Right, finished reading this last night. It's an okay book, but I think its impact on the audience suffers as it’s now become a little dated.
To appreciate the book in full, we have to understand it as an anthropological commentary and misanthropic attack on the pomp of mankind. Couple this with the obvious connotations of being set and written during the madness of the Cold War, we begin to develop more of a feel and understanding of what Vonnegut was really trying to achieve.
Being the walking contradiction that is a misanthropic humanist myself, obviously the message was probably watered down somewhat but I believe in the time it was written with the chest beating, nationalist idiocy that the Cosby's personified being mainstay, it was far more vitriolic.
Although Vonnegut doesn't use any technical or deep plot devices or narrative, he does often use themes and ideas as his area of interest. This too also becomes another source of parody; Bokononism being one of them. Bokononism itself was an almost meaningful play and insight into the human condition, but more of a satirical swipe at both theology in general, and the unflattering truth of how humans tend to both create and desire such tools just to endure the very issue of being. I did however, enjoy the concept of the
karass and the
granfalloon. I did find it quite enjoyable at the end when Vonnegut once again took a mighty swipe at such illusory segregation when the Crosby's et al. were shouting at the Volcanoes "American! American!", this in turn of course, probably also being a small joke at the expense of the intelligence such patriots.
The book overall seemed to be a light hearted social commentary, feeling almost as if it was written simply to pass the boredom away (the irony!). It's certainly worth a read if you're that way inclined, but I can't really say with honesty that it did anything spectacular for me. There were elements of humour, but I also feel that the dead-pan element of the book has been somewhat overrated. I think the true message and joy in the book is to be found in the characters themselves and what they represent, as opposed to the plot or setting. There is far more to be explored surrounding the human condition of the ragtag group of individuals than there is regarding the social commentary or parody of world destruction. Which, incidentally, does happen all rather quickly, but then, how else would we expect it to be?
Above all, the book is a critique against man's self-flattery and the illusion that he actually knows or understands anything. Bokononism as a theology through its calypsos and other insights clearly underpins this commentary. The climax of the story, through its incogruous and surreal nature again emplifies man's lack of power and understanding of the big picture. Ice-9 is obviously a similie for the atomic bomb, but the point is the same: an indifferent man created such power (searching just for truth) without much care for anything else or who benefits and how, and man is far too stupid, and immature to be truly responsible for bringing such things into existance. This is not to say that Vonnegut was a seething misanthrope who hated mankind and all it represented; far from it. I think in reality, Vonnegut was gently trying to prod society in the 'right' direction.
Perhaps my favourite part of the book - A Bokononist interpretation of Biblical allegory:
God made mud.
God got lonesome.
So God said to some of the mud, “Sit up!”
“See all I’ve made,” said God, “the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.”
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going, God.
Nobody but you could have done it, God! I certainly couldn’t have.
I feel very unimportant compared to You.
The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn’t even get to sit up and look around.
I got so much, and most mud got so little.
Thank you for the honor!
Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.
What memories for mud to have!
What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!
I loved everything I saw!
The Books of Bokonon
