This book is supposed to be a landmark in black humour and satire. Black it is.. but not sure about the humour or the satire.. Maybe these kind of books are not for me but this was too doomsday-ish for me.

After reading this book, I have to say that Kurt Vonnegut has unusual talent. I couldn't really accept his writing style at first, but gradually got used to it and find it extraordinarily amusing. This book is about technology, religion, human beings, and end of the world. Although the whole story seems to be nonsense, it actually foreshadows the direction the world is heading. Moreover, it is a clever satire on human beings and their insanity/stupidity of the twentieth century.

Vonnegut represents a literary style that I am glad to have dabbled in, but I found the writing to be a bit too glib to enjoy in more than moderate doses. Perhaps I will give Slaughterhouse Five a try sometime in the distant future; for the time being I will stick with more firmly established literary channels.

The book starts with John the main character researching about what Americans where doing when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. While researching this topic, John becomes involved with the children of Felix Hoenikker.John travels to Ilium, New York, to interview the Hoenikker children and others for his book. In Ilium John meets, among others, Dr. Asa Breed, who was the supervisor "on paper" of Felix Hoenikker. As the novel continues , John learns of a substance called ice-nine, created by the late Hoenikker and is now secretly in the possession of his children. Ice-nine is an alternative structure of water that is solid at room temperature. When a crystal of ice-nine contacts liquid water, it becomes a seed crystal that makes the molecules of liquid water arrange themselves into the solid form, ice-nine. John and the Hoenikker children eventually end up on the fictional Caribbean island of San Lorenzo, one of the poorest countries on Earth. The dictator thratens oppostion with impalemnt on a giant hook . John explore the island and discovers a cryptic society. To find out what john finds on the island you have to read the book.

I found this book very interesting and enjoyable, although I thought the book was confusing and hard to read. I would recommend this book to fans of Kurt Vonnegut. This is a difficult book to read and hard to understand and the book also uses many made-up words.

"Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy."

'"Maturity," Bokonon tells us, "is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything."'

Cornell is a granfaloon.

A well written book. Enjoyed reading it.

Satire at its best. Hiliariously entertaining, wish they would've taught Bokononism in my world religions class;) LOL I enjoyed this midget more than the ones Chelsea Handler tangeled with. Great book.

A well written book. Enjoyed reading it.

It seems like most people rate this as the novel and not the Lit Crit book? Regardless, there are several essays that I enjoyed in here, but many read more like a NYTimes book review and others presented arguments that seemed weak or not engaging.

If you have a passing knowledge of Vonnegut's early life story, probably 30% of the essays can be skipped. If not, then they are probably quite useful.

Interesting take on roles of religion and science and potential for impacting earth. Satire throughout, as told via lens of imaginary island, scientific discovery, and religion. Or is it?

It takes a bit to get into but is well worth it by the end.

This is a book that would best be read in a book club or as a part of a course. There is so much to be discussed and analyzed. Upon reading some discourse on the novel, the critique that Vonnegut was making became more clear to me. His commentary on the rampant and careless technological advancement seen during the Cold War is very fascinating, especially after finishing teaching short stories like "There Will Come Soft Rains". The description of ice-nine did not automatically click for me as being a symbol of mass destruction or nuclear weaponry, but it's interesting to look back on it and see just how perfect that metaphor is. A disconnected scientist creates something with the power to result in an apocalypse, and he doesn't even consider the impact. Worth a reread or two.