Kurt Vonnegut

                                    

 Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007): Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

From the moment I read my first work by Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five) I knew that he would become a new favorite author of mine. I proved myself correct when I devoured Cat’s Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. After reading that much of his work I knew that I wanted to share my thoughts here. I’ll give a brief bio of Vonnegut, go through each of the books that I’ve read by him in the order in which I read them, and then pull all of my thoughts together at the end.                           

Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)

Trigger/Content Warnings: War (including mentions of the Holocaust), PTSD, starvation, animal cruelty, massacre 

I remember first taking note of Slaughterhouse-Five well browsing my local bookstore a few months back. I read the brief synopsis on the back and was immediately interested, putting the information away in the back of my brain for a while. Months later, in June of 2022 I finally purchased the volume and flew through it in a day. 

Slaughterhouse-Five follows a man named Billy Pilgrim who has become unstuck in time. His story is very nonlinear, it jumps between his experience as a soldier in World War II, a planet called Tralfamadore, Pilgrim's post-war life as an optometrist, and many other places as well. The narrative is chaotic to say the least but although I was lost at points I never wanted to put the novel down.

                                                            

Cat’s Cradle (1963)

Trigger/Content Warnings: suicide, ableism, racist slurs, 

I picked up Cat’s Cradle a few weeks ago while in a Barnes & Noble with my friends. I went in with the intention of picking up another Vonnegut novel and Cat’s Cradle was the title I recognized most outside of Slaughterhouse-Five. 

It’s safe to say that while  I certainly enjoyed Cat’s Cradle I found it slightly more unhinged than Slaughterhouse-Five and there was definitely a lot of outdated language in this one. 

I don’t want to go into too much detail in this synopsis because I feel that Vonnegut’s books are too weird for any summary to do it justice. I will say though that Cat’s Cradle follows the narrator, John, as he meets and learns about people who he feels connected to through a religion called Bokononism, as well as the place where the religion is practiced. 

Cat’s Cradle is absolutely a wild ride but something that nearly put me off reading the book entirely is that as the synopsis on the back of my copy says “it features a midget as a protagonist.” According to Little People of America “today the word ‘midget’ is considered a derogatory slur.” Of course, Cat’s Cradle was written almost 60 years ago so the context of the use of the m word is very different but it’s important to let readers know. There are also instances where racial slurs are used although they are far less frequent than the "m word.            

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965) 

Trigger/Content Warnings: alcoholism, suicidal thoughts, fatphobia, forced institutionalization

I’d never heard of  God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater until I spotted it in an independent bookstore last week. The synopsis described themes of greed, wealth, and hypocrisy and I felt drawn to it immediately. I read it a few days later and once again Kurt Vonnegut did not let me down. 

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater follows an extremely wealthy family called the Rosewaters (a man called Eliot Rosewater in particular) living in America in the 1960s. Again, I’m trying hard not to spoil anything, but I will say that the themes which drew me to the novel are explored wonderfully in my opinion. 

Mr. Rosewater might have been the most enjoyable Vonnegut that I have read thus far but of course it is not perfect. There is one instance for example when the fact that the woman who owns a beauty parlor weighs 300 pounds is laid out to be the butt of the joke. The mention is brief but I wanted to mention it regardless.

In Conclusion: 

I’m sure it’s clear at this point that I am a big fan of the Kurt Vonnegut novels that I’ve read so far. I love their fast paced humor, the themes that they delve into, and the adventures that each story takes the reader on. An added bonus is that people/things/events/concepts from individual works (including short stories) pop up in other books, and every time I notice one such moment it feels very rewarding as a reader!