Review of Cat’s Cradle (1963)
Kurt Vonnegut (writer).
Read in 2018.
The Caribbean island of San Lorenzo and its nihilistic religion of Bokononism.
Jaunty. The Cold-War analogy of ice-nine isn’t great, but the apocalyptic material is a fun idea. Actual ice IX is stable at temperatures below 140 K and pressures between 200 and 400 MPa. A lot of John/“Jonah”’s adventures are basically random, as opposed to tightly plotted or metaphorically significant, but there’s a curious sense of maturity and libido to it, compared to other Vonnegut novels.