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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
I got 5% into this book, thought, why on EARTH am i trying to read this, and returned it to the library! Two stars have been permitted to stay because of Indianapolis. Three have been removed for obnoxious fake words being used in literally every sentence. I don't have time, Mr. Vonnegut. I shall not.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Cat's Cradle reminds me honestly of Slaughterhouse Five. Kurt Vonnegut lived through hell. In Slaughterhouse Five, there is the reverse bombing of Dresden where bombs pull themselves together, collecting the destruction and the fire, and are sucked back up into planes. A lot of Kurt Vonnegut's books seem to be clearly based around his trauma surrounding his time in the war. In Slaughterhouse Five, it was about his time spent in Dresden (Kurt Vonnegut being in the city while it was getting bombed).
Here, the Cat's Cradle has ice-nine, which is something made of water? It is something that can be turned back into water and it just seems to be ice. It is just called ice-nine. Ice-nine fucking destroys the entire planet in the last few chapters, it completely destroys the entire world. Considering the book starts with the protagonist trying to find the man who made the atomic bomb, it is clear that ice-nine is just a metaphor for the atomic bomb. The ending is,,, that having these weapons around is going to cause damage; “Ice-nine's very existence is a threat, and the most well-intended promises and actions of men don't amount to much. Why? Because accidents happen.”
I thought that the book was just going to spend it's time with the family of the man who invented the atomic bomb. I thought that it would spend it's time, looking around their lives and seeing how their lives changed after the bomb dropped. There was clearly a lot of family dynamics going on in the beginning of the book that I thought were incredibly interesting to read about. The idea that the children of Hoenikker were messed up by the fact their father was the co-creator of the man who dropped the bomb. Although that's what I thought was going to happen, the strange ways the story went were fantastic to me.
The religion of Bokononism was an interesting addition to the book, especially considering that from the beginning, it seemed that it was totally taking the piss. The ritual of people rubbing their feet together to inspire spiritual connection was one of the easiest ones to take as a joke but honestly, the entire bit of Bokononism was honestly rather funny. The religion would say that there were real people, fake real people, people who would steer you to, steer you away, it was trying to cover all of its basis, and had its own word for shitstorm ("pool-pah"). The fun of Bokonism is that "unlike most religions that claim to have answer to life, the universe, and everything, Bokononism proudly wears its falsity like an ironic t-shirt from Hot Topic." In Cat's Cradle, Bokononism is the opium of the masses (in a good way) and that is nice; "It doesn't solve the underlying problem of their existence. It just masks it to make it bearable."
The entire book seems to be telling you that a lot of what humans consider true (such as art, love, religion, etc) and good is a lie but that doesn't matter. If you accepted true fact and only true fact, you could lose the painkilling aspect of life and maybe go insane. Vonnegut is saying that understanding that love is a lie doesn't mean it's bad, it just means that you are opiating yourself from the world and the pain of the world. Vonnegut seems to be saying that "true love may not be real but it feels nice to be in love so, why not be in love?" The book's title "The Cat's Cradle" is about how lying to yourself means you get to enjoy life. A Cat's Cradle (the little thing with string) is not real; there is no cat, there is no cradle. If you pretend to see it, you get to enjoy life. Pretend to see the cradle, pretend to see the cat, and you will be happy.
Although I do not feel like this book has changed my life, I think I will think about it for a long time. It may inspire me, it may not… but I think I will always remember ice-nine.
Here, the Cat's Cradle has ice-nine, which is something made of water? It is something that can be turned back into water and it just seems to be ice. It is just called ice-nine. Ice-nine fucking destroys the entire planet in the last few chapters, it completely destroys the entire world. Considering the book starts with the protagonist trying to find the man who made the atomic bomb, it is clear that ice-nine is just a metaphor for the atomic bomb. The ending is,,, that having these weapons around is going to cause damage; “Ice-nine's very existence is a threat, and the most well-intended promises and actions of men don't amount to much. Why? Because accidents happen.”
I thought that the book was just going to spend it's time with the family of the man who invented the atomic bomb. I thought that it would spend it's time, looking around their lives and seeing how their lives changed after the bomb dropped. There was clearly a lot of family dynamics going on in the beginning of the book that I thought were incredibly interesting to read about. The idea that the children of Hoenikker were messed up by the fact their father was the co-creator of the man who dropped the bomb. Although that's what I thought was going to happen, the strange ways the story went were fantastic to me.
The religion of Bokononism was an interesting addition to the book, especially considering that from the beginning, it seemed that it was totally taking the piss. The ritual of people rubbing their feet together to inspire spiritual connection was one of the easiest ones to take as a joke but honestly, the entire bit of Bokononism was honestly rather funny. The religion would say that there were real people, fake real people, people who would steer you to, steer you away, it was trying to cover all of its basis, and had its own word for shitstorm ("pool-pah"). The fun of Bokonism is that "unlike most religions that claim to have answer to life, the universe, and everything, Bokononism proudly wears its falsity like an ironic t-shirt from Hot Topic." In Cat's Cradle, Bokononism is the opium of the masses (in a good way) and that is nice; "It doesn't solve the underlying problem of their existence. It just masks it to make it bearable."
The entire book seems to be telling you that a lot of what humans consider true (such as art, love, religion, etc) and good is a lie but that doesn't matter. If you accepted true fact and only true fact, you could lose the painkilling aspect of life and maybe go insane. Vonnegut is saying that understanding that love is a lie doesn't mean it's bad, it just means that you are opiating yourself from the world and the pain of the world. Vonnegut seems to be saying that "true love may not be real but it feels nice to be in love so, why not be in love?" The book's title "The Cat's Cradle" is about how lying to yourself means you get to enjoy life. A Cat's Cradle (the little thing with string) is not real; there is no cat, there is no cradle. If you pretend to see it, you get to enjoy life. Pretend to see the cradle, pretend to see the cat, and you will be happy.
Although I do not feel like this book has changed my life, I think I will think about it for a long time. It may inspire me, it may not… but I think I will always remember ice-nine.
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Whenever people hear that I hate Vonnegut's work, they usually ask, "well, have you read 'Cat's Cradle'?" as though this book would make up for any of his other works. So, I finally picked it up, and I still hate his writing. While I didn't detest this as much as 'Slaughter House Five,' it still rambled on and included so many unnecessary details that the story became unfocused and, frankly, boring. At least my view of Vonnegut has remained consistent and I will now refuse to pick up any of his other books.
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Vonnegut is a funny man with a funny way of telling stories. The book is weird, but full of humor, hypocrisy, and convolution.