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Tarfumes.com - Cat's Cradle
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List Price: $14.00
Our Price: $11.20
Your Save: $ 2.80 ( 20% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Dell Publishing
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780385333481
ISBN: 038533348X
Label: Dell Publishing
Manufacturer: Dell Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: 1998-09-08
Publisher: Dell Publishing
Release Date: 1998-09-08
Studio: Dell Publishing
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Editorial Reviews:
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One of Vonnegut's major works, this is an apocalyptic tale of the planet's ultimate fate, featuring a cast of unlikely heroes.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL BOOK
Comment: This is a great book that everyone should read. One thing I especially loved about this book is that it's addicting and a very easy read. The chapters are very short, but it works nicely, and this makes it a fast and easy read that makes you want to go on to the next chapter.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: The master of Cat's Cradle
Comment: The cat's cradle is an extraordinary tale about the extent of human limitations when incompatibilities exist between the goals of science and humanity. Vonnegut created another masterpiece that describes the dangers of human science when mixed with their desires and lewdness.
John, the narrator, is writing a book about the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and in the process of his research discovers the life of Felix Hoenikker, the Nobel prize-winning physicist and one of the creators of the atomic bomb.
Similar to walking through a hilarious human maze, we are taken to San Lorenzo; a town were Hoenikker's two sons and daughter live and ignorantly use their father's last invention causing another world wide human disaster.
Vonnegut brilliantly shows human limitations and foolishness with his description of an imaginary religion called Bokononism, which originated and blossomed in San Lorenzo.
Vonnegut, who survived the cruelty of war and faced life's emptiness, is one of the few writers who can laugh at the human inability to reconcile the inherent conflict of science's power and capabilities with the needs and limitations of humanity.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Comment: I love Vonnegut, he's one of my favorite authors, but I had never read this book. I could NOT put it down. I don't have a lot of time to read, but I managed to finish this in 3 days. Definitely one of my new favorite books...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wild satire about nuclear arms and the end of the world
Comment: Enough zaniness and dark humor permeate Cat's Cradle to keep a reader entertained, but there's still a point to Vonnegut's odd comedy--the destruction and danger of nuclear-type weapons, the criticism of society and their motives, and the general stupidity of mankind. To say Vonnegut takes a pessimistic viewpoint might be an understatement, but at least he can have fun doing it. In many respects, I actually found Cat's Cradle to be a little more enjoyable than Slaughter House Five, which seemed to be a little darker in nature.
The story begins with Jonah studying and researching the late Felix Hoenikker, a renown scientist responsible for producing the atom bomb and a dangerous liquid substance called ice-nine. To do this, he interviews various people and colleagues of the late doctor, finding out, while Hoenikker had innocent intentions, he was careless with both his family and his inventions. In his quest, Jonah comes to identify Dr. Hoenikker's three children--Newt, Angela and Frank--a very odd group of kids. Angela is very tall and lanky and has to play the role of parent because of her father's neglect. Newt is a midget, who comes to find love with a midget Russian performer. And Frank leaves the family, disappears, and later emerges in San Lorenzo, being the supposed architect of San Lorenzo's "master plan." Eventually Jonah and a group (including Angela and Newt) embark on a trip to San Lorenzo to see the island of San Lorenzo, it's population "all fiercely dedicated to the ideals of the Free World" (Jonah learns from the pamphlet on the plane). The irony of much of what is discovered on this island is that the people's religion--Bokonon--is mostly based on lies (as it says in its introduction). From here, Jonah becomes adjusted to the people and their customs, meets the island's dictator, "Papa", hears more rumors about the mysterious Bokonon, falls in love with a goddess-like woman Mona, and becomes president of San Lorenzo (he learns from Frank that this is his ultimate destiny, or his "zah-mah-ki-bo"). Eventually, there is a major event that Jonah must deal with, and this happens at the book's conclusion. Wacky as it is, the plot seems to be just a vehicle to get across much of Vonnegut's satirical points about human existence.
Much of the fun of this book is the exceptional comic voice by Vonnegut. He can seemingly take the most serious issues, like religion, politics, nuclear threats, and turn them upside down. One bizarre part is when Julian Castle looks at Newt's "Cat's Cradle" painting (which Newt professes should hold a message for everyone), regards it as "garbage" and throws it out into the waterfall. A moment prior to this Jonah had been musing over the painting's meaning, and this act by Castle seems to fit right into the nonsensical mentality of the island. There is also the "last rites" scene with "Papa" and Jonah, where "Papa" leans over and whispers to Jonah to tell Bokonon that he is sorry he didn't kill him and his philosophy of lies.
If you can take all of the author's jabs in a light way then this will be an enjoyable read; if not, then you might want to pass, or at least sample the book before purchasing. I wished I would have read this one before reading Slaughter House Five (as Cat's Cradle works better for an introduction to the author).
Customer Rating:
Summary: As relevant today as it was in the past
Comment: The 60's paranoia doesn't get more sharp, more funny and more smart than Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle". But, unfortunately, this portray is still somehow up to date than ever. Published early in that decade, this novel concerns on the fear of a chemical war and the end of the world. One of the characters is a scientist who fathered the Atomic Bomb and also developed something called `ice-nice' that is able to freeze all the water in the world. When the novel was published the world was living the edge of Cold War - hence the interesting metaphor. This is also a cautionary (and very funny) tale about too much power and too much desire of ending the workd. Vonnegut's tone transits between the regular science- fiction and black humor that add more layers to the book. If for one side the characters are plain, on the other, what remains, the fear of a nuclear war or something like it, is very relevant and contemporary.
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