Genres, book reviews and authors

My conversation’s title is self explanatory about that which I intend to write but it seems particularly fitting that I should start with a fine exception to the rule.

It is black Friday, the 13th, and although I was unsure as to which author I would start this ‘blog’ with, not wishing to play favourites, it all became clear when I read in the newspaper today that Kurt Vonnegut had died. Not of old age,or smoking, although at 84 that would not have been unexpected, but as a result of one of those freak accidents that your mother always warns you to wear clean underwear for.I’m sorry,that sounds very flippent, but please don’t think I am being so. I am sure that Mr Vonnegut would have appreciated the irony, for he was a man who always managed to wring the wryest laugh out of the blackest event.

No not flippent at all, for my nephew died only a week ago, and death is not a joke, it is a loss. Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most imaginative writers - ever. There are few writers who actually change one’s perception of the world permanently, but he did. Had my nephew lived a little longer, I think he would have enjoyed reading his novels, for the sense of humour he enjoyed, was also definitely quirky.

Reviewers often categorised Vonnegut’s novels as dark or black humour, they describe him as a satirical novelist who questioned the validity of all that most hold dear. So far as bookshops go, Borders split-categorised him between general literature and science fiction but most bookshops put all works in one or the other, usually Science Fiction and Kurt Vonnegut himself refused to be categorised, as any self respecting author should.

The first Vonnegut novel I read was called Cats in the Cradle. The plot of this novel is a doomsday event around a substance called ice9 having an effect not dissimilar to the crystal effect in Return of Superman. Except, in Vonnegut’s world there were no supermen, only irrational human beings in a Greek tradgedy without the romance or drama. It must be thirty years since I first read it and decided that Bokonism was my new religion. Of course I was of an age to embrace new religions then, yet like all early age indoctrination there are tenets that I still adhere to.

“Bokonists believe that humanity is organized into teams, that do God’s will without ever discovering what they are doing. Such a team is called a karass..” There are people that come into your life and you ‘know’ them, I still, when I meet one - which is rarely, feel that they are part of my karass. Your soul mate and yourself form a duprass, which is a karass composed of only two people. A duprass is not necessarily a man and wife, but may be a brother and sister, a parent and child or two people unrelated by genes and of either sex; the important qualifier for the term is their connection, their same heart.

The quirky philosophy of Bokonism gave me words for concepts that had no English words, but he also gave me a concept for something that was only a word to me.Now whether Scientists agree or not, it seemed perfectly clear to me when he explained that gravity is not a stable force.There are quite definitely high gravity days and low gravity days.It is infinitely harder to get out of bed on a high gravity day, while on a low gravity day, one springs out with a joyous smile and skips and hops to the kitchen for breakfast.

I forget now which book that was in, but he also wrote a novel in four dimensions. Ouspensky explained time as the fourth dimension in great detail, but Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five created a vivid illustration of it. He was never an easy read because he had themes of war and human destruction, the irrationality of historians and scientists and because he broke the world into pieces and put them all back in a different order.But he always made you laugh while he did it.

His son Mark wrote a gripping autobiography called ‘The Eden Express”. Mark developed schizophrenia and very honestly described the fracturing of his perception brilliantly. Vonnegut’s writing has a similar fractured quality, a way of turning a normal thought into a completely different perspective, except that rather than appearing unbalanced, mostly, he appears to be the only sane person on the planet.

Like this amendment to the constitution he proposed in Timequake.

“Article XXVIII: Every newborn shall be sincerely welcomed and cared for until maturity.
Article XXIX: Every adult who needs it shall be given meaningful work to do, at a living wage.
What we have created instead, as customers and employees and investors, is mountains of paper wealth so enormous that a handful of people in charge of them can take millions and billions for themselves without hurting anyone. Apparently. Many members of my generation are disappointed.”

Kurt Vonnegut Jr has written at least 13 novels and several non fiction books. Most were written in the 60’s and 70’s and may not appeal to those of this generation who seek corporate success. If however, you ever feel that somethings not quite right with the world, then meet Kilgore Trout for a tour of an alternate but paralel universe and see how you feel. You won’t be disappointed and there’ll be lots of laughs. We’ll miss you Mr Vonnegut, my sincere sympathies to your family.

For an in depth synopsis of Cats Cradle, no answer to the question Who is Kilgore Trout? and to read the official bio page - follow the links .

Cat’s Cradle
Kilgore Trout
Official Biography

Hocus Pocus (Kurt Vonnegut)
7 hours $24.95 Audio Book
Hocus Pocus is the fictional autobiography of a West Point graduate who was in charge of the humiliating evacuation of U.S. personnel from the Saigon rooftops at the close of the Vietnam War. Returning home from the war, he unknowingly fathered an illegitimate son.

In 2001, the son begins a search for his father and catches up with him just in time to see him arrested for masterminding the prison break of 10,000 convicts. Using his unique brand of satire and wit, Vonnegut captures a vision of twenty-first century America as only he could foresee it. In Hocus Pocus, listeners will find a fresh novel, as fascinating and brilliantly offbeat as anything he’s written.