Lee
“Science has now known sin.”
Living up to its title, this one was a bit of a challenge to really get into. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is one of my all-time favorite books, so I figured it was long overdue for me to read another Vonnegut. Cat’s Cradle is supposedly based on Kurt’s day when the atomic bomb was dropped. Is this about the atomic bomb and Oppenheimer? No, it is not. Is it about World War II again? It is not. Cat’s Cradle is a dark comedy and social commentary on the mess of humanity in the face of mutually assured destruction. Largely set on the fictional utopian island of San Lorenzo, where the eccentric inhabitants, under the dictatorship of Papa Monzano, follow the Book of Bokonon. I won’t go into all the details of their religion, but as an example, it's oddly full of Hoosiers, encourages free love, fancies foot jobs(?), and believes in cosmic connections between ordinary people with nothing special in common. Oh, and it's illegal.
Our protagonist—a stand-in for Kurt—investigates and seeks out an Oppenheimer-like individual’s children. There is indeed an atomic-bomb-adjacent scientific invention turned weapon called “Ice-9,” which plays a key role. There’s also a cultish island infiltration, but this book isn’t a sci-fi thriller or action story. I’m telling you this to highlight that the book is a meandering, almost aimless wander through its heavy themes. It’s a satire on how mankind can become both the destroyer of worlds and completely clueless, isolated, and obsessed with the most mundane things. There's a sense of mess around and find out to it all, which you can be connected to mankind in the real world, especially those in power. Being on the brink of total destruction, Jane and John worry more about whether a superstitious hook on the island exists or why Jane was playing footsy with Bill.
When I read Cat’s Cradle, I saw Bokononism and everything happening on the island as the pointless distractions life throws at us. We're like headless chickens running around, clawing at each other while the farmer in the house plans what herbs and spices he’ll use for dinner. Whether it’s the warnings and risks before dropping the atomic bomb—as recently memeified in Chris Nolan’s Oppenheimer—or the jokes and disregard for how AI might greatly alter life for better and worse, Vonnegut captures that blend of innovation and boredom. These days it perpetually feels like the end of the world is nigh, but we don’t really do anything to change course or learn from our history. It's cynical and ends unhappily, but the book never feels grim or serious. Vonnegut has a way of writing about bad things with casual grace and humor.
I'll close with two of the top four definitions of Cat’s Cradle:
- “A children's string game.”
- “Any complicated structure which appears to be without purpose.”
Life can be and often is both.
“Science has now known sin.”
Living up to its title, this one was a bit of a challenge to really get into. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is one of my all-time favorite books, so I figured it was long overdue for me to read another Vonnegut. Cat’s Cradle is supposedly based on Kurt’s day when the atomic bomb was dropped. Is this about the atomic bomb and Oppenheimer? No, it is not. Is it about World War II again? It is not. Cat’s Cradle is a dark comedy and social commentary on the mess of humanity in the face of mutually assured destruction. Largely set on the fictional utopian island of San Lorenzo, where the eccentric inhabitants, under the dictatorship of Papa Monzano, follow the Book of Bokonon. I won’t go into all the details of their religion, but as an example, it's oddly full of Hoosiers, encourages free love, fancies foot jobs(?), and believes in cosmic connections between ordinary people with nothing special in common. Oh, and it's illegal.
Our protagonist—a stand-in for Kurt—investigates and seeks out an Oppenheimer-like individual’s children. There is indeed an atomic-bomb-adjacent scientific invention turned weapon called “Ice-9,” which plays a key role. There’s also a cultish island infiltration, but this book isn’t a sci-fi thriller or action story. I’m telling you this to highlight that the book is a meandering, almost aimless wander through its heavy themes. It’s a satire on how mankind can become both the destroyer of worlds and completely clueless, isolated, and obsessed with the most mundane things. There's a sense of mess around and find out to it all, which you can be connected to mankind in the real world, especially those in power. Being on the brink of total destruction, Jane and John worry more about whether a superstitious hook on the island exists or why Jane was playing footsy with Bill.
When I read Cat’s Cradle, I saw Bokononism and everything happening on the island as the pointless distractions life throws at us. We're like headless chickens running around, clawing at each other while the farmer in the house plans what herbs and spices he’ll use for dinner. Whether it’s the warnings and risks before dropping the atomic bomb—as recently memeified in Chris Nolan’s Oppenheimer—or the jokes and disregard for how AI might greatly alter life for better and worse, Vonnegut captures that blend of innovation and boredom. These days it perpetually feels like the end of the world is nigh, but we don’t really do anything to change course or learn from our history. It's cynical and ends unhappily, but the book never feels grim or serious. Vonnegut has a way of writing about bad things with casual grace and humor.
I'll close with two of the top four definitions of Cat’s Cradle:
- “A children's string game.”
- “Any complicated structure which appears to be without purpose.”
Life can be and often is both.