PatJailbird
June 15th 2008 11:51
"Harvard and Nixon, the Holocaust and Watergate, Sacco and Vanzetti, Alger Hiss and Whitaker Chambers are the obsessions of this novel of evil and inadvertence."
That's the blurb from a review of this book in the New York Times from 1979 (what's that? oh yeah, I guess I'm pretty widely read - newspapers, journals, whatever - no big deal).
You can read that review if you'd like, and in fact, I'd recommend it if you are genuinely curious about this book, Jailbird, by famous author Mr Kurt Vonnegut.
Click this and get on with your life: Really Long Link
If you don't care all that much about the book, then you're better off with continuing to read this because it's so much shorter and you'll be out and about and going about your day in no time.
This is the worst Vonnegut book I've read. It's ok though, but just imagine one of his other books and exchange the theme of that book for the theme of this book: economics and its effect on modern life on this great planet of ours, the planet Earth. That's basically it and you can just apply the general formula of a Vonnegut book (if there is such a thing) and you'll have a fair idea of how you'll be feeling after reading this novel.
The novel deals with the life and times of Mr Walter F. Starbuck, who was (in)famous for playing a minor role in the Watergate scandal, and tells the story of his life leading up to his release from jail (hence the title), including some fairly uneventful descriptions of his love life in America and Europe. All fairly mundane and I remain unimpressed at the time of typing this review but I reserve the right to read over this in five years time and to post a comment about how much of a dolt I am.
The actual plot describes Mr Starbuck's first two days after his liberation from the prison system of the United States of America. The story packs no surprises and the twists are apparent from very early in the piece. It's clearly just a vehicle for Vonnegut to have a whinge about "flaws in corporate America, the American political system, the American red scare of the late 1950's, and both capitalist and communist theory" (thanks wikipedia - a fine replacement for working short-term memory) and the plot is really not all that important.
Mr Kilgore Trout appears as a fellow inmate and this was probably the most notable aspect of the book.
This isn't a sour review by the way - Vonnegut is pretty much the best author ever and, if he were alive today I would gladly perform menial tasks for him for free, like mowing his lawn or washing his dog, in homage to his writing ability. This novel is excellently written and is a very entertaining read in its own right. It's just that this book is lacklustre in comparison to his other books but you should still read it and then read everything else that he ever wrote and you'll be a better person for following my advice.
That's the blurb from a review of this book in the New York Times from 1979 (what's that? oh yeah, I guess I'm pretty widely read - newspapers, journals, whatever - no big deal).
You can read that review if you'd like, and in fact, I'd recommend it if you are genuinely curious about this book, Jailbird, by famous author Mr Kurt Vonnegut.
Click this and get on with your life: Really Long Link
If you don't care all that much about the book, then you're better off with continuing to read this because it's so much shorter and you'll be out and about and going about your day in no time.
This is the worst Vonnegut book I've read. It's ok though, but just imagine one of his other books and exchange the theme of that book for the theme of this book: economics and its effect on modern life on this great planet of ours, the planet Earth. That's basically it and you can just apply the general formula of a Vonnegut book (if there is such a thing) and you'll have a fair idea of how you'll be feeling after reading this novel.
The novel deals with the life and times of Mr Walter F. Starbuck, who was (in)famous for playing a minor role in the Watergate scandal, and tells the story of his life leading up to his release from jail (hence the title), including some fairly uneventful descriptions of his love life in America and Europe. All fairly mundane and I remain unimpressed at the time of typing this review but I reserve the right to read over this in five years time and to post a comment about how much of a dolt I am.
The actual plot describes Mr Starbuck's first two days after his liberation from the prison system of the United States of America. The story packs no surprises and the twists are apparent from very early in the piece. It's clearly just a vehicle for Vonnegut to have a whinge about "flaws in corporate America, the American political system, the American red scare of the late 1950's, and both capitalist and communist theory" (thanks wikipedia - a fine replacement for working short-term memory) and the plot is really not all that important.
Mr Kilgore Trout appears as a fellow inmate and this was probably the most notable aspect of the book.
This isn't a sour review by the way - Vonnegut is pretty much the best author ever and, if he were alive today I would gladly perform menial tasks for him for free, like mowing his lawn or washing his dog, in homage to his writing ability. This novel is excellently written and is a very entertaining read in its own right. It's just that this book is lacklustre in comparison to his other books but you should still read it and then read everything else that he ever wrote and you'll be a better person for following my advice.
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