Customer Reviews

Bluebeard

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read lots of Vonnegut and frankly I thought this was one of his lesser works. Boy, was I wrong. Here we have Vonnegut at his most focused on a long time, tearing off page after page that will make you laugh and stop and think at the same time. The story is basically the autobiography of an obscure artist character in Breakfast of Champions, but here he turns Rabo into someone you might think is real, so does his humor and pain cascade off the page. He bounces back and forth between his past and his present at his mansion where he just wants to be left alone, in the great Vonnegut tradition (and he doesn't need time travel this time out), comparing and contrasting the worst moments of his life with the best and trying to figure out what it all means. To me, this is one of Vonnegut's most human novels, his sense of satire and wit are still apparent and sharp but the entire story isn't devoted to Vonnegut making some barbed point about us and society as a whole, it's there but there's more time put into having get to know Rabo has someone who might live down the street from us. I devoured this book and found myself satisified, even the long anticipated secret of what lies in the potato barn was well worth the suspense (and it really is), this is the most fun I've had with a Vonnegut book in long time. Probably one of his more obscure works, it deserves to be read along with his other classics. It may not reach those peaks but it comes darn close.

Rabo Karabekian was first introduced in "Breakfast of Champions", a minor character in a surreal story. Here he gets the full treatment, and comes off as another one of those great curmudgeon characters. Only in the hands of Vonnegut, he becomes much more. He is crotchety, bitter, cynical, and several steps from senility. But he still has a wonderful memory for his past, and Vonnegut creates for him a fictional autobiography that's fascinating and endearing. And a laugh riot.

Rabo has one eye. Rabo was an artist of astounding technical talent, yet helped form the Abstract Expressionist movement (along with his friends the fictional Terry Kitchen and the very real Jackson Pollock). Rabo has seen the best talents of his generation succumb to suicide and self-destruction, yet he is still kicking and screaming at 71. Rabo (guided by Vonnegut) is in the process of pouring his life onto the page, with the encouragement of a mysterious woman who has moved into his home.

Vonnegut's greatest accomplishment in the book is the building up of the surprise ending (What the heck is in the barn?) to the point where something astounding should happen, and then drawing up a scene where something astounding happens. It all lives up to the hype, which is a tough thing to do. But I never doubted my man Kurt for a second. He is one of my favourite writers -- for his pointed humour and his deceptively simple prose -- and this is one of his best books. He has managed to create a commentary on the history of war, art, Europe, America, and literature in the twentieth century, by gently leading the reader through a guided tour of one man's life.

Again, Vonnegut has come up with a work of literature that leaves the reader (or at least me) breathless and hungry for more of his brilliant work. In all honesty, the book did lose something partway through, and right up until the end I would have rated it only about a 3-1/2. But the ending of this book (as with Mother Night and other Vonnegut novels) was worth the entire book. The secret in the potato barn was incredible; it was everything I'd thought it would be, and more.

A superb book, definitely worth reading. It also made me realize (since this was one of the first Vonnegut books I'd read) how interconnected his books really are; Rabo dates back to "Breakfast of Champions," where the reader is almost compelled to dislike him. However, during the course of this book, not only did I end up liking Rabo, I found myself cheering for him, and even understanding him. A must-read for any Vonnegut fan, and even for those who don't have a Vonnegut fetish like I do. Brilliant.

5 stars for the Vonnegut book. 1 star for the Kindle edition.

This Kindle book is absolutely loaded with typos from poorly scanned and edited OCR. They must have had an unpaid intern take care of it. It goes to show me just how little the publishers care about ebooks, and how they'd like to slow demand for what they think they can't get insane profits from. It wouldn't surprise me if they purposely do a horrible job with every ebook just to get people running back to their precious overpriced paperbacks and hardcovers.

Examples of typos:

"Tor what?"

He, cheat and steal

"J already have," she said.

Talk about realism]

--The author wrote "realism!" in italics so the OCR thinks an italics exclamation point is a bracket. Nobody changed it. How could they miss this stuff? It's not just misspellings but also lack of commas, quotation marks, and so on. It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't on every couple of pages. The first few are no problem, nobody's perfect. But once they become a distraction, it really takes away from the reading experience.

The should at the very least have some respect for the late Mr Vonnegut and have an editor do a once over.

I don't normally write reviews for books that I've read, but on this one I couldn't remain silent. As good as Slaughterhouse Five was, Bluebeard shows a more mature, well-refined Vonnegut at the top of his game. This is a story that could be considered rags-to-riches on one level, and the supreme failure on another of a famous artist's life. The sarcastic wit and humor so prevelant in Slaugterhouse Five is present here too, but is used in a much more forgiving and less taunting fashion, as if Vonnegut has become more tolerant of his own idiosyncracies late in life. The book is a kinder, gentler Vonnegut with enourmous depth.

Without giving away the story, the "big secret at the end of the book" lives up to its billing; in so many books, the "big ending" falls flat. Not so in this case. I was floored, moved, elated, and generaly in awe of the genius of the idea. It made me realize that the helter-skelter events in the main character's life had been anything but; Vonnegut had written every event in the main character's life like Mozart placing every note it its correct place. This may be the most human book I've ever read; it is teaching the reader about life without being preachy, witty without being annoyingly sarcastic and thoughtful about the state of human existence and how we all interact. Most of all, it makes the reader really think about what he or she ultimately does with his life. This book is a must-read.

