Cat's Cradle
Revision as of 12:31, 11 November 2019 by TheAlmightyGuru (talk | contribs)
Cat's Cradle is a science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut published in 1963. It's about a reporter trying to write a book about a fictionalized creation of the atomic bomb and discovering a doomsday chemical in the hands of a religious cult.
Despite not liking the first novel I read of Vonnegut's, Slaughterhouse-Five, I was convinced by friends to give him another try. I was still not impressed.
Status
I do not own this book, but have listened to an audio book recording.
Review
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- I like the idea of ice-nine, and think that it gave the book some much-needed suspense.
- Newt's explanation of religion as, "See the cat? See the cradle?" was pretty spot on.
- The description of Bokononism, that all religions are nothing but a pack of lies, including Bokononism, is also accurate.
Bad
- Although the book is often referred to as satire, I don't remember ever laughing, though I occasionally smirked while reading.
- I initially liked the idea of having a whole bunch of short chapters, but after awhile, I found it distracting.
Ugly
- In general I just found the story boring. Most of the characters were dull, and a few were annoying, but I didn't care about any of them.
- I found the ending to be rather disturbing.