Monday, May 5, 2014

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

11828537Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Series: N/A
Publisher: Dial Press
Format: Paperback
Pages: 287
Source: Purchased

Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it ...

Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he is the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three ecentric children, to a crazed dictator in the Caribbean, to madness. Felix Hoenikker's Death Wish comes true when his last, fatal gift to mankind brings about the end, that for all of us, is nigh ...

 
Compared to Galapagos this book was a little better. However I was left wholly unimpressed by this novel as well. The idea seemed so cool when I picked it up, but then again I was also on a Vonnegut kick at the time.
 
I couldn't stay focused while reading this, the characters did absolutely nothing for me. I did not find myself caring about what happened to any of them. I would have enjoyed more about the atomic bomb and the people who were working on it, however what I got instead was snippets about the "father" of the atomic bomb and a whole bunch about a made up religion and the children of the man who created the bomb.
 
When everything starts to happen and the pace picked up I couldn't help just wishing the book would be over so I could put it down and move on. I've heard this book described as Vonnegut's greatest work but I can't say that I agree I would take Slaughterhouse-Five over this one any day.
 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment