Mother Night
Ratings137
Average rating4.2
Ik vond Kurt Vonnegut fantastisch goed toen op op school zat. Slaughterhouse Five, Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, het sprongetje van contentement dat ik maakte toen ik zag dat er nieuwe was, Galápagos.
En toen kwam ik vorige week een filmpje van hem tegen. En bedacht ik, tijd om die mens nog eens te herlezen.
Weeeeellllllll... you can't go home again, zoals ze zeggen.
Ik had Mother Night dacht ik niet gelezen, maar het werd mij aangeraden, en dus hey waarom niet. In Mother Night schrijft Howard W. Campbell in een gevangeniscel in Israël, terwijl hij wacht op zijn proces wegens oorlogsmisdaden. Hij heeft veel misdaan waar iedereen van weet, als een soort hoofdpropagandist voor de Engelstalige wereld tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog, maar hij heeft ook veel goede dingen gedaan waar bijna niemand van weet, door in zijn radio-uitzendingen gecodeerde boodschappen uit Duitsland naar de geallieerden te sturen.
Ik had Vonnegut gewoon dicht moeten laten, dan zou het bij een goede herinnering gebleven zijn. Het moet zijn dat ik een allergie heb opgedaan aan dit soort literatuur of zo, want ik werd al vanaf de eerste hoofdstukken (hoofdstukjes) kregelig. Die alleswetende verteller, die eindeloze metafictionele gimmicks van “ik zeg u op voorhand wat er gaat gebeuren, en zie, het gebeurt ook echt, neenee, kijk!, zie!, hiér gebeurt het”, ik word daar lastig van.
En oh kijk, we krijgen al helemaal in het begin een moraal mee: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” Dankuwel, maar ik ben geen klein kind dat bij de hand geleid moet worden en alles van naaldje tot draadje uitgelegd moet krijgen. Oh wat nu? Krijg ik écht diezelfde moraal pagina na pagina er quasi letterlijk ingestampt? Ugh, nee. Nee bedankt.
De samenvatting staat hier. De wereld vind het wellicht een uitstekend boek, ik vond er niets aan en ik heb er spijt van dat ik het gelezen heb. (Sorry Iannis.)
3.5
nhặt cuốn này lên vì tình cờ đọc được một quote rất là lay động tâm can aka sên sến
và y như rằng đó là cái đoạn sến và cẩu huyết nhất truyện khiến tui ná thở chỉ muốn cho 3 sao cái sự rate mà tui ghét nhất
còn lại thì xuất sắc =))
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
The quote above says it all as far as the theme of this story. The events center around WWII but I think the idea could work in any time period. What strikes most about this book is the idea that we all fool ourselves into believing we're heroes in our own story.
As the main character and narrator of this story, Campbell doesn't do that. An American spy/Nazi propaganda writer, he knows he's done both good things and bad things and he can hold the contradiction in his mind. (He can't actually live with it, but that's a different problem.) This is in defiance of the other characters in the story who eliminate the thoughts from their mind that don't fit in with their goals, their life philosophy.
There is for example, O'Hare, the former soldier who captured “war criminal” Campbell the first time and who thinks all the troubles in his life will be solved if he just captures him again. There is also the white supremacist dentist, Jones, who truly believes in his hateful cause. Not coincidentally, Campbell thinks of this kind of “totalitarian madness” as tearing a tooth out of your head. The missing teeth “are simple, obvious truths, truths available and comprehensible even to ten-year-olds, in most cases.”
I enjoy Vonnegut's writing style. He has a dry sense of humor, the story moves along nicely, he doesn't overwrite, and yet the characters and scenes are vivid. The dialogue is entertaining and believable. The themes of the story are heavy and even dark, but Vonnegut tackles them with a clear and direct writing style.
Actually started this a couple days ago, but just finished it. My fourth Vonnegut, after Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Breakfast of Champions. Mother Night is a fictional memoir of a sort-of Nazi propagandist. Definitely an interesting read; a far cry from Cat's Cradle and only very occasionally tongue-in-cheek, which I suppose suits a subject like this one. Liked it more than S5 and Breakfast, not as much as Cat's Cradle.
My Amazon review -
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2ZBHYJKBQ8I0O/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
My first Vonnegut and I really loved the writing. It's simple yet packs a punch, that kind of style.
It's a bit difficult for me to follow the story sometimes because I don't know much about WWII, probably just superficial details. Still, I did enjoy reading its history through Howard's memoirs.
This is not usually the kind of book I read. Not really my vibe for many reasons. So I'm not sure how I feel about it.
There were parts of it I really enjoyed (surprisingly to myself), and parts of it that I didn't like.
I'm not a classics girly and this clearly reads like a classic in the writing style. Which isn't for me. I also don't like historical fiction, so it doesn't really make sense why I picked this book up but that's besides the point.
This book surprised me. It's not for everybody that's for sure. But I'd say it was pretty solid.
Howard Campbell agrees to act as a spy for his country and in the process becomes a better Nazi than the real ones. Darkly humorous with a parade of offbeat characters that cause Campbell to reflect on the moral consequences of his life as a spy.