S.F. Masterworks
2 total works
With his trademark dry wit, Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is an inventive science fiction satire that preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon - and, worse still, surviving it. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Benjamin Kunkel.
Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to humanity. For he is the inventor of ice-nine, a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. Writer Jonah's search for his whereabouts leads him to Hoenikker's three eccentric children, to an island republic in the Caribbean where the absurd religion of Bokononism is practised, to love and to insanity. Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction is a frightening and funny satire on the end of the world and the madness of mankind.
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was born in Indianapolis. During the Second World War he was a prisoner in Germany and present at the bombing of Dresden, an experience he recounted in his famous novel Slaughterhouse Five (1969). His first novel, Player Piano, was published in 1951 and since then he has written many novels, including The Sirens of Titan, Jailbird, Deadeye Dick, Galapagos and Hocus Pocus.
If you enjoyed Cat's Cradle, you might like Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
'One of the warmest, wisest, funniest voices to be found anywhere in fiction'
Sam Leith, Daily Telegraph
'A free-wheeling vehicle ... An unforgettable ride!'
The New York Times
'Vonnegut looked the world straight in the eye and never flinched'
J.G. Ballard
A deep and meaningful masterpiece of science fiction, full of heart and mind-bending ideas. A true classic, Vonnegut will make you laugh and have you contemplating the meaning of life
When Winston Niles Rumfoord flies his spaceship into a chrono-synclastic infundibulum he is converted into pure energy and only materializes when his waveforms intercept Earth or some other planet. As a result, he only gets home to Newport, Rhode Island, once every fifty-nine days and then only for an hour.
But at least, as a consolation, he now knows everything that has ever happened and everything that ever will be. He knows, for instance, that his wife is going to Mars to mate with Malachi Constant, the richest man in the world. He also knows that on Titan - one of Saturn's moons - is an alien from the planet Tralfamadore, who has been waiting 200,000 years for a spare part for his grounded spacecraft . . .
Readers love The Sirens of Titan:
'A truly exceptional work by a truly exceptional author expressing some exceptionally powerful ideas' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Vonnegut uses the absurd to explore what makes us human . . . I recommend this book for any fan of Vonnegut or [Douglas] Adams' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'The Sirens of Titan is primarily a parody of trashy pulp science fiction novels, a boisterous, chucklesome book . . . In this sense, The Sirens of Titan, twenty years early, precedes and foreshadows (and, I would say, is superior to) Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'There are plenty of space travels in The Sirens of Titan but it isn't a space opera . . . It is a spaced out satire, a cosmic comedy of manners' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'I went into this expecting a science fiction/satire but instead I got an emotionally moving story about the meaning of life by none other than one of the greatest writers that ever lived. Period' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'Funny until it suddenly becomes creepy, to tell you why would be a spoiler though . . . Vonnegut is only using sci-fi as a platform to tell an allegorical story about life, together with an anti-war and anti-religion themes' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
'This is not just one of Vonnegut's best books. It's one of the best books I've ever read' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