Just as good as I remember. The scattered narration works incredibly well, as opposed to say Galapagos, where it just makes the plot feel detached andJust as good as I remember. The scattered narration works incredibly well, as opposed to say Galapagos, where it just makes the plot feel detached and inaccessible.
One thing I had forgotten was the utter beauty of the passage at the beginning Ch. 4, where Billy Pilgrim in one of his time slips sees an old WWII documentary play backwards. Vonnegut describes each side healing the others' planes with their guns, and the fire being extinguished into bombs which were then dismantled and had their constituent minerals separated and hidden in the ground, "so they could never hurt anybody ever again." It's incredibly, unexpectedly poignant coming from a jokester like Vonnegut, and I absolutely love it.
Another passage I love is from his infamous secret agent Nazi propagandist Howard Campbell (himself the protagonist of the excellent Mother Night):
Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue... Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times.
Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves...
It's a light read but scary good. Hell, it's just scary in general, and sad. A masterpiece.It's a light read but scary good. Hell, it's just scary in general, and sad. A masterpiece....more
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