This one stuck to me, and, like most of my favorite books, for reasons I don't understand all that well.

I loved the narration. I loved the quasi-autobiography storytelling. I loved Circe Berman. I loved the writers and painters. I loved how funny it was. I loved the neon tubes and meat.

So, I guess, the above list is why I loved it. Lists always help. I'm a big advocate for lists.

I'll eagerly return to this one day--if not next week (if not tomorrow ((if not in a moment))).

This is an autobiography of a man who never existed. The author makes it very clear that this book is a novel, but the events of the book are fascinating enough to be the life of an actual person. It is interesting to think about how you might write a book that sounds real, but is not. Would it have to be somewhat autobiographical? I have no idea.

If you live long enough, and you read enough books, you will occasionally read a book which has aspects of your actual life. This book takes part mostly in East Hampton, which is a ritzy town on Long Island. I lived in East Hampton once. The main character lives in a large house with a number of servants. I lived briefly in a large house on Long Island, but no servants. Also, we had no private ocean beach. I am not sure if anyone on Long Island actually has a private ocean beach. I always understood the ocean beaches can only be private above the high tide mark.

I really enjoyed this crazy memoir and the style in which it was written; such depth, such craziness and I loved how it wasn’t linear if that makes sense, the time jumps, the business of it - almost like a stream of consciousness! Marvellous work from a fabulous writer - not that that really needs saying!

Another interesting Vonnegut book. He covers the usual gamet of Vonnegut trademarks - WWII, a reactive protagonist (as opposed to proactive) how art can be quite useless etc... The book is filled with great quotes and many thought provoking ideas. It's not one of his most famous books partially because (in my opinion) it has so many cross over themes from his other novels. He's talked about some of these themes before but comes at them from a different angle in Bluebeard. A very brilliant writer and one of my all time favorites. No one had his unique sense of humor and no one ever will. Kurt wondered when mankind will ever see the senseless of war. As he said, maybe it's time to give women a chance.

En ésta, una de sus últimas novelas publicadas, n   Kurt VONNEGUTn conserva su tono característico, mordaz y agudo, de crítica a la sociedad. Rabo Karabekian es un artista venido a menos, y un marchante de arte venido a más. En su "autobiografía", Rabo relata las razones por las cuales es ambas cosas. A lo largo de su narración, desliza interesantes reflexiones sobre el significado del arte, inluyendo una aguda crítica a la especulación que se hace del mismo, que provoca precios ridículamente estratosféricos para las obras de artistas de moda. A pesar que Rabo es un ex-militar que en la actualidad no es precisamente pacifista, VONNEGUT no pierde oportunidad de expresar su anti-belicismo de manera abierta, en particular hacia el final de la novela.
El título apenas hace una vaga referencia al cuento clásico de n   Charles PERRAULTn: en el terreno de su propiedad, Rabo tiene un almacén de papas que solía utilizar como taller y estudio. Ahora está permanentemente cerrado, y su contenido es un gran secreto: “Soy Barbazul, y mi estudio es mi cámara prohibida”, pero “no hay cadáveres en mi granero”. Eso es todo.
Me divertí mucho con esta novela, y como siempre con VONNEGUT, encuentro muchas reflexiones profundas e interesantes por debajo de la superficie divertida de la narración. Muy recomendable.

The “Bluebeard” of the title is Rabo Karabekian, an abstract expressionist painter, who has also appeared in Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions. Karabekian is the narrator, and in addition to telling his own biography, he comments on modern art. I don’t like it as well as some of the other Vonnegut novels, but it’s worth reading for Vonnegut’s black humor and satiric social commentary.

