Отбелязвам 3 звезди само, защото не мога да се пречупя и да дам 2 на нещо, писано от Вонегът. По никакъв начин не избирайте "Фокус-бокус" за първи досег с него.

Това е книга само за хардкор Вонегът фенове и дори ние скърцаме със зъби докато я четем.

Seminal

Hocus Pocus

Como Slaughterhouse V, pero acá en lugar de WW2, este es Vietnam, y un poco una crítica a la enseñanza universitaria de las clases privilegiadas, el sistema penitenciario, la caída de sistemas económicos, esta interesante.
La verdad logra de una forma bastante amena lanzar su mensaje sobre sus temas, siendo bastante mordaz en algunos. Y un tanto fatalista en otros.
Oh, y la referencia a los Tralfamadorians,  me gustan esas referencias cruzadas.

4 stars

Reto posugar 2022 - 26. Un libro con un título engañoso.

"Това, че някои от нас могат да четат и пишат, а и да смятат що-годе прилично, все още не означава, че сме достойни да владеем Всемира."...Уникална книга. Реално не мога да дам никакво резюме, защото тази книга не може да се разкаже - трябва да се прочете. Уви, не мога да не споделя, че докато Вонегът описваше част от живота на главния герой, се натъкнах на прекрасни остроумни закачки. Те бяха свързани с различни аспекти от историята, войните, човешкия живот. Подсмихвах се на много места, на други си се смеех на глас! Книгата се чете малко по-тромаво, но ако я подхванете моя съвет е - не спирайте по средата на някоя глава...всичко е доста навързано и леко объркващо. Браво, като за първа прочетена книга на Кърт Вонегът съм много доволна.

"Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe." (324)

I probably would have been more impressed by Hocus Pocus had it been one of the first works by Vonnegut that I read. As it stands, it was the second-to-last novel of his that I hadn't yet read (now there is only Timequake left), and while it was entertaining enough and at times quite good, I didn't care all that much either for the story itself or for some of the running themes/jokes (in all of these departments, Vonnegut has done better). All in all, then, it was worth reading; but I wouldn't rank it among his best works.

One of Vonnegut’s best works and I find that hardly anyone I know has read it.
This novel has all of the humanism and charm of Vonnegut’s best known novels but with more polish in its connections. I’ve noticed that the late KV is very skillful at taking his novels apart and arranging them in odd ways so that the picture only becomes clear at the very end—he’s a po-mo master after all. But the connections dis and reassembled in Hocus Pocus seem to have more gravitas when placed back together. Maybe it’s because this book is one of the least zany of the Vonnegut bibliography. There’s no ice-9 nor tralfamadorian zoo keepers, nor hairy seal people to make you wonder if what you’re reading is too slapstick to be regarded seriously. Maybe this is just a book that resonates with me because of the narrator and what he believes about life and class and sex and duty and death.

5 stars.

I love Vonnegut, but this one felt a little forced and was largely forgettable. Forced in the way that it felt like another one of his phrases (like "so it goes") was being churned out and forgettable because I can't even remember that phrase.

Still, not terrible, just one of his weaker novels.

a book about the folly of doing things just to write them down... that i am now leaving a review for and counting towards my yearly reading goal

typ pierdoli cały czas

I loved this book, so much, and after finishing it I had to laugh like hell because I couldn't think of a single concrete thing to say about it in here.

The word 'sonder' (the realization that each passerby, in this tiny world of ours, has a life as vivid and complex as your own) comes to mind. Even if it's a concept that's very present on all of Vonnegut's work, its main character makes it resonates especially well with this one.

Eugene Debs Hartke's life -Vietnam veteran, teacher, prison warden, and finally a prisoner himself- is the perfect conduit to take a peek at the lives of so many different people: the rich and the poor; the dumb and the smart; the good and the evil; the tormented and the cheerful; the cultured and the uncultured; and the captive and the free.

The book is written as a memoir by its protagonist in thousands of small scraps of paper, which makes it incredibly hard to put down. It's full of that magical thing that makes Vonnegut's books work, it's a huge jumble of words of exactly that. People who enjoy his style and want more of it will love this book, but it may put off those who don't know what to expect.

And colour me surprised, that ended up sounding quite concrete after all... I had to laugh like hell.

Rather long, pointless and repetitive. Vonnegut goes back over himself sometimes upto 5 times repeating information that's irrelevant to the story at hand, what starts as an interesting premise becomes a tiresome read with only a few sparks of his regular wit.

Terminé el libro con un suspiro enorme, cerré la última página y mi ojo derecho lucía así:

* * *
Etcétera.
¿Por donde empezar?
¡Pues por Kurt Vonnegut!
Este es el noveno o décimo libro que leo de él, ya me van quedando pocas balas.
Eso me apena mucho.
"Hocus Pocus" está entre sus novelas menos conocidas, y sin embargo en mi opinión personal está a la altura de sus obras cumbres. (Véase Matadero 5, Cuna de gato o Las sirenas del Titán)
En sí misma, la premisa principal de la historia le sirve como excusa para que este pueda desengranar una seguidilla de personajes muy pintorescos, hilarantes y memorables.

El final del libro es uno de los mejores finales que he leído hasta ahora, la lectura es muy amena, muy sencilla. Es directa y muy punzante. Vonnegut no pierde la oportunidad de evidenciar sus posturas con respecto a la humanidad con su típico humor negro y sus ya famosas coletillas.