Wtf just happened

A well written book. Enjoyed reading it.

ok so is it just me or is Cat's Cradle some sort of fraternal twin to Slaughterhouse Five?? This is only the second Kurt Vonnegut I've read, but I'm sensing a commmon theme here.... Both of these novels seem to have their most important purpose be to portray the total insignificance of life and the meaninglessness of every part of it. Depressing, right?

Yeah, well Vonnegut (in his special way) manages to make this dark theme come across through satire and a form of comedy which lightens the general mood of his novels, yes, but also makes the verging-on-nihilistic themes carry an even bigger impact.

Basically, Cat's Cradle is about the narrator's journey through life to write his book, "The Day the World Ended", about the day the first Atomic Bomb was dropped... but he soons gets diverted from his original goal and finds himself tangled up in the mystery of the 'ice-nine' compound that Dr. Felix Hoenikker created, ending up one of the last humans alive in San Lorenzo (or in the entire world? this point is made slightly unclear) after ice-nine contaminates the world, leading me to believe that the 'day the world ended' was a reference to the day that the ice-nine froze everything, and not (just) the day the Atom Bomb was dropped.

Anyways, it was a pretty interesting novel. Quirky. Satirical. Dark. + Vonnegut's way of mocking every character so as to diminish them each into these idiotic personalities is quite entertaining.

On the back of the novel, it's stated that "[the novel] features a midget as the protagonist"... on this point, I was a little surprised and skeptical... I was (and am) pretty darn sure that the narrator, John, is the protagonist.......... ?? I would say that Newt was perhaps at most the next most important character in the novel... .he definitely came across as a secondary character... not the protagonist... hmm.


I wonder if all the other Vonnegut novels follow the same trends/structures seen in Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five... hmmm... In S5, there were Trafalmadorians and the notion of being 'unstuck in time'... In Cat's Cradle, there were Bokononists and a chemical compound that could freeze any quantity of liquid in seconds... What's next!?

A well written book. Enjoyed reading it.

My first Vonnegut book. Oh the pleasure of discovering him was unbearable. They don't wrote them. Like this anymore.

A well written book. Enjoyed reading it.

Franky, I fail to see what all the fuss is about. Not bad, not earth shatteringly good either. A bit pedestrian; however, lots of idiosyncratic characters, who reveal the many flaws of human character, to keep you engaged just enough to persist.

The parallels between Bokononism and evangelicals' imagined persecution reveals the enduring nature of of some of the persistent delusions in American society.

The American ambassador's speech about the 100 martyrs to democracy is easily the book's highlight.

I think that it started and ended well.

I think that the concepts and comical characters are well executed, but it got a bit too pretencious and cynical for my liking.

Good read. Lots of twists and turns at the end that I wasn't expecting, considering the first 2/3 of the book. I liked how chaotic and esoteric it was and the way everything amanged to tie itself together. Pretty easy to read as well. Took forever to finish it thanks to all the other stuff I had going on with covid and the lack of mental strength to get myself to just sit down and read.

This is the book that started it all for me — the seed that grew into my family tree of books. I started reading rapaciously after finishing this book and started wanting to be a writer myself.

Let's take a moment. Repeat after me:

God made mud.

God got lonesome.

So God said to some of the mud, 'Sit up!'

'See all that I've made, the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.'

And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.

Lucky me, lucky mud.

I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.

Nice going, God!

Nobody but you could've done it, God.

I certainly couldn't have.

I feel very unimportant compared to You.

The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around.

I got so much, and most mud got so little.

This book is in the same vien as catch-22 in that it deals with some morbid topics in a very funny way. it is an extremely quick read and i very much recomend it to anyone who has any connection to religion at all.

As usual, Vonnegut has provided a thought-provoking commentary on humanity and a possible avenue of its future. I found his use of religion and discussion of very interesting and thought-provoking in my own life. It caused me to really reflect on why I believe what I do and how that affects my way of life. I think this book is also skilled in addressing and identifying ways that religion functions in society, for better or for worse. I love the way Vonnegut writes: a fictitious story in which one could easily gloss over main points and big ideas if you're not paying attention. It keeps me engage in Vonnegut's side thoughts and ensures that I'm thinking critically throughout the book. Another great read.