Cat's Cradle: A Novel
by Kurt Vonnegut
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Book Reviews of Cat's Cradle: A Novel
Book Review: Wild satire about nuclear arms and the end of the world
Summary: 4 Stars
Enough zaniness and dark humor permeate Cat's Cradle to keep a reader entertained, but there's still a point to Vonnegut's odd comedy--the destruction and danger of nuclear-type weapons, the criticism of society and their motives, and the general stupidity of mankind. To say Vonnegut takes a pessimistic viewpoint might be an understatement, but at least he can have fun doing it. In many respects, I actually found Cat's Cradle to be a little more enjoyable than Slaughter House Five, which seemed to be a little darker in nature.
The story begins with Jonah studying and researching the late Felix Hoenikker, a renown scientist responsible for producing the atom bomb and a dangerous liquid substance called ice-nine. To do this, he interviews various people and colleagues of the late doctor, finding out, while Hoenikker had innocent intentions, he was careless with both his family and his inventions. In his quest, Jonah comes to identify Dr. Hoenikker's three children--Newt, Angela and Frank--a very odd group of kids. Angela is very tall and lanky and has to play the role of parent because of her father's neglect. Newt is a midget, who comes to find love with a midget Russian performer. And Frank leaves the family, disappears, and later emerges in San Lorenzo, being the supposed architect of San Lorenzo's "master plan." Eventually Jonah and a group (including Angela and Newt) embark on a trip to San Lorenzo to see the island of San Lorenzo, it's population "all fiercely dedicated to the ideals of the Free World" (Jonah learns from the pamphlet on the plane). The irony of much of what is discovered on this island is that the people's religion--Bokonon--is mostly based on lies (as it says in its introduction). From here, Jonah becomes adjusted to the people and their customs, meets the island's dictator, "Papa", hears more rumors about the mysterious Bokonon, falls in love with a goddess-like woman Mona, and becomes president of San Lorenzo (he learns from Frank that this is his ultimate destiny, or his "zah-mah-ki-bo"). Eventually, there is a major event that Jonah must deal with, and this happens at the book's conclusion. Wacky as it is, the plot seems to be just a vehicle to get across much of Vonnegut's satirical points about human existence.
Much of the fun of this book is the exceptional comic voice by Vonnegut. He can seemingly take the most serious issues, like religion, politics, nuclear threats, and turn them upside down. One bizarre part is when Julian Castle looks at Newt's "Cat's Cradle" painting (which Newt professes should hold a message for everyone), regards it as "garbage" and throws it out into the waterfall. A moment prior to this Jonah had been musing over the painting's meaning, and this act by Castle seems to fit right into the nonsensical mentality of the island. There is also the "last rites" scene with "Papa" and Jonah, where "Papa" leans over and whispers to Jonah to tell Bokonon that he is sorry he didn't kill him and his philosophy of lies.
If you can take all of the author's jabs in a light way then this will be an enjoyable read; if not, then you might want to pass, or at least sample the book before purchasing. I wished I would have read this one before reading Slaughter House Five (as Cat's Cradle works better for an introduction to the author).
Book Review: See the cat? See the cradle? See the point?
Summary: 5 Stars
Having read many of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, both the sublime (MOTHER NIGHT) and the ridiculous (TIMEQUAKE), I felt I was prepared for CAT'S CRADLE. And, as usual for Vonnegut, all his usual elements are here: the purposefully simple prose, the distrust of established dogma, sex, religion, science, et al. But upon finishing CRADLE, I was awestruck at my unpreparedness for the true mobilizing force behind the plot. Rage.CAT'S CRADLE is an angry book, full of loathing and despair for the construct we call humanity. Vonnegut has always been one of the world's best moralists, but CRADLE finds him almost unhinged to the point of mania. And yet, it is quite likely Vonnegut's greatest and most entertaining achievement.
The narrator, Jonah (or so he informs us), is an author bent on penning a novel which will encompass the day the hydrogen bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. His research leads him to the family of Dr. Felix Hoenikker, a scientist involved in the invention of the bomb. As he talks to the family, and other scientists, he becomes faintly aware of a fictional substance called `ice-nine', which had befuddled Dr. Hoenikker for some time. In true Vonnegut fashion, this subplot is dropped until needed, as several years later Jonah meets up with the Hoenikker family in San Lorenzo, a tiny third world country with a bizarre origin and an unusual religion.
I don't want to give too much of the plot away. Unlike several of Vonnegut's more recent works, the plot does play a large part of the novel's progression. Suffice to say, the fictitious religion of Bokononism plays a large part in the story, as do insanity, death, power, Armageddon, clarinets, stone angels, and love. And it all proceeds logically, especially in the context of the teachings of Bokonon.
Like the best of Vonnegut, the deeper themes only come to the reader after they are replayed in the mind. Vonnegut's distrust of religion is evident as always, as Bokononism is based on the premise that all religions are lies, including Bokononism. But Vonnegut doesn't simply slam religion; Science, as the alternative, is equally a cause for distress, as power-mad generals demand new methods of destruction from their scientists, and the scientists don't consider the possibility that perhaps some problems should never be solved. Vonnegut finds no happiness in ignorance, but he finds none in knowledge, either.
Why, then, is CAT'S CRADLE such a funny book? Any other author might have well been crushed under the weight of manic depression. But not Vonnegut. He revels in man's insanity, in man's arrogance. Vonnegut cannot provide an answer; neither should he be expected to provide one. He realizes that by delivering a soliloquy on a method to save us, he would become that which he despises the most: a preacher. Vonnegut knows there are no easy answers. All he can do is provide examples of where our current behaviour will take us.
CAT'S CRADLE is simultaneously hysterical and horrifying, a morality tale that remains as relevant in the 21st century as the day Vonnegut published it. Anyone who believes they have the answer to mankind's problems should read it at once.
Book Review: Science or science-fiction?
Summary: 5 Stars
I wound up writing this review because recently, in a flight of fancy, someone conjectured that perhaps in other parts of the universe silicon forms four bonds, making ring structures - similar to the carbon-based benzene ring that is the basis of all organic materials - possible. My question was whether silicon-based amino-acid analogues would "teach" the silicon in this part of the universe to form the same kind of rings. Carbon-based DNA teaches raw amino acids how to make more DNA, so that begs the question of whether such structures would propagate.
Ice-9 does just that.
Cat's Cradle isn't quite as absurd as it seems.
Ice-9 is a form of ice with a different structure than regular ice. It is frozen solid at room temperature. Further, when it comes into contact with regular water, it causes the water to freeze into more Ice-9. Given that 4/5ths of the earth's surface is covered by ocean, and that our bodies are mostly made of water, you can probably deduce that keeping the Ice-9 in a thermos where it can't come in contact with other water is an important plot element.
A seed crystal is often necessary to initiate a phase change or precipitation, so it is conceivable that Ice-9 could initiate a catastrophe. The science fiction part is that we haven't discovered a form of water that is solid at room temperature.
Incidentally, there's not much danger from oxygen-breathing silicon creatures because instead of exhaling carbon dioxide they'd exhale glass. They won't be bothering us here on earth when they show up.
However, electricity-breathing silicon creatures like the semiconductor nodes that make up the Internet could be a threat. Google's server network has almost - not quite, but almost - reached a level of complexity where consciousness and intention are possible.
Some reviewers on amazon.com thought that ice-9 was a metaphor for the atom bomb. Since the possibility of thermonuclear armageddon was so over-arching in real life at the time I first read the book, I didn't place any emtional emphasis on that subtext. I viewed Ice-9 as yet another technology to keep out of the hands of the military-industrial complex.
You didn't need to know that Godzilla was a metaphor for the atom bomb and the damaging effects of residual radiation in order to enjoy it. Cat's Cradle was a fun social commentary that didn't benefit at all from atomic metaphor. Ice-9 was merely a plot device, a Deus-Ex-Machina that brought about the natural consequences of great social granfalloons.
Bokononism isn't the first religion founded by a science-fiction author, either.
Like all of Vonnegut's books, Cat's Cradle looks at society and personalities and relationships with a new, slightly mad perspective. It is hard to walk away from Cat's Cradle without re-evaluating the Granfalloon that is organized religion, or any other carefully-crafted social institutions.
Book Review: Nothing in This Book is True
Summary: 4 Stars
Vonnegut was trying to make a point with these words at the beginning of "Cat's Cradle," but they're wrong. The events and characters may be foma, but the things that drive this book are all too real."Cat's Cradle" is the story of John or Jonah and his attempt to write a book about the events of August 6th, 1945, the day of the first dropping of the atomic bomb. His efforts begin weaving his karass with those of the Hoenikker family, children of one of the prime scientists who worked on the bomb.
Foma? Karass? These are Bokononist words. While this book is written by Vonnegut, the tale tells that it's been written by John, after the events of the book. He started his book as a Christian, but has since converted to Bokononism, developed by a man named Bokonon, a Buddha in his own right. Bokonon's religion is simple: Make lies, be happy. It is at the beginning of his book that it claims the entire text is foma, or lies.
Vonnegut has created an excellent conflict within the politics of San Lorenzo, the island where Bokonon lives, and how it draws John in as a catalyst for events to come. While the end result is not his fault, it's interesting to see how he learns of things that will happen, and since the book is being written by him, he comments on his own thoughts and those of others in the past. This isn't very new, but often first-person narrative books make the character not know what's happened, even if they tell everything in the past tense, even so much as to know how long ago the events took place.
Within "Cat's Cradle" and stretching into a few of his other works, Vonnegut has created an entirely new and original religion, one that professes openly that nothing about it is true except it's theme, which is exactly what is true about the novel.
Little Newt Hoenikker represents the second best theme, the first having been the religious implications present. His traumatic obsession with the cat's cradle and the fact that he wonders why he can't see the cat, not as a six-year old, and not as an adult, shows that sometimes people are expected to see what they cannot see, and that it's ludicrous sometimes to expect anyone to see it.
The most intriuging questions of all lie in what the character Mona says late in the book, after the climax; questions that are sure to have you yourself wondering about things in our world, in the real life posed by this book.
Above all, "Cat's Cradle" is an interesting book that will keep you reading. I originally heard of it through the movie "The Recruit," where Ice-nine was used as a code for a computer virus. Ice-nine is something very different here, and its effects are monumental, even when simply discussed hypothetically earlier in the book.
While many Vonnegut books are primarily for those who enjoy Vonnegut's dark humor and style, "Cat's Cradle" is a novel that can be enjoyed by pretty much anyone old enough to read it. It is anything but foma.
-Escushion
Book Review: Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut's Absurd Masterpiece
Summary: 4 Stars
Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle" is the story of a man, Jonah, who is writing about the "end of the world," or the day when the atom bomb was dropped. His work on the book encourages him to go on many journeys which ultimately leave him in a somewhat ironic yet very comedic position. The story features an imaginative religion, a scientific potion, and a far off society as part of Vonnegut's many bizarre episodes. Jonah, researches the "father of the atom bomb" and his children in order to determine what they were doing on the day the atom bomb was dropped. Seemingly against his will, Jonah gets pulled into a plethora of discoveries about the children and their father which he never could have imagined to be true. His journeys ultimately land him, along with the children, on a secluded island with a radically different society from their own.
I did in fact enjoy reading this book because of the absurdity and the unbelievable voyages which the main character undergoes. However, it is in fact Vonnegut's style that makes the book so enjoyable. He is able to bring the reader into this world where virtually anything can happen which then leaves the reader totally unaware and clueless as to what comes next. The world allows him to describe such things as the discovery of the island of San Lorenzo in a two page account where six different countries claim and forget about the nation before escaping African slaves finally claims the land for good. It is through Vonnegut's voice and style that the reader may not stop to consider such oddities as this one.
Originally, I chose to read this book after finishing Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five," and was absolutely taken away by the combination of absurdity and hilariousness through which he expresses himself in this book. Though I did not expect this book to be as far out as the alien adventure in "Slaughterhouse Five," it did seem like a pleasant offbeat satire about modern man. In the end I enjoyed this book more than "Slaughterhouse Five" because of the comedic voice that I found more visible in "Cat's Cradle." Though the first was rather ridiculous and interesting, for me it did nothing more than provoke thoughts about where such an idea would come from, rather than make me laugh.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is seeking an imaginative and far off satirical story that is sure to create a smile. While many may think the story to be boring and pointless, it is partly this hollowness that makes it so enjoyable. The reader is baffled and unable to understand why things happen the way they do creating a randomness that I have found to be attractive. For those readers that were bored by part of the book and decided to put it down forever, I would encourage you to fight through the beginning. After all, I did in fact at first believe that this would be a serious account of the day the atom bomb was dropped, until the Bokonon religion was further explained and glorified.