After having read several of Vonnegut's works, I would recommend starting with Bluebeard. Though it is absolutely representative of Vonnegut's style, it doesn't include some of the off-the-wall practices in his more famous books (Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions) that may throw a first-timer. Bluebeard reads well as a complete story and reveals a great deal of Vonnegut's soul. It will not disappoint.

Being a college English major, it's tough to find time to read books for fun. Well, I imagine that's a problem with just about any major, but I have firsthand experience with English majors. Anyhow, when I do get that rare few days that I can fit in some personal reading, I look for something that I can finish in a short amount of time, but that'll still be fullfilling, something that won't make me go, "WHAT WAS I THINKING!?" Anyhow, one particular author that fits this particular niche in my reading curriculum is Kurt Vonnegut.

I read "Bluebeard" in 3 days and as much as I try to avoid cliches, I cannot deny the appropriateness of the following phrase:

I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!

Ok, I said it, there. It was funny, heartwarming, sad in places, and it welled up a plethora of emotion in me as I read. The novel didn't quite have the social commentary of some of Vonnegut's other works; this should not dismay any Vonnegut nuts. The author spends some time looking at how the ideas of nationality and "roots" manifest, especially in the contrast between the protagonist, Rabo Karabekian (an Armenian Abstract-Expressionist painter) and Dan Gregory (also Armenian, but Americanized his original last name, Gregorian, and a painter/illustrator of a more realistic school). Dan Gregory is Karabekian's tutor and we hear about him in flashbacks, when Karabekian recalls his past to Circe Berman, the vivacious and interesting widow who invades Karabekian's life. Circe Berman's role in the novel is an immensely enjoyable one and as I read I went through ups and downs, practically screaming at her through the pages things like "What gives you the right!?!" But she grew on me as the pages went by and I slowly saw that there was more to her than meets the eye (ahhh! cliche #2!!).

Take my word: wrapped in this novel is a fantastic story with an incredible ending preceded by page after page of memorable scenes starring one of the greatest fictional Abstract Expressionist painters in history, Rabo Karabekian, and his most interesting life and his most interesting houseguests.

While Breakfast of Champions remains my all time favorite, Bluebeard ranks a close second. The story is a witty and poignant autobiography of Rabo Karabekian, a WWII vet and artist friend of Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock. In a way that it seems only Vonnegut can, sad, depressing characters are interwoven with a satirical wit that produces a cunning commentary on American culture. Like most Vonnegut books, whenever I attempt to convey the plot to a friend (who is unaware of his writing style) they say something like, "oh - that sounds so depressing!" Yet, Vonnegut writes with a trenchant wit that digs below just the character's emotions, to the culture and influences that create such actions.

The most intriguing aspect of the plot is Vonnegut's satire on various art movements, as well as the art market. Rabo was initially trained by a horribly haughty painter who painted in a realist style. Upon returning home after WWII, Rabo rejected his tutor's style and became friends with Jackson Pollock and Terry Kitchen (who I had never heard of before, but googled and found that he was a fluxus artist-?). His actions caused his marriage to disintegrate and his two sons to disown him.

Similar to his personal life, his paintings, made out of Sateen Dura Luxe, also disintegrate and fall apart, thus destroying his artistic career. His paintings were solid layers of the Dura Luxe on canvas, with small pieces of tape added. While his career and personal life were in shambles, Rabo ended up a very wealthy man. In return for money, his artist friends gave him many of their paintings (which they considered worthless at the time). His enormous collection of Abstract Expressionist paintings was the largest in the world. At the time he is writing his autobiography, Rabo is an old man living alone in a big, empty house in Long Island. While he has given up painting, he has one big secret locked in the potatoe barn behind his house.

What makes the Abstract Expressionist works so famous and revered? While Rabo's abstract work, which he clearly has no attachment to, is shown in museums and art history classes, he admits that his most beloved painting will be adored only by the laymen and "common people." Created in a realistic style he says - "It isnt a painting at all! It's a tourist attraction! It's a World's Fair! It's a Disneyland!" Bluebeard satirizes this adoration of "famous" works, forcing you to question and ponder the various definitions of art, and how one work becomes more famous than another.

I absolutely loved when Rabo would talk about his "meat" vesus his soul. "My soul didn't know what kind of picture to paint, but my meat sure did."

That's the best way I can describe this book: simply beautiful. The story is very funny, sad, yet touching. And of course, you're dying to know what's in the potato barn. That revelation is one of the nicest surprises that a book has ever given me and is what really left me with a lasting impression. It's surprising that Vonnegut could write something so heartfelt compared to his other books, but I guess that just shows what a great author he is. For all the fun he pokes at modern society, Vonnegut actually provides some hope for a change in this book.

From the first sentence to the last, I couldn't put this book down. The writing is clever and funny. I can't recommend this book enough. It's very different from many of Vonnegut's other novels, like Slaughterhouse 5. I've lent it to many people and they all loved it. It's a great gift for an artist, esp a painter.