Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut – A Book Review

Why are we born? Why do we die?

And what happens in between?

What is truth? What is fear?

What is religion?

Isn’t fear religion? Or is religion fear?

Can we love everyone the same way; are we supposed to?

Who tells us what we’re supposed to; who tells the eagle to soar and the snake to slither?

And we can think, yes! So? Do we create our destiny?

Was I destined to write this review?

Is there a purpose?

As the books of Bokonon say, “In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.

And God said, “Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done.” And God created every living creature that now moveth, and was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. “What is the purpose of all this?” he asked politely.

“Everything must have a purpose?” asked God.

“Certainly!” said man.

“Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this.” said God. And He went away.

He’s John, a journalist. He’s out there to collect material for a book ‘The Day the World Ended’ – a factual book giving an account of what important Americans had done on the day when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

Dr. Felix Hoenikker, a scientist, the father of the atomic bomb is long dead; so all John is left with are his three erratic children, Angela, the tall horse faced, caring daughter who soulfully plays the clarinet, Frank, the quiet modeller and thinker and little Newt (Newton), a midget, a painter.  Stumbling upon their whereabouts, he crosses paths with Dr. Breed, Felix’s associate and comes across a brilliant discovery by Dr. Felix, a discovery that could change the world like all ‘Eureka’ian discoveries do.

“Dr. Breed keeps telling me the main thing with Dr. Hoenikker was truth.”

“You don’t seem to agree.”

“I don’t know whether I agree or not. I just have trouble understanding how truth, all by itself, could be enough for a person.”

The endeavour to know more about Dr. Felix and the discovery finds him on the island of San Lorenzo, an island cultivating utopian thoughts, where everyone believes in Bokonon and his books but are not supposed to. A roller coaster ride follows, where he meets the most beautiful girl in the world, is asked to marry her, is to become the President of the island and then – then he encounters Dr. Felix’s sinister discovery, in the most inexorably devastating way as all good discoveries are inadvertently showcased. The island, its caretakers, its people, all is made, bred, destroyed by the preaching of Bokonon and a higher authority, of course!

“What is sacred to Bokononists? I asked after a while.

“Not even God as near as I can tell.”

“Nothing?”

“Just one thing.”

I made some guesses. “The ocean? The sun?”

“Man,” said Frank. “That’s all, just man.” 

Now, who’s Bokonon? Is it important? Yes and no. Replace him with any religious preacher, teacher, leader that you believe in, have been asked to, forced to believe in; anyone or everyone your parents, your society asked you to listen to, follow and why? Because their parents and so did their parents asked them to; religion is traditional isn’t it?

The first sentence in the books of Bokonon is this “All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies”

“She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is doing.” writes Bokonon

Isn’t every religion created? By a selected few, a privileged few? And who gave them the privilege to tell us what we should do, what we should believe, the way we should or shouldn’t live? And should we listen to them, to these obstinate men of God or these political zealots? We do, don’t we? Is there an option? Look around you, we are surrounded by preaching, teaching, lies; do we really believe in them, maybe not, but that’s not important. What is important is that we cling on to them, why, of course for safety, like a drowning man holding on to a float for dear life! Our existence!

“Are you a Bokononist?” I asked him.

“I agree with one Bokononist idea. I agree that all religions, including Bokononism, are nothing but lies.”

“I wanted all things
To seem to make some sense
So we all could be happy
instead of tense.
And I made up lies
So that they all fit nice,
and I made this sad world,
A par-a-dise.”
- from the books of Bokonon

 

And if we break the shackles and become free thinkers, we say we create our own world, our own destinies. We think, we work, be creative, we wonder, we invent and He laughs. We send a man on the moon, we create satellites, we create penicillin and other vaccines and He laughs. Have you heard of earthquakes and volcanoes and tornadoes and floods and tsunamis and plagues and forest fires and of course wars, He mocks!

“Someday, someday, this crazy world will have to end,
And our God will take things back that He to us did lend.
And if, on that sad day, you want to scold our God,
Why go right ahead and scold Him. He’ll just smile and nod.”
- from the Books of Bokonon

 

So then, are we mere puppets, is ignorance bliss? If everything was destined to happen the way it did, does, will, why then are we equipped with the ability to think? Is there any respite from this despair?

I say “Oh! What a plight!”

He says, “Just hold on tight.”

“My God – life! Who can understand even one little minute of it?”

“Don’t try,” he said “just pretend you understand.” He quoted another poem:

Tiger got to hunt,
Bird got to fly,
Man got to sit and wonder, “why, why why?
Tiger got to sleep,
Bird got to land,
Man got to tell himself he understand.

This book is high on nihilism, there are no clear answers, and if there are, there is more confusion, more dilemmas. The more you delve deep, the more the confusion rises and all that it does is wake you from your somnolent safety and takes you a step closer to a lurking insanity.

Thought of and written in the most eloquent form, Kurt Vonnegut raises a subject of poignant interest, the most basic one. His wit and sarcasm is evident in his story telling as you grin and laud and applaud at his cunningness, his deceptions, and his clever ambiguities. You lose and find yourself between pangs of lucidity. You look at the sky now and smile OR you look at the sky now, frown and get back to what you were doing.

Some more Bokononism -

“Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before,” Bokonon tells us. “He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.”

My rating: * * * * * * * * * * - 10/10

Kurt Vonnegut

Image Copyright:

Kurt Vonnegut1 - http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/72006-the-10-best-kurt-vonnegut-books.html

Cat's Cradle image - https://www.amazon.com/Cats-Cradle-Novel-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/038533348X