"Cats Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut

Now I must admit that growing up in a small town limited my exposure to good literature and I have been playing catch up since I left.  This is actually the first time that I have ever read Kurt Vonnegut *gasp* I know its unspeakable.  I have missed out on much growing up, but I plan to rectify it during college and in my adult life by broadening my horizons as far as they can go.

Cats Cradle

by Kurt Vonnegut

Review from the Publisher:

*taken from Amazon*

Cat's Cradle is Vonnegut's satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet's ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist; a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer; and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny. A book that left an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers. Cat's Cradle is one of this century's most important works... and Vonnegut at his very best.

My review:

So I must tell you all that I love science fiction.  I'm not one of those cult following sci fi people (I'm not knocking it...Just saying), but I like to read sci fi.  I have friends that have opened me up to this throughout my life (yes they were some of the cult following sci fi people) and it has grown on me over the years.

This book was absolutely amazing.  The humor is very dark so if your not into that you may not like this, but it is well worth the time to sit down and read.  Not only is it very funny, but its also a great thinking book.  We have had so many discussions on religion and science over the past week and what this book means as far as reflecting humanity and what is wrong with us.  I won't get into that here, but even the discussions about the book have been amazing.

The story is about the narrator John, who is a writer, that is reflecting on his life.  In the beginning he talks of traveling around and interviewing people for a book that he is writing about the day the atomic bomb was dropped and what the creator of the bomb was doing on that day.  He travels around and meets the children of Dr Hoenikker.  The inventor of the bomb.  The children are Angela, Frank, and Newt.

Through a series of events while trying to write his book he gets to know the Hoenikker family and ends up on an island, San Lorenzo, where the narrator discovers Bokonon and the path towards the end of the world gets laid out.  I have to admit I was a little confused about the book initially because it feels like hes jumping around in different parts of his life till.  Once you get to the island you start to understand how all the parts together make a whole.

 I really could talk about this book for a while, but I am not going to.  Its a great piece of literature and I suggest you all read it at some point in your lives.  My review doesn't even do it justice, but I am putting it out there anyway.

*side note - I just got done watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and its absolutely retarded, but I love it...I may never grow up*