Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

I decided to tackle Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle as my next Classics Club book. I read Slaughterhouse-Five last August and really enjoyed it, so I figured that I would probably like this one too. Cat's Cradle is often classified as science fiction, and that's how I categorized it on my Classics Club list, but Vonnegut is not really an author that I associate with that genre. I started my reading very curious to see how those elements would come into the text.

The novel is narrated by a man named John (although he asks the reader to call him Jonah). As the story begins, he describes how he set out to write a book about what important Americans were doing on the day the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. One of the Americans he wants to include in his novel is Dr. Felix Hoenikker, the creator of the bomb. Dr. Hoenikker has already passed away when Jonah begins writing, so instead of interviewing him, he turns to his three children, Angela, Frank, and Newt, and his old boss, Dr. Asa Breed. He doesn't find out much of interest for his book, but he does learn that shortly before his death, Hoenikker invented a dangerous substance he called Ice-Nine. Ice-Nine has the ability to instantly freeze any liquid it touches, and in the wrong hands, it could easily destroy the planet. He runs into a dead end searching for more information about it though, and soon gives up on both that and his book.

Later, Jonah is drawn back into into the lives of Hoenikker's children when he is sent to the remote island of  San Lorenzo to write an article about a free hospital being established there. San Lorenzo is an unusual place, to say the least. It is run in a rather haphazard way by the dictator, "Papa" Monzano, who is constantly at odds with a religious leader there named Bokonon. Bokononism is full of bizarre teachings that center around a mixture of fate, cynicism, and peaceful rituals. Anyone caught practicing Bokononism is put to death by Papa Monzano, so everyone on the island denies believing in it and just practices in secret. As Jonah arrives on the island and learns more about the culture, he meets up with the Hoenikker children again. It turns out that Frank, the oldest Hoenikker son, has somehow become second in command to Papa Monzano, and is about to get married to a beautiful islander named Mona. Angela and Newt Hoenikker show up for the wedding, and through a very surreal and strange set of circumstances involving human greed and a few secret pieces of Ice-Nine, the siblings end up bringing about the end of the world.   

That summary is a very broad-strokes version of what happens in the story, but this is really one of those novels you have to read yourself to get a true picture of. Kurt Vonnegut's work is characterized by absurd plot elements and dark humor, and Cat's Cradle is no different. It's not a difficult read at all, in fact, it's a rather quick one, but it is a strange one too. It's not as easy to interpret as Slaughterhouse-Five was, but it's a worthwhile journey all the same.

The novel is spread across two main locations. The first is the town of Ilium, where Jonah begins his research for his WWII book, and the second is the island of San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo is the more important place between the two, as it is home to Bokononism, the philosophy of which forms the main themes of the novel. Life on the island is distinctive and odd. Most of the people there live in poverty, but are kept entertained and busy by the constant fight between the "good" and "evil" forces of Bokonon and Papa Monzano. Manzano rules the island with an iron fist, threatening execution by hook to anyone found practicing Bokononism. Fearing this, the islanders practice their rituals in secret, the most notable of which involves a practice in which they press the bare soles of their feet together with someone else, an intimate act that is supposed to bring peace and joy to the participants. There is more going on beneath the surface, however, and as Jonah finds out more about how the island actually functions, several themes of the novel begin to emerge. Trying to narrow it down to one specific idea is impossible; Vonnegut comments on many different topics here, including religion, war, the arms race, weapons technology, fate, and free will. Despite the seriousness of these topics, Vonnegut's treatment remains funny throughout the text, and Jonah's exploration of San Lorenzo is more like a surreal adventure than a depressing journey.

Most of the characters are very distinctive and eccentric, in typical Vonnegut style. Jonah functions a reader surrogate, so his personality is pretty normal and bland. They characters surrounding him, however, are anything but. Dr. Hoenikker, for example, is a genius with laser-focus on what interests him, but not much patience for anything else. Felix Hoenikker, is a little person, who creates artwork of dubious quality and takes multiple insensitive remarks about his height in stride throughout the text. Mona Aamons Manzano is a woman so beautiful that everyone who sees her falls in love with her. Each of the minor characters have their own quirks, making for a very memorable and funny reading experience. As the novel moves from event to event quite quickly and irreverently, readers don't get to know the characters particularly well, or see them grow throughout the text. That really isn't the point here though; it's not that kind of novel. The characters function mostly to parody concepts or illustrate different themes.

As for my interest in what the science fiction elements of this novel are, I have to say that I didn't find many of them. Obviously, the inclusion of Ice-Nine justifies its placement in that genre, but the story wasn't really centered around that. I would call Cat's Cradle a dark comedy novel or simply a post-modern work of literature before I would call it science fiction. The absurdity of the plot, the fragmented structure, and the parody of war and religious elements are much bigger factors in my overall impression of the work than the minor science fiction aspects of it.

So even though I was expecting a different kind of story based on how this novel is typically classified, I still enjoyed it. As far as determining a deeper meaning to it all or identifying one unifying theme though, I'm lost. Vonnegut comments on so many things and throws so many odd events into the mix that it's not easy to wrap your head around after one reading. It's anti-war in parts, poking fun at religion in parts, and questioning the free will of the human race in parts. I get the sense that this is one of those books that you can read several times and take something different away from it after each time. I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as I enjoyed Slaughterhouse-Five, but it was still a great read and definitely a requirement for fans of Vonnegut's work.


Challenge Tally
Classics Club (#46 on my list): 59/100 


Total Books Read in 2019: 76