Acquired Jul 26, 2002
City Lights Book Shop, London, Ontario

Mi-a luat jumătate de an să aflu ce a pus sub lacăt, în magazia de cartofi, pictorul Rabo Karabekian, un „Barbă Albastră” ce și-a ucis nu soțiile, cum era vechea poveste franceză, ci operele de artă, lipsite de suflet (și na, în cele din urmă, și de pigment – pentru că înainte de Banksy, a fost acest Rabo vonnegutian, deși situația lui a fost involuntară). Mi-e drag Kurt Vonnegut Jr. și mi-e drag cam tot ce scrie, chiar dacă nu „mă prind” toate cărțile lui, chiar dacă nu le citesc pe toate dintr-o răsuflare. Mi-a plăcut deci și „Barbă Albastră”, cu toate reflecțiile asupra artei, asupra scrisului, asupra condiției umane și, desigur, asupra războiului. Romanul e clasic Vonnegut: amărăciune comică, absurdități existențiale, idei mari și late exprimate în cele mai banale ori neașteptate moduri. Nu îmi dau seama cât de în serios lua Vonnegut ideile despre artă, exprimate prin intermediul diverșilor artiști, cât e satiră, cât ambele.

Avem aici o tentativă de autobiografie (inventată) și pagini de jurnal ale lui Rabo Karabekian – pictor, tată și soț ratat, dar soldat excelent, după cum se descrie chiar el. La 71 de ani, e convins de o văduvă ce și-a făcut intrarea val-vârtej în viața și casa lui, să scrie. Rezultatul e această poveste neașteptat de… feministă. Pentru că „Barbă Albastră” nu e (doar) pictorul nostru, ci energia masculină, în general, cu violența, războaiele, misoginismul specific (mai ales în perioada în care a fost scrisă cartea).

Nu mă așteptam să găsesc atâtea personaje feminine atât de puternice, cu voci atât de clare, rostind răspicat niște lucruri parcă insuficient spuse la vremea respectivă. Barbă Albastră e despre ele, dincolo de artă și război, deși nu-ți dai seama decât mai târziu în carte.

Abia după ce s-au așternut toate ideile și am asimilat finalul (după ce-am văzut, deci, ce era în magazia de cartofi), simt că da, ce carte faină am citit.

Las aici și câteva rânduri care s-au lipit în mod special de mine:
„O mulțime enormă de oameni acceptau orice fel de slujbe putea găsi și așteptau să se sfârșească odată Marea Depresiune ca viața cea adevărată să poată porni din nou. Dar trebuia să mai trecem, încă, printr-un Război Mondial, mai înainte ca adevărata viață să poată începe.”

Πέμπτο βιβλίο του Κερτ Βόνεγκατ που διαβάζω, αλλά τόσα χρόνια που πέρασαν από την τελευταία φορά που διάβασα βιβλίο του (Μάιος του 2011), είναι σαν να τον γνωρίζω για πρώτη φορά. Ειλικρινά δεν ξέρω γιατί απείχα τόσα πολλά χρόνια από τα βιβλία του, ενώ τα προηγούμενα λίγο έως πολύ με είχαν ξετρελάνει (εκτός, ίσως, από το "Σλάπστικ", που θυμάμαι ότι μου είχε φανεί κάπως αδύναμο). Πρόκειται για ένα ιδιαίτερο και σχετικά ιδιόρρυθμο βιβλίο, μια μίξη αυτοβιογραφίας και ημερολογίου, το οποίο εν πολλοίς μιλάει για την Τέχνη, την καλλιτεχνική φύση, τον πόλεμο και την αυτογνωσία, με ύφος έντονα σαρκαστικό και αρκετά κυνικό. Η γραφή είναι πραγματικά εξαίσια, ρέει σαν γάργαρο νερό, μόνο αυτή αρκεί για να λατρέψει κανείς το βιβλίο, ανεξάρτητα αν βρει του γούστου την πλοκή ή τους χαρακτήρες. Η πλοκή δεν λέει και πολλά πράγματα εδώ που τα λέμε, αλλά φυσικά ένα τέτοιο βιβλίο δεν χρειάζεται καμία πλοκή για να καταπλήξει με θετικό τρόπο τους αναγνώστες. Περνάει μηνύματα, προσφέρει εικόνες και συναισθήματα χάρη στην φοβερή γραφή, οι χαρακτήρες έχουν και αυτοί το ενδιαφέρον τους όντας κάπως ιδιόρρυθμοι, οπότε υποθέτω ότι αυτά αρκούν για να αγαπήσει κανείς το βιβλίο. Και, εντάξει, μιλάμε για βιβλίο του Βόνεγκατ, οπότε δύσκολα δεν θα μείνει κάτι στον αναγνώστη μετά το τέλος της ανάγνωσης.

