Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut

(hb; 1997)

From the inside flap

“Kurt Vonnegut caps his mind-bending career of unconventional attitudes and fiction and lectures with this new book. . . The three protagonists are the author, the unappreciated, long-out-of-print science fiction Kilgore Trout, who is the author’s second self, and a seriously dysfunctional universe.

“On February 13, 2001, according to Vonnegut, the universe will tire momentarily of expanding forever. What’s the point? Maybe it would be more fun to shrink for a change and have a reunion of all the stuff back where it began. Then it could make a big BANG again.

“It will shrink back to February 17^th, 1991, but will then decide that expansion is the way to go, after all. As time marches on once more to 2001, though, Vonnegut and Trout and everybody else will have to do exactly what they did the first time through the decade, for good or ill: marry the wrong person, bet on the wrong horse. Whatever! Ten years of déjà vu all over again! At least déjà vu doesn’t cause physical injury and property damage.

“But all hell cuts loose when the rerun is over and fee will kicks in again. Everybody is so used to being a robot of the past that almost nobody is prepared to think of new things to do and then do them, in order to avoid accidents or whatever. Off-balance pedestrians will fall down and not get back up. Unsteered motor vehicles will slay them by the millions. Factory workers will allow themselves to be gobbled up by their own machinery!”

Review

The first half of Timequake is classic Vonnegut: audacious, ironic, sly, funny, science fiction-ish and distinctive. The first half is a joyous, occasionally chatterbox read. It is during the second half that Timequake becomes overlong, with chapters that seem to do little more than elongate this fractured and barely-plotted meta-tale.

Bottom line: Timequake is rambling and flawed, but memorable and worth reading if borrowed from the library or bought for cheap─not Vonnegut’s best work, but not a waste of time, either.

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

(pb; 1959)

From the inside flap

“The Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp trough space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side.  Of course there’s a catch to the invitation─and a prophetic vision about the purpose of human life that only Vonnegut has the courage to tell.”

Review

Titan is one of Vonnegut’s wilder tales─a sometimes unfettered, brutal satire about religion, politics and the class system, lensed through a science fiction framework. While it is less tightly edited than other works he has written─it runs a bit long, maybe thirty to fifty pages─it is still a good, funny and stinging take on the nature of the tools of social control, as well as human nature: worth reading, this.

Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

(pb; 1961)

From the back cover

“Mother Night is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American Howard W. Campbell, Jr., a spy during World War II, is now on trial in Israel as a Nazi war criminal. But is he really guilty?”

Review

Mother is one of my all-time favorite reads. It is a waste-no-words, fast-paced novel: specifically it is a dark, sly, twisty, hilarious and masterful satire about human nature, love, nationalism and war. Reading this in this current political slash global climate gave Mother a special, timely resonance. This is an excellent, blistering book, one worth owning.

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The resulting film was released stateside on November 1, 1996. Keith Gordon directed the film, from Robert B. Weide’s screenplay.

Nick Nolte played Howard Campbell. Brawley Nolte played Young Howard Campbell. Sheryl Lee played Helga and Resi Noth. Kirsten Dunst played Young Resi Noth.

John Goodman played Major John Wirtanen. David Strathairn played Bernard B. O’Hare. Arye Gross played Dr. Abraham Epstein. Anna Berger played Epstein’s Mother. 

Bernard Behrens played Dr. Lionel Jones. Gerard Parkes played Father Keeley. Frankie Faison played The Black Fuehrer. Author Kurt Vonnegut, billed as Kurt Vonnegut Jr., played Sad Man on Street.

Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview and Other Conversations edited by Tom McCartan

(hb; 2011: nonfiction)

From the back cover

“One of the great American iconoclasts holds forth on politics, war, books and writers, and his personal life in a series of conversations, including his last published interview.

“During his long career Kurt Vonnegut won international praise for his novels, plays, and essays. In this new anthology of conversations with Vonnegut—which collects interviews from throughout his career—we learn much about what drove Vonnegut to write and how he viewed his work at the end.”

Review

This collection of magazine interviews, spanning from 1977 to 2007, is a good, witty and provocative read if you are a Kurt Vonnegut fan. If you read A Man Without a Country, some of what Vonnegut says will likely be familiar. My favorite interview is “The Joe & Kurt Show”, from Playboy, May 1992. It is especially fun to see Joseph Heller and Vonnegut, friends, colleagues and neighbors verbally play off and support each other, even as they make thoughtful points about war, politics, society and personal relationships.

A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut

(hb; 2005: nonfiction)

From the inside flap

“In a volume that is penetrating, introspective, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny, one of the great men of letters of this age–or any age–holds forth on life, art, sex, politics, and the state of America’s soul. From his coming of age in America, to his formative war experiences, to his life as an artist, this is Vonnegut doing what he does best: Being himself. Whimsically illustrated by the author, A Man Without a Country is intimate, tender, and brimming with the scope of Kurt Vonnegut’s passions.”

Review

This is an excellent and wise short collection of essays that touches on the subjects of politics, social interactions, relations with women, war and other timely subjects. It sometimes dark but it is also funny, tender, sad and, on occasion, there is a spark of hope, despite Vonnegut’s admission that he has mostly lost faith in humanity. A provocative, short and burn-through read, this: one worth owning and re-reading, on occasion.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr

(pb; 1963)

From the back cover

"Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he's the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three ecentric children, to a crazed dictator in the Caribbean, to madness. Felix Hoenikker's Death Wish comes true when his last, fatal gift to humankind brings about the end, that for all of us, is nigh."


Review

Cradle is an incisive, puzzle-build and brutal satire that targets blind patriotism, religion, militarism, human nature and the end of the world. It reads a bit overlong in parts, but it gets its points across in an effective if sometimes-chatty way. Despite this minor nit, Cradle is an excellent, distinctive and milestone read from a distinctive author.