Share <Embed>

Buy New

$13.89

Read this book for free with Kindle Unlimited

Read this title for free and explore over 1 million titles, thousands of audiobooks, and current magazines with Kindle Unlimited.

Read now with the free Kindle app
available on iOS, Android, Mac & PC.

List Price: $17.00
Save: $3.11 (18%)

In Stock.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

This item ships to France. Want it Friday, Nov. 9? Order within and choose AmazonGlobal Priority Shipping at checkout. Learn more

Deliver to France

Buy Used

$10.46

FREE Shipping

Deliver to France

Used: Good | Details

Sold by E Belle Co.

Fulfilled by Amazon

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Other Sellers on Amazon

Add to Cart

$8.94
+ $16.95 shipping

Sold by: Plus_deals

Add to Cart

$8.94
+ $16.95 shipping

Sold by: LowCost_Bookstore

Add to Cart

$8.95

Sold by: Gama1521

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Cat's Cradle: A Novel Paperback – September 8, 1998

by Kurt Vonnegut (Author)

1,201 customer reviews

See all 90 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.01

—

Library Binding

"Please retry"

$23.00

$21.85

Paperback

"Please retry"

$13.89

$6.00

$1.48

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$27.00

$1.98

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$16.36

$12.95

$9.38

Unknown Binding

"Please retry"

—

$21.67

“A free-wheeling vehicle . . . an unforgettable ride!”—The New York Times

Cat’s Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet’s ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist, a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer, and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny. A book that left an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers, Cat’s Cradle is one of the twentieth century’s most important works—and Vonnegut at his very best.

“[Vonnegut is] an unimitative and inimitable social satirist.”—Harper’s Magazine

“Our finest black-humorist . . . We laugh in self-defense.”—Atlantic Monthly

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Ray Bradbury

3,506

in Censorship & Politics
Paperback
$8.99

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Paolo Bacigalupi

852

Paperback
$13.91
Ray Bradbury

3,506

in Censorship & Politics
Paperback
$8.99

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A free-wheeling vehicle . . . an unforgettable ride!”—The New York Times

“[Vonnegut is] an unimitative and inimitable social satirist.”—Harper’s Magazine

“Our finest black-humorist . . . We laugh in self-defense.”—Atlantic Monthly

From the Inside Flap

One of Vonnegut's major works, this is an apocalyptic tale of the planet's ultimate fate, featuring a cast of unlikely heroes.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Dell Publishing (September 8, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 038533348X
ISBN-13: 978-0385333481
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 1,201 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #21 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Humorous
- #28 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Humor > Cats, Dogs & Animals
- #30 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Censorship

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Be the first video

Your name here

Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features:

See Kindle Edition

1,201 customer reviews

By customer groups & interests

Literary Fiction

4.3

Dell

4.5

Is this feature helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Review this product

Write a customer review

Showing 1-5 of 1,201 reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

James B.Top Contributor: Batman

So it goes again.

January 10, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Kurt Vonnegut is a man who saw which way the world was turning and was none to pleased by it. This is one of many novels covering his themes of how flawed human society is, regardless of what it tries to pursue.

The story follows a reporter named John. John wants to write a book Felix Hoennikker, who was one of the principle engineers of the atomic bomb. While investigating him, he meets many things: a new religion called Bokononism, a stone angel, a philosophical dwarf, a Hoosier, and a chemical more dangerous than the A-bomb itself.

Vonnegut spares no one in this volume, taking shots at scientists and the religious with equal fervor. Vonnegut writes some of the best absurd ism in literature, and anyone should be glad to read this. Enjoy.

17 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

R. P. Cotta Jr.

Classic Satire

July 6, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Okay -- three stars. That's what I think OTHER readers will think of this book. I think it is worth four stars. But this review is supposed to try and be helpful to you, dear reader, so I do not wish to inflate how good YOU might think this book is.

But let's face it: It's Vonnegut. Satirical. Whimsical. Deadly earnest in a half-joking kind of way. Not particularly optimistic about the future of us People, and not, apparently, particularly fond of us either. Three stars of Vonnegut is worth maybe four stars of Wolfe, maybe five stars of Koontz. Just three stars of Twain, though.