Daily Vonnegut – Day 10.

Again, not much to say here. I have aged almost as much as Rabo Karabekian, the Armenian-American artist that is the narrator of Bluebeard. I don’t regret anything in this journey so far, because it feels good to do completionist adventures, no matter how you come to think of the material in the end.

This one is cute and slightly haunting, as the focus of our theme shifts to looking back on a life. The reason it’s more pressing now is because it comes at a time where the reflections in the book closely resemble those of Vonnegut’s actual life. I know for a fact that Hocus Pocus and Timequake, his final two novels, will be similar in theme. What else could they be?

How much is hidden in Karabekian’s implicit plea to be liked and remembered by the masses? Well, not much. Nothing is hidden. It’s all right there. I think Vonnegut’s stature speaks for itself.

Բարի, հավես նախշուն Կուրտ Վոնեգուտը հայ սոցիոպատ նկարչի մասին։ Վոնեգուտի մյուս գրքերից տարբերվող գիրք էր, բայց իր ոճի մեջ գրված, հետաքրքիր, յուրօրինակ կերպարներով։ Վոնեգուտը սահուն կերպով դառնում ա սիրածս գրողներից մեկը:

I checked this out from the library six years ago and stopped reading it because I got busy and forgot to keep reading because apparently I still had something resembling a life six years ago, but then the library wanted it back--they DEMANDED it back--and if you know the Chicago Public Library you know never to fuck with the Chicago Public Library if you'd like to keep both testicles and/or ovaries.

That said, over the last six years, it's fucking haunted me what ol' Rabo was keeping secret in that potato barn. And now I know. And while it wasn't anything mind-blowing or completely crazy or shocking or anything, what's in that potato barn is vintage Vonnegut. And if you know Vonnegut already, I don't have to explain it to you. If you don't know Vonnegut, I won't explain it to you, either, but I will say don't choose this as your first Vonnegut book. First read BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS, SIRENS OF TITAN, or SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE.

Which brings me to an aside that will be the entirety of my actual "review". BLUEBEARD is basically a straightforward story, taking place entirely in a "believable" reality, whereas many of his other books contain elements of science fiction, science fantasy, and other fantastical shhhhtuufff. Which is to say, I didn't enjoy BLUEBEARD as much. In fact, if it wasn't for the ending and that potato barn, I'd likely have not liked this book as much. It's the charming tale of a post-modern artist, lonely and in the twilight of his life, and it's chock-full of quotable lines, but it seemed a little slower and less exciting than his other books--for me. When he allows the fantastical into his stories, they just POP more for me. Some people may love the opportunity to read a fantasy-free Vonnegut story that still remains 100% Vonnegutian (I thought I was being really clever coining that term, but apparently it already exists. So it goes.). Anyway, have at it. In the end, it's worth it, of course.

It’s an amazing feeling to read your favorite author’s book written about a person of your nationality. 'Bluebeard' is the imaginary autobiography of Rabo Karabekian, an abstract-expressionist painter and close friend of Rothko and Jackson Pollock in post-war New York. Although born in America of immigrant Armenian parents, he is haunted by their close escape from the first genocide of the twentieth century, the massacre by the Turks of a million of their Armenian citizens. Vonnegut did a good research about Armenian history and culture in order to make his character and his feelings more realistic.

If Bluebeard is not one of Vonnegut’s two or three best books, it is nevertheless very much worth the ride. Also there is a considerable feminist theme. Once started, Bluebeard is will be hard to put it down.