Cat's Cradle: A Novel by Kurt Vonnegut Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Cat's Cradle: A Novel
Book Review: Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
The book, which is one of my all time favorites is not quite as amazing as some of the reviews. Some are looking for SiFi and find this "simple". Others are looking for a feel-good, uplifing story, and many seek something to conform to their pre-conceieved beliefs and biases. They come away depressed! This is a brilliant satire of so much of the human condition. The charactors are great, and the story line, although fantastic suits as a perfect vehicle for the myriad of points made in a book of less than 200 pages. It is a story to be read every 10 years of so and to compare to the current state of the world. In a way, only the names change and the irrationality continues.Book Review: Amazing Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I say anything about the book, I have to say that I chose to read this book from a rather short list for a school project in Essay Writing. That being said, I loved the book.
Almost every single book that I have needed to read for school rubbed me the wrong way for one reason or another. The most common is that it was too boring. Cat's Cradle defies that and was instantly put near the top of my book list that I recommend to people.
I was hooked after reading the first two chapters in the book, which for Cat's Cradle total four or five pages. The chapter were amazingly short, some only a few pages in length. To me, this made to book feel like it was going by really fast. I read through the book in only a few days (books usually take me a few weeks in contrast).
Vonnegut's use of sarcasm and satire is made me laugh out loud and question the stability of our government. He dives into the tangled nature of science and religion and embeds doubt into the reader.
I am a total science fiction and a science geek and when I heard from my teacher this had a sci-fi aspect, I jumped on it. I am pleased with how the sci-fi part of the novel and the regular part of the novel are balanced and mixed with each other.
Overall I rate this book very high, hence the five stars. I recommend this book to everybody that I meet, even total strangers because of the awesome factor of the book.
Book Review: An Amazing Story - A Real Page Turner
Summary: 5 Stars
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut gets 5 stars from me.
Once you start reading Cat's Cradle, you will not be able to put it down. The adventure Jonah, the main character, goes through in the story is hilarious and entertaining. Jonah wants to find information for a book he intends to write about the day the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Japan when he comes across a doomsday device called ice-nine. This sends him on a rather unique journey to rather unique places. Jonah discovers a new religion, Bokononism, that is supposed to be outrageous but seems to make perfect sense. As it happened, or as Bokonon would say it, "As it was supposed to happen", Jonah journeyed to an island called San Lorenzo, of which he becomes president. I cannot explain the entire plot of the book, but you wouldn't want me to anyway, would you?
Among the many characters in Cat's Cradle are the Hoenikkers. First there's Felix Hoenikker, the father of the A-bomb. Jonah wants to research him for his book when he met his children. Newton Hoenikker is the midget-son of Felix who Jonah befriends. Frank Hoenikker is mysterious; he has not been seen for awhile. Angela Hoenikker, the only woman in the family, was like a mother to the boys. She did not have much of a life of her own. The three Hoenikkers have the world's supply of the doomsday device, ice-nine. All Jonah wants is to get his hands on it. What role will ice-nine play in the book? That one you will have to find out for yourself. If you read this book, you will enjoy it for sure.
Other books I reccommend are Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut and 1984 by George Orwell. I am a seventh-grader in North Carolina who loves sports.
Book Review: An Incredible Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Being the age of sixteen and being in the environment when not reading is considered "cool," my English class was assigned to read this book by Vonnegut as an assignment. Most teenagers fear this assignment, and I was one of them, not wanting to HAVE to read just for the sake of writing down notes and listening to what the teacher had to say about the author's words. But once I began to read the text, I was engrossed in Vonnegut's phrases and the satires he used to describe every day life. Among other books that I have read during my school years, this was the only one I truly read for content. I enjoyed the ways Vonnegut criticized scientists, and the way he described the made-up religion of Bokononism. His intelligent understanding of the way things are run in the world made it perfect for his words to capture the obsurdity that is really shining through. I loved this book and plan to read others by Vonnegut, and I thank my teacher for finally assigning a book that caught my attention.Book Review: An enjoyable and scary satire.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've never read a Vonnegut book until Cat's Cradle. I had only seen the horrible film version of SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE. I knew that the book couldn't have been as bad as the movie. I went to the bookstore to find it, but they didn't have it. I then saw CAT'S CRADLE, and thought it would be a sufficent substitute. I'm glad i picked it up. It's a funny satire regarding the end of the world and the family of the man who invented the nuclear bomb. Vonnegut does a very good job at creating and maintaining brilliant characters and situations. I hope to soon pick up another Vonnegut book, and I have no doubt that I will enjoy it.