• 1001 BYMRBYD Challenge
  • About Zee
  • Book Challenges 2010
  • Rory Gilmore Reading List
  • Zee’s Book Reviews

Wordly Obsessions

~ … the occasional ramblings of a book addict …

Wordly Obsessions

Tag Archives: scientology

Book Review | ‘Cat’s Cradle’ by Kurt Vonnegut

12 Tuesday Jul 2011

Posted by mywordlyobsessions in 50 Books A Year, Book Review, Excerpts, Philosophy/ Religion

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

bokononism, cats cradle, dystopian, humour, kurt vonnegut, l ron hubbard, religion, science fiction, scientology


Cat's Cradle Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”

So you thought Scientology was wacky? Then you obviously haven’t read ‘Cat’s Cradle’. Forget Hubbards’ many layered, ‘brownie point’ rank system to reach the exalted state of ‘Xenu’; you need

‘Bokononism’. It’s not only completely rubbish and written by a mad man, but also insanely fun to implement. OK, I know it’s not ‘real’, but I really enjoyed the little sing-song calypso psalms that pepper the story every now and then.

‘Cat’s Cradle’ is, when all’s said and done, dystopian fiction. It looks at the delicate balance of the ecosystem, and how one crazy idea in the head of a crazy and very capable person can in effect, completely destroy life as we know it. Written in the first person, the story involves a writer obsessed with the scientist Hoenikker, the supposed ‘father’ of the atomic bomb and his attempts at writing a thesis around the day the bomb went off. During his research he gets to meet Hoenikkers weird and defective offspring, not to mention his work colleagues who give him insight into the frightening genius of the man.

What is evident is that a) Hoenikker’s scientific intelligence was off the scale, but b) had severe emotional lacks which means that c) he approached his work with all the curiosity of a child, but none of the responsibility of an adult. This revelation sends huge shock waves through our researcher, especially when he realises that the last project the good doctor was working on, was ‘Ice 9’; a sliver of which has the capacity to turn every water particle into ice. Some killing machine right? And where did the idea come from? A random crazy general from the American War Department who is constantly complaining how the Marines are fed up of working in all that mud all the time.

But the doctor died before it was ever realised, so we can breathe a sigh of relief, right? Right? No, we can’t. The nightmare scenario begins to unfold, as our poor researcher boards an airplane for the island of San Lorenzo which consequently will also be the very place where this strangest of Armageddon’s take place.

Dystopian fiction is usually quite depressing and grey, but Vonnegut changes all that. ‘Cat’s Cradle’ is in essence about a very upsetting scenario which despite all the light-hearted humour, still seems like it COULD happen in reality. But it is the humour that saves it from being just another ‘Brave New World’. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but makes very accurate observations about society and the ludicrous things we use science for. Vonnegut doesn’t beat you over the head with his message about weapons of mass destruction, but leaves a margin of seriousness within all the silliness for you to chew on.

This is an intellectual novel that is very easy to get into that also resonates deeply with current issues of climate change, war and destruction. Read this. You won’t regret it.

View all my reviews

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pocket
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

RSS Links

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 636 other followers

Blog Stats

  • 359,862 hits

My Visitors

free counters

Recent Posts

Top Posts

  • Famous Quotes | Edgar Allan Poe
  • BBC's 'The Big Read' Top 100 Books - How Many Have You Read?
  • Hymn to Isis | (3rd-4th Century)
  • Book Review | 'Esther's Inheritance' - Sandor Marai
  • Book Review | 'The Room' by Hubert Selby Jr.
  • 'The Diary of A Young Girl' by Anne Frank
  • Teaser Tuesday (7/12) | 'Midnight's Children' by Salman Rushdie
  • Hunter S. Thompson | "Some May Never Live, But The Crazy Never Die"
  • 10 Things You Should Know About Edgar Allan Poe
  • Book Review | 'A Room With A View' by E.M. Forster

The best of the best of the best…

Bookish tweets

  • 5 of 5 stars to Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa goodreads.com/review/show/49… 45 minutes ago
  • 5 of 5 stars to Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono goodreads.com/review/show/49… 1 day ago
  • 3 of 5 stars to Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix goodreads.com/review/show/48… 2 days ago
  • 18% done with The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett goodreads.com/user_status/sh… 1 week ago
  • 5 of 5 stars to The Sandman Audiobook by Dirk Maggs goodreads.com/review/show/48… 3 weeks ago
Follow @WordlyObsession

Pinning stuff on boards is fun!

Follow Me on Pinterest

What’s on the Shelf?

Reading Wishlist!!

WP Book Bloggers List

For finding things…

50 books a year 1001 book list angela carter audiobook Benjamin Lebert book challenge book review books che guevara childrens fiction chinua achebe comic books crazy Dr. Gonzo dystopian edgar allan poe fantasy fear and loathing Fiction frankenstein goodreads gothic fiction Grapes of Wrath gustave flaubert Haruki Murakami hubert selby jr humour hunter s thompson ian fleming Indian literature Its monday what are you reading? japan japanese japanese horror story jm coetzee John Steinbeck Jorge Luis Borges kazuo ishiguro kurt vonnegut l. frank baum literary fiction literature liz jensen love story meme midnights children oscar wilde Paul Auster peter ackroyd poetry readalong religion roberto bolano Robert Rankin romance rory gilmore reading list rum diary ryu murakami salman rushdie science fiction short story stephen king sylvia plath teaser tuesday the motorcycle diaries the rapture Tokyo toni morrison Top Ten Tuesday United States ursula le guin virginia woolf war wondrous words wednesday writing

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Wordly Obsessions
    • Join 636 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Wordly Obsessions
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: