A year ago Friday, American novelist Kurt Vonnegut passed away. “So it goes.” Kurt Vonnegut was a social satirist– an author of “science fiction” known for his biting wit and a dark sense of humor. However, to call Vonnegut a “science fiction writer” would be to sell him short. While fans of Vonnegut adore his imagination, it is the social commentary, his blunt characterizations of American culture that are the crux of his works. Readers of Vonnegut may not find fantasy or futurism, but possibly the most honest, telling, comedic perspective of our own culture ever captured by an American author.
In celebration of Kurt Vonnegut, we invite you to get to know his three masterworks a little better. If you’re new to Vonnegut, its time you learned what you are missing. Continue reading for the details on Vonnegut’s masterworks.
Slaughterhouse-Five (Amazon rating: 4.5 stars, 675 reviews)
The novel “Slautherhouse-Five“, arguably Vonnegut’s most popular, is a story borne from both the author’s own experiences and his wild imagination. Kurt Vonnegut was a veteran and prisoner of war in World War II. Slaughterhouse-Five was his prison, a butchery in Dresden, Germany at the time of the historic Allied bombing of the city. Vonnegut’s WWII experiences are the setting of much of this novel. But the story’s main character, loosely based on Vonnegut himself, has a predicament much greater than living in a war. He has become “unstuck” in time…
In the blink of an eye, the character Billy Pilgrim is being marched through German countryside by Nazi soldiers. An hour passes, Pilgrim finds himself years later, in the arms of his wife. Blink again, and Pilgrim is elderly, speaking for a wide audience of fans at the time of his assassination. Time, for Billy Pilgrim, is loose, liquid, immeasurable. Throughout the book, time lapses backward and forward, from childhood to old age, as Billy Pilgrim’s story provides a fresh perspective independent of the events themselves. While this story does involve a few common traits of science fiction, the alien influence included, “Slaughterhouse-Five” is truly a masterwork in “psych fiction”– providing a new set of eyes through which to view our own personal environment.
Buy: $11.20
Breakfast of Champions (Amazon rating: 4.5 stars, 244 reviews)
“Breakfast of Champions” tells the story of a successful car dealership owner and a curmudgeon science fiction writer. Dwayne Hoover, a business tycoon in a small town in Indiana, is beginning to lose his mind. Kilgore Trout, prolific author of unread novels, isn’t helping this situation. Thanks to Trout, Hoover has become convinced that he is the only living person alive- and the rest of the world and the people in it are brainless robots, all a test by God on Wayne Hoover himself.
From Amazon: “As Dwayne cracks, then crumbles, ‘Breakfast of Champions’ coolly shows the effects his dementia has on the web of characters surrounding him…” “Enough for Vonnegut to air unique opinions on America, sex, war, love, and all of his other pet topics–you know, the only ones that really count.”
Buy: $11.20
Cat’s Cradle (Amazon rating: 4.5 stars, 362 ratings)
“Cat’s Cradle” is a book about doomsday– not one inspired by nuclear holocaust, meteoric apocalypse, or even the intervention of a higher power. “Cat’s Cradle” is a book about scientific progress and a different kind of arms race. In “Cat’s Cradle”, man’s destruction comes from a new technology: “Ice Nine”. Ice Nine is a chemical so powerful it can instantly freeze the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers to a point of no return.
As we’ve shown, Vonnegut’s books aren’t about science fiction, they use science fiction to tell another story about ourselves that we may not see otherwise. The story of Cat’s Cradle is one of war, lies, religion, love– albeit throughout a quest to find this icy element which promises the end of the world.
Buy: $11.20
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