Mother Night

I've been on a Vonnegut kick of late.  I read a bio of the author, who died in 2007, and I've gone back and reread, or read for the first time, many of his books.

Slaughterhouse-Five is generally considered his best work, but I tend to disagree.  I know it was the massive bestseller from 1969 and sealed both his commercial and critical success, but it's not my favorite at all.

One of the first books by KV that I read years ago was Mother Night. I'd forgotten until picking it up recently how damn good that book is. He wrote it in 1961.

Most of KV has its occasional charms, but the entire canon isn't dazzling in the least.  I didn't enjoy my first runs at Slapstick or Timequake here recently; in fact I ended up browsing through both of them.

I liked Deadeye-Dick, one I'd ignored for too long.  I didn't reread Bluebeard in this go-around, but I have fond memories of that one as well.

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater was a hoot when I first read it and remains so.

There are a few out there that I have yet to get to, but I need a break for now.

But damn, Mother Night...it's the real deal.  I'm not alone in this opinion either.  Check out the community reviews at the link below.

In his Introduction to the reissue of this book in 1966, KV wrote: "This is the only story of mine whose moral I know.  I don't think it's a marvelous moral; I simply happen to know what it is.  We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

Remember the story?  If you've forgotten or have never tried it, do it.

In 1996 the book was turned into a fine movie with Nick Nolte.


TS