Published : 1963Pages : 203
Overall Mark : 9/10
Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale preys on our deepest fears of Armageddon. Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding fathers of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy. For he is the inventor of ice-nine, a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three eccentric children, to a crazed dictator, to madness. Hoenikker's death-wish comes true when his last, fatal, gift brings about an end that, for all of us, is nigh.
KURT VONNEGUT (1922-2007)
Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany, during the saturation bombing which devastated the city during WWII, an experience which formed the basis for the novel which made him a world-wide bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five. Cat's Cradle, first published in 1963, is his third novel.
VERDICT
This is a fun book that takes a sideways look at a possible nuclear future that is rife with the wit you'd expect from Vonnegut when he is at his best. It's a shame that more of his books aren't as solid as this one which, in spite of the fact that it doesn't have the best of endings, is a joy to read.
