Book review: 'Cat's Cradle' by Kurt Vonnegut

Date: 29 April 2012 12:01:51

This was the most recent book group book, and (amazingly) one that I actually finished! I'd not read any Kurt Vonnegut before (probably the most famous book of his is 'Slaughterhouse Five'), and I'm not really into dystopian stories so can't say I was massively looking forward to reading this, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is the story of a journalist/author who is writing about one of the creators of the atomic bomb and discovers that he had also created a chemical called Ice Nine which is capable of freezing the entire planet. He then sets about trying to trace the chemical, which leads him to the inventor's three crazy children, a mad Caribbean island dictatorship and an unlikely and openly made-up religion. I thought the characters, major and minor, were all quirky and even though I wouldn't particularly want to meet any of them enjoyed the time reading about them. I particularly liked the religion aspect, which was I thought rather profound amongst all the ridiculousness. I don't think everyone would enjoy the chapter every two pages aspect of it, but for me that was one of the book's strengths, both in terms of getting me through it - psychologically I found myself thinking "I'll just read another couple of chapters" and then "I'll just get to the next number-ending-in-0 chapter" and then finding I'd read another twenty and was well on my way to finishing - it didn't feel turgid at all; and also because I found the chapter titles helped me focus - they basically summed up the main point of the chapter so it just didn't feel like hard work. Recommended, and I might even try out 'Slaughterhouse Five' some time.