Mother Night: A Novel
by Kurt Vonnegut
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Book Summary Information
Author: Kurt VonnegutEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-05-11
ISBN: 0385334141
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Book Reviews of Mother Night: A Novel
Book Review: Radio free genocide, but maybe it's not his fault
Summary: 5 Stars
They talk about the banality of evil, but what about the banality of good? What if the only way you can do good is by being so perfectly evil that nobody would ever expect you to be otherwise? And furthermore, what if you find that after submerging yourself in the evil for so long, that you just don't care? That some stains don't ever come out, even if your intentions are just?
The only Kurt Vonnegut novel I had left to read (that I know of), I'm not sure why I avoided this one for years, unless my weird phobia about buying books with movie covers on them took a ridiculous hold on me and wouldn't allow me to get it. Reading it now, though, what strikes me is how bleak it is, unlike a lot of his other books. While Vonnegut never totally wrote about happy smiley topics, his novels were generally sprinkled with bits of dark humor that allowed you to laugh at least and made the darkness that much less oppressive. The coating on the spikes so it doesn't hurt as much when you breath in.
That's not really the case here. Tackling WWII again from a different, less personal angle (instead of "Slaughterhouse-Five" and it's man on the spot point of view), it feels slightly more detached and sort of numb. Howard Campbell is an American that winds up living in Germany in the days before the war, writing plays and the like. He eventually winds up writing a lot of anti-Semetic poems and radio broadcasts and is considered one of the prime war criminals to have ever made it out of the war alive. The only thing is: all his anti-Semetic outbursts and writing were actually code, as he was spying for the American government and they were handing him what to say, with clues and orders embedded in the phrasing so that anyone listening would be able to discern the actual meaning. However, the government refuses to acknowledge that he worked for them and when the authorities of the world want to arrest him, he's got no one to stand by and back him up. Thing is, he's not quite sure if he wants to be let off the hook.
This is an odd one. While its still funny in parts, it's a depressing kind of fun or the kind where you find yourself wincing because you're glad it's not happening to you. Like watching someone getting punched in the face and the other guy breaks his hand in the process. It lacks the focused anger of "Slaughterhouse-Five" but there's still a simmering sense of futility underneath the whole thing. Campbell technically made the right decision, or did he? He helped the war but because of what he did millions of people died in the process and the book deliberately doesn't take a stand.
Campbell as a voice is very matter of fact about everything, alternating between a dry recounting and a bemused acceptance of his fate. Every single character in the book either has something terrible happen to them or is a terrible person (or both) and as usual with most Vonnegut books, what happens to you really doesn't depend on whether you're a good person or not, but simply on the whims of life. Campbell is constantly reminded of what he did, by the resurgence of his writings, by white supremicists, by Israelis coming after him, by all the memories that keep following him and won't allow him to forget.
It's a strangely flat novel but the flatness only underscores the horror of the morally mixed times, how you can allow evil by doing good or how good may not matter if the evil is great enough. Campbell wanders through life letting things happen or allowing people to do things to him and whether or not that contributes to his ultimate fate is up to the reader to decide. It lays the questions out there without giving any kind of answers or hints of answers, and unlike most of Vonnegut's novels there's no hope at all, just a clenched fist closing in on nothing. And the hand is getting tired.
Worth reading if you're a Vonnegut fan but it's definitely a bit different in tone from the others. How you feel about that is up to you.
Summary of Mother Night: A Novel
Mother Night is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American Howard W. Campbell, Jr., a spy during World War II, is now on trial in Israel as a Nazi war criminal. But is he really guilty? In this brilliant book rife with true gallows humor, Vonnegut turns black and white into a chilling shade of gray with a verdict that will haunt us all.Humor Books
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