Mother Night: A Novel by Kurt Vonnegut Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Mother Night: A Novel
Book Review: Brilliant! Vonnegut At His Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
'Mother Night' is the story of Howard W. Campbell Jr. Nazi propagandist, racist, war criminal, and American spy. The story, told by Campbell from his prison cell in Israel, is of his success as a playwrite in Germany before the war, his recruitment by US intelligence, the devistation of the loss of his wife, the utter lonliness and apathy that plagued his life after the war, and the web of political intrigue that surrounds him before his trial. The style is similar to Vonnegut's other masterwork, 'Slaughterhosue Five,' in which Campbell also makes an appearence, and is told with the same wit and wonderful insight into the human soul. Truly a classic and a pleasure to read!Book Review: Brilliant.
Summary: 5 Stars
A brilliant book that examines the evil that humans are so easily capable of doing to their fellow humans. This book is a very fast read but it is worth it. Highly recommended.Book Review: Classic Vonnegut
Summary: 4 Stars
Although I must maintain that this is not Kurt Vonnegut's best book, it is a very good and certainly enjoyable one, with a biting moral to boot. It also marked a departure for Vonnegut from the science fiction mold that he cast his first two books in. This is also the first time that he dealt with what was perhaps the central experience of his life in his fiction (his experiences in World War II.) The premise of the book is this: a man purporting to be a Nazi radio propagander is actually an American spy. However, after the war is over, the American government refuses to admit that he worked for them, and he is charged as a war criminal. This begs the question: which one was he, really? This is a central question to keep in mind throughout the book, and the ending is startling. It also raises one of Vonnegut's best questions:We are who we pretend to be, so we better be darn careful who we pretend to be.
Book Review: Everything one would want.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is not a classic KV book in the sense that there is no science fiction element, but everything else one has come to expect from KV can be found. Even in such a serious book Vonnegut finds a way to add his dark humor without disrespecting his message. And as usual Vonnegut offers an original perspective on a topic that is commonly used. Any Vonnegut lover should make sure that this book gets entered into their library. This may not be Vonnegut's best (my opinion it is Cats Cradle) but it is still an incredible read. My only problem is the same problem with most of his books; they are too short. It always feels like he has so much else to say, but I guess we cannot get greedy. This is a book for everybody.Book Review: Fascism for opportunists
Summary: 5 Stars
Prerequisite for Mother night is Palm Sunday, where Vonnegut bemoans the lost of his family's ties to German culture. Motehr night, like Speer's biography (and Arendt's interview with Eichman) is about how easily a seemingly ordinary person, this time Vonnegut imagining himself as an American in Germany before and during WWII, can fall into fascism out of opportunism. Sister book to this one (complementary) is Slaughterhouse Five, which Vonnegut did not have to invent because he was there for the show.