I seem to be behind on book reviews. The couple books I’ve read have been small (around 200 pages), and I’ve been working enough extra hours at work that I just haven’t been willing to take the time away from reading to blog about them. I’ve not only finished Cat’s Cradle but Veniss Underground (by Jeff Vandermeer) and listening to an unabridged reading of ::American Gods:: by Neil Gaiman as well.

So, starting with the first finished, let’s talk about Vonnegut’s most famous (in most circles at least) book.

Vonnegut is an ‘important’ author in many (most?) people’s estimations and has been one I’ve always maintained that I should read. Rachel’s been bugging me to do so as well, I think for the ‘important’ aspect of him as well as her opinion that I would very much enjoy his work. Well, she was right about the latter to be sure.

Cat’s Cradle is, above all other considerations, a satire. And a very good one at that. Vonnegut is, along with Mark Twain, and perhaps one or two others, one of the United States’ greatest satirists.

Cradle, written at the height of the ::Cold War::, picks on politics and politicians and their arms race as well as religion. And really, is there anything, particularly at that time and place, that needed satirizing more that politics and its practioners? Similar, in this day and age, the interplay of religion and politics in the US makes Vonnegut’s work just as relevant now as it was 40 years ago.

The setting is the ficticious island-nation of San Lorenzo, which is dirt poor and overcrowded. The local religion is the illegal (and also ficticious) religion of ::Bokononism:: – which is based upon the ideal of living by the untruths that make one happy. The plot revolves around a new phase of water, called ice-9, which freezes at 114F and of which only three samples exist in the world. One of them, of course, in San Lorenzo.

The satire is many-layered – from the nature of political control on San Lorenzo to the pettiness of the book’s protagonists which led to the alarming distribution of ice-9. Vonnegut’s facility as an author enables him to pack a great deal into a small (191 pages) book and still have it feel very much complete.

One of the things reading this book made me think about is the sort of ‘grass is greener’ look at history we tend to take. Our ethic and morals were always better in the past in every way, but really, human nature hasn’t really changed much over the last few thousand years. Are today’s issues (whatever you might feel they are according to your perspective) really any better or worse than those of the early 60s? The world existed with the terrifying knowledge that nuclear war could break out at any moment, and indeed we teetered very close to that precipice on at least one occasion. The arms race was just as terrifing and horrifically expensive. The proxy wars the US and Soviets fought were no less hellish than wars today. The politicians no more scrupulous, scandals and abuse of power have always been with us (Nixon, MacCarthy).

So, aside from its value as a great satire, it, at least in my case, helped to put things in perspective a bit. Now, perspective is fine, but I certainly don’t feel that excuses this sort of behavior, nor make it less important that we be vigilant and critical of our government, and other governments.

I will definitely be putting some more Vonnegut in my TBR pile, and you should too.