Cat's Cradle

I love it when a book leaves me unsure about how to classify it. This book meshes history, religion, politics, and a dash of science fiction. No damn cat, and no damn cradle!

I think that the sense of absurdism is exactly what makes this novel so good (and deeply profound in its own way). If Vonnegut had gone about this book in a way that favoured the serious, heavy approach over the witty, seemingly effortless and light, satirical approach, we would have had another boring old story full of rights and wrongs and and nothing new to offer. It is, instead, irreverent and with liberal helpings of irony and stony, low-key humour. I think that's the greatest thing about Vonnegut: he never takes himself too seriously. And he trusts his readers enough to read into his story without spelling everything out for them.

Of course, I would be a doing this book a disservice by not mentioning Bokononism. It certainly struck me as interesting. I enjoyed the Calypsos, in particular: ‘Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, ‘Why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand.' Regarding the philosophy of Bokononism itself, I thought the concept of Fomas - harmless untruths - was a brilliant touch.

In terms of plot, I think the book forgets itself at times and takes liberties on the narrative front. This is partly what makes it much more effective, in my opinion, because that way you're in for several surprises throughout the book. There are things you absolutely do not see coming. We start off with Jonah, and when I first started reading the book I expected it to be about him. But what I found was that the book was more about everything and everyone else - the Hoennikkers and the Castles and Monzanas and Crosbys and Mintons, San Lorenzo, religion, the End of the World - than about Jonah himself. I realised I don't know Jonah at all, except that he loved Mona. And that he was a writer.

The most interesting moments are in the second half of the book, in particular those relating to McCabe and Lionel Boyd Johnson, ‘Papa' Monzano's religion (and that of everybody else in San Lorenzo), and of course, the worms-and-tornadoes-bit - which I absolutely did NOT see coming. At the oubliette part, I was mystified for a moment...Wait, how did we get to this from that?

The End of the World is a topic interesting enough on its own; and, depending on how its handled, a laughably bad or an immensely brilliant basis of the story. This book falls in the latter category: the wonderful thing about Cat's Cradle is that, though the book starts off with the writer documenting the End of the World, it is towards the end that you see the real End coming. And even then, it's not what you would expect.

If you can get over the initial sense of slight incredulity, this book will truly stand out as the brilliant read it is. If you don't take this book too seriously, you will at once get more out of it, and what's more, you will find it profound too. Its deceptively light, not-too-serious tone underlies its real depth and meaning.