a) In what way or ways is the narrator a complex fellow?
b) If you had to say what the narrator's problem was, what would you say?
c) How would you characterize Dr. Breed, the head of the research laboratory?
d) Does any character seem unlikeable so far? If you dislike the narrator--any character other than the narrator? What might be the implications of your answer?
e) Consider the use of such short chapters.
f) Do you have questions about "ice-nine"?
Remember that direct quotations from the text as evidence make your comment more informative and persuasive.
2. Read an article from the NY Times as usual.
3. Write a journal entry unless you are taking your night off.
I think the usage of short chapters is really effective for this book. Personally, I like it. I feel that it allows the author to jump around his topics a bit. While this makes me confused at times, it also gives for a better all around sense of what is going on in the book. I think it allows different aspects of the same matter to enter the book and stick in your memory because you read them so close together in short chapters.
ReplyDeleteI feel the titles of the chapters are also very unique. I'm not sure why they are what they are but I find each one interesting and pertaining to the chapter I am about to read. I keep going back to the title of the chapter after I finish it to see if I understand the title he chose for it. Sometimes I do and sometimes I dont. this seems to be the case with most of the book, I understand some parts of it but I feel I miss others completely.
I read "fight in Congress looms on Tax Break for Home Buyers" By David Streitfeld.
ReplyDeleted) Does any character seem unlikeable so far? If you dislike the narrator--any character other than the narrator? What might be the implications of your answer?
No, not really. I like the characters that are in the story so far. I think the narrator in the book "Cat's Cradle" is funny. I don't have anthing bad to say about the characters yet.
e) Consider the use of such short chapters.
The use of the short chapters are fine in my opinion. I like how the sentences have spacing, which makes it easier to read. It does not kill my eyeballs. Sarah said "I like it. I feel that it allows the author to jump around his topics a bit." I agree, I too like how the author jump around to different topics. This is going to be a good book in my opinion.
At the moment none of the characters seem completely unlikable. While I was a little unsure of Dr. Breed in the beginning, he seems to have come around in his logic and is starting to become more of a human and less of a robot scientist. I think the use of short chapters keeps the reader interested while also keeping them to want to read more. I feel that the short chapters also make this book an easy read that doesn't quite feel like work. I am particularly intrigued by ice-nine, not even for its abilities, but for its significance that will be sure to come later on in the book.
ReplyDeleteI have read, “Why don’t doctors wash their hands more?”
ReplyDeleteFirst, so far, I love this book. I am really enjoying it. So far, I don’t really have negative opinion about Cat’s Cradle. I like how the author wrote this book, and also so far I like the characters. I am more interest in about the story, which is Jonah tries to write about the atom, but he wants to write about how did people feel when the Hiroshima atom fell. However, first time I was kind of uncomfortable with too short chapters, but now I think it’s quiet interesting how the author planned on dividing the chapters. Also, because the author changes to different topics, I guess it might be good idea to put many short chapters.
I believe the short chapters allow one to take time to consider and ponder what the narrator just said, before moving right on to the next important fact. For example, he ends one chapter with his own letter to Newt, and directly begins the next chapter with “To which Newt replied”. Personally, I find that the short chapters make the book easier to read. They also seem to make the book move quickly, for rather than one chapter dragging on and on, the reader sees the next chapter title quickly, and this gives the illusion that the book is ‘going by’ as it were, faster.
ReplyDeleteI also, after all fifty-one pages, like all the characters. In the beginning, I had some difficulty accepting some of the characters and/or their less-than-ideal traits ( like Dr. Breed with his removed personality and holier-than-thou sense, or the crudeness of some of the author’s statements - “The whore”; “We got drunk.”) each have grown on me in their own way.
I've decided to comment on the usage of short chapters.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that this is a very interesting choice by the author. Today in theater class we were discussing the decline of the imagination in correlation to people 'maturing' or growing up and how people can keep their imaginations alive and vibrant if they continually play with life and possibilities. I think that the author is very effectively 'playing' with his writing as he creates a juxtaposition of ideas that contrast one another. I particularly enjoy the idea of going from telling us (the reader) that he is writing a book to simply a normal plot that assumes we don't exist. I think that it also is very characteristic (similar to the writing styles we saw by Brent Staples is Just Walk on By) in that the way in which he writes shows us that the character of the narrator is very playful and experimental.
First of all, I think this book is pretty interesting. The style of author is interesting such as writing a short chapters. I still don't have any negative mind on this book. However, there was only one thing that was a little negative opinion. It was that since the writer writes a short chapters it was a little hard to control to continue the story. The chapter changes really fast, but now, I think it is much easier.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that the short chapters ahve been brought up so many times because as i was reading the book I found myself wondering about that. Personally im bothered by the short chapters. I find it rather annoying that in the middle of a thought he decides to change chapters, it feels like the breaks are unnecessary. I've decided that Vonnegut may have used the short chapters to get people to read the book. He realized the illusion short chapters create, and that they make the book easier to read.
ReplyDeleteAs for ice-nine, I can't wait to read on. It seems to me that the book is structured in a way that Vonnegut starts out talking about reality, and then switches into a science fiction mode in the last chapter we read. I am also interested because there is a band that has made it semi big from around my hometown called Ice-Nine Kills. When I was in about eighth grade they were simply Ice-Nine, and I have always been curious as to where the name came from. I'm glad to finally be in on the joke.
First I would like to say that I am really enjoying this book. It is fun, interesting, and a fast read! Part of what makes the book so interesting is the short chapters. Several people have said that they like the short chapters because the author jumps around a lot, however I don't feel like that is the reason. I believe that the chapters are brief because it helps keep the author organized. Instead of droning on about one topic for far too long, the briefness allows the point to be put across immediately, and I believe it helps keep the author and the reader a little more organized in their thought process.
ReplyDeleteSo far, big words and short chapters are easy going for me that it is actually fun instead of getting bored. I think the author did a good job in to making the story fast going and easy. In the story, I could barely see exessive descriptions, instead, it was simple and quick.
ReplyDeleteIn this story, I like how scientists are portrayed as evil that they would do harm to the world when ice nince and nuclear is portrayed as harmful.
So far, I do not have have any feelings towards characters since I decide that at the every end of the story.
I look forward to read until the end of the book.
This book is very intriguing due to its short chapters that flow easily from one to another. Although often they do end abruptly, they are never awkward or incomplete, it is always a powerful sentence that they leave behind. I think it sort of feels like reading a string of short stories that instead of having differing plot lines have one story--simplified to important moments. One of the most interesting moments is when "ice-nine" gets explained. This atom can instantly freeze mud, as it was assigned to do by the US military. It also however would freeze the streams connected to the mud and the rivers connected to those and eventually the oceans connected to those. It would even freeze the rain that happened to fall upon that glacier planet. This alone is a terrifying concept, but on page fifty one it is made real. Dr. Hoenikker left it as his final genius and slightly evil creation.
ReplyDeleteThe only character I found I was not a fan of within this book so far is the narrator. I’m content with all the other characters except for the narrator. I find his character not very realistic. I found that the way he approached newt about the book he was writing, I found him to be a little too forward about it. The way he spoke to newt in the email I felt was a little too friendly than it should have been. I feel like he seemed like he was asking a lot of questions about a very personal subject, and to a complete stranger. “I am sorry to say that I don’t know as much about your illustrious family as I should, and so don’t know whether you have brothers and sisters. If you do have brothers and sisters, I should like very much to have their addresses so that I can send similar requests to them” I found that part of the email a little too friendly and also he was asking for really personal information which seemed kind of extreme. Overall I feel that the narrator just doesn’t seem like a believable person to me.
ReplyDeleteSo far I dislike Newt's Father, Dr. Felix Hoenikker. This dislike is based off of Newt's description of him and the fact that he helped to make a weapon that was responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people. But what really makes me dislike him is the way he treats his family and his wife. He forgets everything about his wife after she dies, and gives her change when she cooks a good meal. He is clearly a man who has trouble caring about other people, or that is what it seems like so far. "..he showed me his teeth, and he waved that tangle of string in my face." When Newt says this line he is talking about how his father was interacting with him, a mere six year old. To me it seems rather frightening and strange seeing as it is the first time he as ever even tried to play with Newt or talk to him. Why would he do it in such a scary sort of way? I also don't like the way he ignores violence in his family and seems so unappreciative of what his daughter does for him. He is just not a likable man so far. He also seems strange, preoccupied, confused and depressed.
ReplyDeleteSo far I'm enjoying reading this book. The author's straightforward writing style, the narrator's exact description of what he sees and hears, help the readers to assimilate the contents. Now Dr.Breed is most unlikable for me, because he seems he is overly proud of himself being a "pure" scientist, and he sneers at non-scients by saying, "In this country most people don't even understand what pure research is." Also, I started to dislike him when I heard that he claimed, "The trouble with the world was that people were wtill superstitious instead of scientific." This quote directly shows his charater and that he thinks science is the only and ultimate answer to solve every problem on earth.
ReplyDeleteI've read "Recovery Picks Up in China as U.S. Economy Still Ails"
ReplyDelete