Monday, April 30, 2007

"Cat's Cradle" not the quite the cat's pajamas

Betty is diligintly finishing up Kurt Vonnegut's 1963 classic "Cat's Cradle" today. While she likes the sentiments within it and finds Vonnegut's style both super influential and inimitable, she can't really get into this book, and isn't quite loving Vonnegut the way she did when she was eighteen. Perhaps this book is simply not as affecting as "Breakfast of Champions" or "Mother Night", which came later in the author's career. The plot is slow going, the characters (even the narrator) exist on a 2-D plane (almost Sims-like, if I may), and the overtones of science fiction in the allegory bog this reader down.

However! It is too early to cast judgment with finality. Betty is only on chapter 64 of this 127-chapter, 286-page novel! It IS kind of fun to watch those chapters fly by, and to wonder what each chapter title will turn out to mean as you find yourself suddenly starting a new one.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

will betty write about her date w. ruben for the spidey premiere?
inquiring minds want to know