is similar to Voltaire's "Candide", although perhaps more sympathetic. In "Candide", Voltaire's characters are little more than archetypes off which to bounce ideas off, or even collide them headfirst into them. Vonnegut clearly invites us to feel for his characters, despite how repellent and awful they may at first appear.

The new Gollancz edition has much to recommend for itself, being published in a knowingly pulpy format, complete with eyecatching book design and a cheerfully informative foreword by Jasper Fforde.

Vonnegut's best novel, 12 Feb 2006
I have read this early Vonnegut many times, and it never loses its freshness. If all Sci Fi were like this, the genre might actually attract good writers. This is a masterpiece of ingenujity, black humour, and fine writing that uses sci-fi ideas (but ideas superior to those found in the average sci-fi novel) to produce the most nihlistic ever written. The pay-off (which I will not spoil for others) has to be the darkest comment on human pride and ambition, and on the meaning of the universe that anyone has ever written. Forget Slaughterhouse 5, however good, and buy this right away.

A different sort of SF, 31 Dec 2003
If you think SF is about Star Wars, then think again.
This is a typical vonnegut novel, with the narrative being a bit odd, even taking on a crazed air. People familiar with other books from the same author will find this familiar.
The book is about fate, religion and mans place in the universe. This all sounds a bit heavy, but it is all done in a humorous and absurdist way. A bit like 'Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy'. For all this, the book does have something serious to say, and as such is a memorable and important book.
Like all of his books, reading it is a bit like taking a fairground ride, and an enjoyable one at that. Read it.

If you're new to Vonnegut, start with this one, 04 Oct 2007
Vonnegut (may he rest in peace) has been my favourite author ever since I graduated out of 'youth' books 25+ yrs ago, and I've read all that he's written, in many cases several times over. Galapagos may not be his greatest work but it's certainly in the top-5, and in many ways it's my personal favourite - a really interesting, intellectually challenging, fun and life-affirming read. Rather than summarise or 'analyse' the book here, I'll just say this: if you've never read Vonnegut before and are wondering where to start, I'd recommend starting here. You'll get a really good feel for his style, and can then decide for yourself whether you like him.

A winner for vonnegut fans, 18 Sep 2007
This is not a straightforward, run of the mill normal story. Like Vonnegut's most famous work, Slaughterhouse 5, it is told out of sequence, eccentrically and erratically. Much of the main plot is reported rather than seen, and you are told of events several times before they happen. Conceits like the asterisk before the name of everyone about to die keep you aware you are reading a story rather than being absorbed into a universe. This distancing is in keeping with the abstract feeling of the narrator - but what would you expect from the narration of a nosey ghost?

I found the ending an engaging puzzle, particularly when I considered the well known symptom of the illness the narrator has contracted before his death. Daren't say more, as I'd hate to spoil it for anyone.

Vonnegut is a quirky, interesting and funny writer but he is not for everyone. If you like his prose you will probably thoroughly enjoy this - it's a short, easy and appealing read. If a good old fashioned story is your thing, you'd do better to pick something else.

Evolution of a species, 28 Aug 2006
The survivors of the "Nature Cruise of the Century", marooned on the Galápagos archipelago, have slowly evolved into furry mammals with tiny brains and flippers as humankind has been rendered redundant by the creations of its unnecessarily large brains. Thought-provoking and blackly humorous as ever, Vonnegut delivers a timely warning for the future of humanity, and possibly his best example of the "devil's in the details" style for which he has rightly become famous.

A nice idea poorly executed, 08 May 2006
I do like the premise of the book - exploring how humans evolve so they have smaller brains. However the storytelling is almost non-existent.
I realise that the story is supposed to be a narration by an observer, but the entire book has an irritating feel about it. Major events are glossed over - blink and you'd miss several characters deaths - whereas many incidental asides are pored over in minute detail.
The book doesn't flow; it stutters, jumps, stops and starts. The plot isn't particularly believable, and there is zero charactisation.
I couldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Gripping read, 16 Oct 2005
I was gripped from start to finish with this book. I love the way Vonnegut writes and how he builds his characters. I was wary of the fact that he used asterisks to communicate that the character would die before the day was out, but actually found it more compelling. It was interesting how the end was really the beginning of the new life, but I found the ending rather abrupt, and therefore slightly disappointing.

Patrick Apple-2 Beverley's review, 29 Feb 2004
A beautiful, amazing book, about genius, stupidity and human nature that manages to be funny with a bitter irony without ever losing the seriousness and beauty of its convoluted plot. As with all Vonnegut's books, it is told in flashback from the point of view of one of the characters, jumping around in time and referring to the present day in between long narratives of the past. Its stroke of genius is in the 'middle names' system employed by Wilbur Swain as President of America. If you want to get a new middle name for yourself based on the book's system, go to www.kevan.org and click 'Lonesome No More!'

how many great books can one man write, 10 Oct 2003
could this possible be the pre-story to the isabelle & nathanial from six feet under?

One of Vonnegut's best, 24 Apr 2002
Slapstick (subtitled "Lonesome No More") as well as describing the strange childhood of the Swain twins, also paints a picture of a post apocalyptic world, where new York has been destroyed, and people are camping out in the ground floor of the abandoned Empire State Building.
The damaged male twin has managed to become the last president of the USA with a campaign built on the slogan "Lonesome No More", offering everybody the chance to join new extended families by the addition of new middle names.
The book is another of Kurt's attempts (IMHO) to describe the loneliness and futility of existence, but also that that life has an ironic humorous side. Whilst not dealing with the same big issues as Slaughterhouse 5, it speaks to me of much that is flawed but admirable in the human spirit- and it's bloody funny.

Heart-Warming!, 09 Jan 2001
Kurt Vonnegut has wrote a book about a hideously ugly set of twins who are geniuses together but when they are apart they are dim and supid. This life story is looked at through the eyes of the male twin, who feels that he cannot live without his sister. The children are hated and despised. by their parents and this is partly what makes them so close. The twins' strange and fragile situation is looked at as an experiment and they undergo many tests when they are apart and as I said before when together they are bright and clever but when apart they are virtually disabled. The female twin finally gets put in a home and this causes the twins much distress. Kurt Vonnegut bases this story on the relationship with his brother. It is a story that really makes you consider family values although it does so in a strange way. The first thing this book makes you feel is sorrow for the freaky children whose parents can't stand or even hate then, the fact that they can't live without each other. The parents locked the chlidren up for such a long time in a mansion that they knew very little of the outside world. The weirdness ir even the uniqueness of this story is what makes it such a masterpiece. You may find it strange that a book can have as much meaning as I am making out this one has but you really need to read it to find out for yourself.

Kurt Vonnegut wasn't too crazy about the first version of his latest (and, he says, last) book Timequake, which is part memoir, part rescued novel. As he writes in the introduction, "My great big fish, which stunk so, was entitled Timequake." The book was originally going to be about a cosmic rerun, where the whole world does one decade over again exactly as it did before. However, after a decade in a writer's block continuum, Vonnegut decided to jump ship and salvage what he could from the wreckage of "a novel that never wanted to be written." He "filleted" the big stinky sucker,