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A review by sreddous
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
It's really, really hard to write a "generally emotionally-neutral observer" main protagonist who just kind of describes what's going on around them.
Kurt Vonnegut's "deadpan" sense of humor is so efficient for the really difficult and dark topics he writes about. I loved it in Galapagos, and I love it here -- I'm able to really absorb the genuinely beautiful prose and quotations and dialogue because I sort of do feel like I'm reading 'a religious text.' There's a strange balance of spiritual lightness with very dark and pessimistic outlooks that doesn't feel tonally-dissonant.
The plot was hard to predict, and I actually got anxious (in a good way!) once the 'final event' started happening. It's so well-paced the way that things fall one after the other, and you KNOW what's about to happen next. Great suspense, great buildup!
Kurt Vonnegut's "deadpan" sense of humor is so efficient for the really difficult and dark topics he writes about. I loved it in Galapagos, and I love it here -- I'm able to really absorb the genuinely beautiful prose and quotations and dialogue because I sort of do feel like I'm reading 'a religious text.' There's a strange balance of spiritual lightness with very dark and pessimistic outlooks that doesn't feel tonally-dissonant.
The plot was hard to predict, and I actually got anxious (in a good way!) once the 'final event' started happening. It's so well-paced the way that things fall one after the other, and you KNOW what's about to happen next. Great suspense, great buildup!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Racism