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Cat's Cradle

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( 433,407 ratings, 18,589 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut weaves a satirical tale examining the absurdities of science, religion, and human folly. The story follows a writer researching the events leading up to the creation of the atomic bomb, only to uncover a new, catastrophic invention called Ice-Nine. This invention threatens to destroy the world as various eccentric characters become entangled in its potential impact.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate dark humour and satirical takes on human folly. It offers a thought-provoking exploration of themes like science, religion, and existentialism, wrapped in a narrative that is both absurd and insightful.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

One of America's greatest writers gives us his unique perspective on our fears of nuclear annihilation

'A major novelist, and a major novel' Sunday Telegraph 'Resonate with our fears ... very moving' London Review of Books 'In a line-up of literary originals, Kurt Vonnegut would have to start apart ... He is brave, clever, honest, and wise beyond the gags' Irish Times A superb new addition to the Masterworks list.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Experiment.

Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it.

Solution.

Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding fathers of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. 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 in the Caribbean, to madness. Felix Hoenikker's death-wish comes true when his last, fatal, gift to mankind brings about an end that, for all of us, is nigh.

Cat's Cradle is a blend of science fiction, satire, and philosophical musings. Vonnegut expertly weaves a narrative that challenges our perceptions of scientific advancement and its catastrophic potentials, inviting readers to ponder profound questions about humanity's future.

Series: S.F. Masterworks

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is praised as a significant work in the literary landscape, resonating with readers' fears and delivering a moving experience. The novel showcases Vonnegut's originality and wit, with commendable bravery, intellect, and honesty that go beyond its humour.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780575081956

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 20 May 2010

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Gateway

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 20.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 202.0mm

Weight: 240g

Pages: 224

About the Author

Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) Born in 1922, Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany, during the saturation bombing which devastated the city near the end of the Second World War, 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.

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