So about this book: it's a quick read. There are like 127 chapters in the story, but they all fit (in my edition) into just 287 pages. 287 very spacious and roomy pages. The chapters tend to be about a page-and-a-half long, some just a couple of paragraphs. Vonnegut bounces right along, telling the story of John, as John seeks to write a biography of one of the father's of the atom bomb. (A fictional father.)

The work no doubt contains some of Vonnegut's more creative ideas: ice-9; Bokononism; Mona Aamons Monzano, the most beautiful girl ever; a completely incomprehensible dialect of what might have once been the English language; and, of course, the end of the World. The story starts out innocently enough, but one thing just leads to the next and the next and before you know it, you will find yourself enmeshed in a world of utter ridiculousness, but you had better take it seriously or you may end up on "the hook." Pronounced "hy-u-o-ook-kuh."

So, not too deep, but deep enough. Not too, too funny, but totally, irreverently so. Not too long, but not too short. You will most likely enjoy this book.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Bryan DesmondTop Contributor: Dragon Ball Z (TV Show)

See the cat? See the cradle?

June 1, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This was technically my second book by Vonnegut -- my first being 'God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian" -- but I consider this to be my real intro to his work, as Kevorkian was rather short and maybe not the best introduction to Kurt's style. And as far as introductions to prolific authors go, I thought it was excellent. I'm excited to explore Kurt's catalog after this.

Cat's Cradle is a story about the end of the world, but I promise you it is not like any apocalyptic story you have read. This is the kind of book that is stuffed with information to contemplate, while at the same time being totally skimmable. Essentially its the kind of books that goes fast, but has so much more to pick up on subsequent reads (I definitely plan to read it again). Cat's Cradle offers an interesting analysis of religion through Bokononism, in which believers maintain that they are all instruments of God's Will, whether they wish to be or not.

While the plot is entertaining and the ideas worth contemplating it was really Kurt's voice that propelled me through the story. Right from the beginning I latched onto his dry wit and rolled with it through to the end. As it happens, I really enjoyed it. Er, rather, as it was meant to happen.

See the cat? See the cradle?

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

T. Edmund

but I'm pretty confident that was intentionally rather than flawed writing per ...

June 25, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I'm finding Cat's Cradle tricky to review. Being the second Vonnegut piece I've read (after Slaughter-house Five) I'm in the unusual position of not being too sure what is classic Vonnegut style and what is unique to Cat's Cradle.

Generally the two stories seem similar in intent, Cat's Cradle dances around politics and religion where Slaughter-house danced around war. The overt plot of Cat's Cradle is MC Jonah is planning to write a book about the atomic bomb, but ends up experiencing and writing something quite different. The story is presented in short chapters at times leaping through time, but more often leaping through the books of 'Bokonan' a fictional religion prominent in Cat's Cradle.

Overall, the book is witty and worthy allegory/satire. At times the writing style (which I can only assume was written to be similar to the Cat's Cradle - simultaneously complex and pointless) made it hard to really connect with the story and characters fully, but I'm pretty confident that was intentionally rather than flawed writing per se.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Luke Marusiak

Worth Reading Again!

March 16, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I read this in High School and remembered the infamous ice-nine. What piqued my interest was hearing terms from Vonnegut's invented religion Bokononism (like karass) and the fact this book was what got him his Anthropology degree from the University of Chicago. The book is dark satire but I was struck by the incredible creative feat of imagination and his attempt to ASK the question: what's the point of life?

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: Cat's Cradle: A Novel

Set up a giveaway

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: dystopia fiction, dystopian novel, central valley, books about goats, funny goat

Buy New

$13.89

Buy Used

$10.46

Other Sellers on Amazon

Cat's Cradle: A Novel Paperback – September 8, 1998

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Inside Flap

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features:

1,201 customer reviews

Review this product

Customer images

Read reviews that mention

Showing 1-5 of 1,201 reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Buy New $13.89

Buy Used $10.46

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Other Sellers on Amazon

Cat's Cradle: A Novel Paperback – September 8, 1998

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Inside Flap

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

Sponsored products related to this item (What's this?)

Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features:

1,201 customer reviews

Review this product

Customer images

Read reviews that mention

Showing 1-5 of 1,201 reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Buy New

$13.89

Buy Used

$10.46