Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Synopsis:  The narrator John (or Jonah) sets out to write a book about what happened on the day America dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  He starts by looking into the life of one of the inventors of the atomic bomb, Dr. Felix Hoenikker.  He begins by writing letters to his family and begins communicating with Hoenikker's youngest son, Newt.  While he is investigating this family he discovers that the doctor also invented a substance he called ice-nine.  Hoenikker's goal was to figure out a way to solidify mud so US Marines would not have to wade through it in battle.  Ice-nine instantly turns all water to ice with a melting temperature of 140 degrees.  Each of Hoenikker's three children are now in possession of a small piece of ice-nine.  He runs into Newt on a plane while traveling to the island of San Lorenzo and is eventually introduced to the eldest son, Frank.  It is though Frank that Jonah assume the roll of President of the island since the current President, "Papa" Monzano, is dying of cancer.  In order to save himself the suffering of dying a slow and painful death "Papa" eats a small amount of the ice-nine, instantly turning himself to ice.  As they are moving his body to a funeral pyre, part of him falls into the water and turns the oceans and all water in the world to ice, essentially destroying the world and almost all life with it.

My review:  I read this book because one of my favorite authors, Michael Bunker, is releasing a fan fiction book based in this "world".  This book to me was just okay, better than some of the Kurt Vonnegut I have read but I can see why someone would decide to write a fan fiction story based off this book.  The possibilities are endless.  Only the last few pages actually touch on the world in a post-apocalyptic state after the world has frozen over and all plant and wildlife has been killed off.  There are an infinite number of stories that can spread from this point on.  I wonder if Kurt wrote a sequel to this story, I would be interested to see his idea of the world after the book ends and his expansion or ideas of the end of the world from this point on.  While I have not been a huge fan of Kurt Vonnegut's work, I do feel better that I have experienced his stories for myself and not just from the spoken or written word of others.

My rating:  6
Pages: 287
Author website: http://www.vonnegut.com/

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Synopsis: Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time.  He randomly travels through time into different periods of his life from the bombing in Dresden to his time with the aliens on Planet Tralfamdore.  He is constantly running into random characters on his adventures, some of which appear in other Vonnegut books, even Vonnegut himself.  Because he can time travel he has already seen all the events in his life before they actually happen, the bombing of Dresden, his children, the death of his wife, even his own death.  So it goes.  All of these events converge together randomly throughout paragraphs of writing to form a story...

My review: I am having the hardest time putting the synopsis of this book into words.  Maybe I just don't get it but I am at a loss.  I did not find a point to this book at all.  Yes it's kind of cool about the time travel but more than anything I had a hard time following it cohesively.  One paragraph Billy is at war in 1945 and the next he is at his daughter's wedding, being abducted by aliens.  I can appreciate a "weird" book as much as the next guy but I don't see what all the hype is about with this book.  I wanted to, I really wanted to like it, but I didn't.  I have heard nothing but good things about this book for years.  I am glad that I have read it so I know for myself what it's all about but I will not be recommending this book to anyone in the future, either here on on Tralfamdore.

My rating: 3
Pages: 215
Author website: http://www.vonnegut.com/