Mother Night: A Novel
by Kurt Vonnegut
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Book Reviews of Mother Night: A Novel
Book Review: Good Not Great
Summary: 4 Stars
It's been some time since I finished reading Mother Night, so all I am left with is a smoldering memory of what I thought of the book at the time. Since that's what I have to work with, bear that in mind as you read this review. Like most Vonnegut books, this takes on a different level of writing than many of the books out there. As such, they're generally better than most anything you'll pull off the shelves of your local bookstore.
Mother Night is no different, despite the fact it's not one of his best works. In his own words, Vonnegut describes this book as sub-par, or at best, average. For him, maybe I agree. But the book on its own merits is still quite good. Vonnegut has a way of writing that few can attain. He is both deep yet easy to read, a feat accomplished by few writers.
In brief, the book is about an ex-Nazi radio host who is long removed from the war and generally trying to stay below the radar of modern times in America. His guilt or innocence is up to the reader to decide. There is more to the story than I suggest here. Readers of Vonnegut know that nothing is ever that simple in his books. Maybe that's because nothing is ever that simple in life to begin with. Vonnegut captures that in his works.
The book is good, but not vintage Vonnegut. It moves well enough, but can be a tad slow at times. Overall, this is probably a 3.5 star book. Since there is no 3.5 rating, I am left to give it 4, since it's probably only fair to compare it with other fiction, and not only against his other works. Overall, for Vonnegut, I would say this is a solid 3: average, solid, enjoyable.
Overall, not his best work, but worth the read nonetheless.
Book Review: a probing tale
Summary: 4 Stars
"Mother Night" by Kurt Vonnegut is a probing tale (a parable perhaps) about the difference between appearances and reality. "Mother Night" is actually one of three books I have recently read (or reread) that deal with the dichotomy between appearance and truth. "Mother Night" is clearly the least subtle book as far as advancing an argument...yet it is far and away the most powerful. Vonnegut navigates this ethical minefield in an entertaining, yet sobering manner.
"Mother Night" tells the story of an American playwright who is enlisted to be a spy within World War II Germany. The playwright becomes part of the upper crust of Nazi society. Working as a talk-radio personality, he encodes top secret information in his pro-Nazi broadcasts. In so doing, he helps to bring about the eventual victory of the Allies.
The war-time story-line of "Mother Night" is told in retrospect by the playwright who is living a secluded life in 1960's New York City. The reason he must live in hiding is that his Allied contact person during the war disappeared. He has no one left to testify to the fact that he worked for the Allies.
The story takes off in grand Vonnegutian style as the "protagonist" of the story is discovered simultaneously by Nazi-hunters, Soviet agents, white supremacists, and a woman claiming to be his ex wife.
Through it all, Vonnegut asks hard questions about what action, motivation, intent, and reality have to do with reality.
I found this book to be eye-opening. It is engagingly told; containing passages of great beauty, sorrow, and even humor. I recommend this book.
Book Review: A Legendary Tale of Evilness and the Irony of Fate
Summary: 5 Stars
Another reviewer of this book titled his review "Vonnegut: You can't read just one!" Might I add that should you choose only one - This is it! In legendary Vonnengut style this book is humerous but dark. But compared to most of his other writings, the storyline of this book is very tight. And the fate of life, to which, the main character Howard W. Campbell Jr. is entitled, is almost too cruel to bear. This theme appear to be one of Vonnengut's favorites - the cruelty and irony of life. And as always he makes the point in humourous style. But in this novel much more is at play. It leaves one wondering about evilness as such. Are there such things in life for which no regrets are valid? Vonnengut tends to answer yes. But what is there of life, when you're left back with that? There is the sarchastic humor in which Vonnengut is a true master, covering up the fact that even good things gives you no pleasure when you've got the "evil-mark" upon you for life. This is probably one of the darkest novels I've ever come across, but also one of the very best. It forcefully presses some very important questions in a dark but nevertheless very humerous way. I really can't recommend it too much. I don't think anyone can read it without being deeply moved. But it ain't a book to make the sun start to shine. It's more like Monty Python signing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" to cheer up Jesus during his crucifiction. It'll never turn too bad for a good laugh. But that's excactly how bad it turns out for Howard W. Campbell Jr in this book. Read it for yourselves!!!
Book Review: Unconvential in it's conventionality
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my third endeavor through the works of Kurt Vonnegut and it seems that 'Mother Night' plays out as a more conventional novel in terms of structure and theme. It's sheer brilliance is evident straight from the introduction; where Vonnegut asks that we be good at what we pretend to be, because that's who we will become. He also sets up the dark humor presented in the book by inplicating a second moral, simply stated: "When you're dead you're dead." 'Mother Night' follows the narrative of Howard Campbell, war criminal, throughout his years following the time when he was an agent of the United States in Germany during WWII. Vonnegut, as commonplace in most of his novels, satirizes war and it's absurdity, love, race, and the meaning that we attribute to our lives in a meaningless world where there is essentially no escape. However, the book, unlike typical Vonnegut, focuses on one primary theme; that of the significance of truth. For the characters in 'Mother Night' becoming spies has left them with no country and no hope. What essentially keeps them (among them Campbell) is curiousity. However, as will be revealed during the course of the novel, even this will be crushed as lies become lies and then become truths, and Campbell will remain frozen in his tracks, a victim of the country that he helped and separated from his nation of two, the only nation that had any significance. A well-written narrative, funny and thought provoking. We laugh, but only a bit tentatively, as we watch the 'truth' unfold and wonder if it was worth knowing at all.
Book Review: Not Vonnegut's best, but a wonderful novel nonetheless
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the sixth novel that I have read by Kurt Vonnegut, and like I expected, it did not fall short of the high expectations that I have had for all of his works.
Howard Campbell is an American agent in Nazi Germany during World War II, and he has been assigned the job of being a propagandist on the radio and getting to know the people behind the Nazi government. Supposedly, he's sending secret codes to the U.S. military over the airwaves, although he is unaware what exactly he is sending.
After the war he is protected by the U.S. government from trial despite the fact that he became very infamous during the war for his hate speech and propaganda. He isolates himself for several years in New York, where he is discovered by a Russian agent in disguise, who in turn tells the Israeli government about Campbell living in New York. The rest of the book is basically about Campbell dealing with this threat and the lessons he learns about putting on a mask and being someone that you are not.
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."
In my opinion, this is not Vonnegut's best novel (Sirens of Titans is), and neither is it his worst (the worst that I have read so far is Breakfast of Champions). What makes the other novels a tad bit better are the messages given in them; I wish the theme in this book was a little stronger. However, it was a very enjoyable read and I highly recommend it.