What an odd and extraordinary little book that was. It follows the adventures of the narrator who wants to write a book about what famous figures were doing on the day of the end of the world. That is, the fateful day of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He starts with one of the fathers of the bomb, or rather his family as he is now dead. In this book, this preeminent scientific figure is a certain Dr Felix Hoenniker. Contacting his children marks the beginning of a wild journey, that leads him to a very peculiar island in the Caribbean, ruled by a crazed dictator. Along the way he discovers that Hoenniker may have left another deadly weapon behind him. Will our narrator survive the improbable Armageddon it triggers?

“No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat’s cradle is nothing but a bunch of X’s between somebody’s hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X’s . . .”
“And?”
“No damn cat, and no damn cradle.”

The novel is a dark and comic tale. You laugh out loud in the face of tragic absurdity. It’s fun, but alarming and thought provoking. You’ll find yourself musing about the end of the world, religion, the nature of truth, and love. But mostly you’ll have a good, weird time.

“Live by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.”

I think I will read more Vonnegut in the future. I wasn’t sure this kind of surrealist literature would be my thing but I relished it. It’s short and exciting, unsettling and cleverly comic. It is very readable too. I thought it would be obscure and challenging, but it flowed so smoothly. A very enjoyable, albeit startling experience. And the beautiful Folio Society edition enhanced it even more.