Review 5: Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut
I played a game with a friend of mine: I was in a bookstore, and I said: "I'll buy any book you want me to read." The book store didn't have their first choice and would have to special order it; there was one copy of their second choice coming in some time later; their third choice was Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut (Wikipedia tells me its full title is Hocus Pocus, or What's the Hurry, Son? The second title makes sense, having read it, but I have only seen this title on the internet - none of the real versions or images of real versions I have seen include it). So I read that, following my friend's loss of faith in the grand company that is Barnes & Noble (Incidentally, I found his works in the Fiction & Literature section of the store, not Science Fiction as I would have expected. It seems he got his wish and has left that particular "drawer," although I hold sci-fi in higher esteem than the critics of his famous quote, and was rather surprised to find him where I did - I'm still not sure if it's good or bad that he is where I found him).
I played a game with a friend of mine: I was in a bookstore, and I said: "I'll buy any book you want me to read." The book store didn't have their first choice and would have to special order it; there was one copy of their second choice coming in some time later; their third choice was Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut (Wikipedia tells me its full title is Hocus Pocus, or What's the Hurry, Son? The second title makes sense, having read it, but I have only seen this title on the internet - none of the real versions or images of real versions I have seen include it). So I read that, following my friend's loss of faith in the grand company that is Barnes & Noble (Incidentally, I found his works in the Fiction & Literature section of the store, not Science Fiction as I would have expected. It seems he got his wish and has left that particular "drawer," although I hold sci-fi in higher esteem than the critics of his famous quote, and was rather surprised to find him where I did - I'm still not sure if it's good or bad that he is where I found him).
In searching for more context after I finished Hocus Pocus last night, I found a review on Amazon titled "Not for the Uninitiated Vonnegut Reader, but Great for Fans". Having only read Slaughterhouse-Five at this point, this perhaps explains why I was not as enthused by the book as the people quoted on its cover (it does certainly explain why I recognized the word Tralfamadore, though). It's not that it wasn't a good book - it is! - it's more that perhaps I didn't know what to expect, and came away from it feeling a bit... robbed? I'm not sure.
It's full of witticisms, to be sure, but overall is not witty. The overall messages and themes of the book of anti-war sentiment, pro-environmentalism, commentary on the disparity of wealth, the prison-industrial complex, the decline of education, and others are pretty well laid out in the beginning of the book. And they continue to be talked about throughout. It's not so much that I was getting hit over the head with the point, it's just that it was pretty apparent, and didn't need the book to explain it to me. Obviously this book was more entertaining than some essay talking about the ills of the world, but it almost seemed like it was more of a way to pretty up some depressing thoughts and visions of the future with humor.
Of course, that is Vonnegut's way: dressing up the horrors of [war, racism, poverty, etc.] in satire and humor. So perhaps I should have appreciated it more. The story was entertaining, yes, and the issues thought provoking to be sure, but I can't help but wonder if I missed something. If the Amazon reviewer is to be believed, it seems what I missed was the rest of Vonnegut's works beforehand, and therefore a greater appreciation of what his style entails.
I've looked back at my review system, and apparently I am supposed to tell you if you should own, rent, or not read this book (it has been years, after all, since I posted here). Until you own a great many Vonnegut novels and need to complete your collection, go ahead and get this one from a library. Once you do have that collection, you'll not only need to complete it, but maybe you'll have a greater appreciation for this book anyways (Interestingly, Barnes & Noble has many Vonnegut novels collected and made uniform in cover style, as some publishers do with authors who have a large body of work. Despite there being to copies of Hocus Pocus, neither had the uniform cover type of the rest of his novels - perhaps the book isn't "canon"? The two copies of Hocus Pocus were of the same approximate size, but of very different price: one was the standard $8 paperback; the one with nice paper was a $17 paperback. I bought the $8 version, although I would have liked the $17 version - but why pay extra for nicer paper?)
I've looked back at my review system, and apparently I am supposed to tell you if you should own, rent, or not read this book (it has been years, after all, since I posted here). Until you own a great many Vonnegut novels and need to complete your collection, go ahead and get this one from a library. Once you do have that collection, you'll not only need to complete it, but maybe you'll have a greater appreciation for this book anyways (Interestingly, Barnes & Noble has many Vonnegut novels collected and made uniform in cover style, as some publishers do with authors who have a large body of work. Despite there being to copies of Hocus Pocus, neither had the uniform cover type of the rest of his novels - perhaps the book isn't "canon"? The two copies of Hocus Pocus were of the same approximate size, but of very different price: one was the standard $8 paperback; the one with nice paper was a $17 paperback. I bought the $8 version, although I would have liked the $17 version - but why pay extra for nicer paper?)
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