Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 9/13/2017 + 1223 more book reviews

I read a lot of Vonnegut back in the 70's including such classics as "Slaughterhouse Five," "Sirens of Titan," "Cat's Cradle," and "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater." I also reread "Mother Night" a few years ago and found it to be a very biting satire leaving me wanting to read more of Vonnegut. Well, I finally got around to reading "Hocus Pocus," one of Vonnegut's later works being written in 1990 that I have had on my shelf for several years. This was very reminiscent of his early work with his humor and satire poking jabs as usual at how mankind seems to have screwed up the planet. The novel takes place in 2001 where there is mass segregation at prisons and other places, where the Japanese have bought up most of America including the prisons, and where most resources are scarce. The protagonist is Eugene Debs Hartke, a Vietnam War veteran, college professor, and carillonneur (a player of tuned bells) who realizes that he has killed exactly as many people as the number of women he has had sex with. The novel is basically filled with Eugene's thoughts from the war, his family, his life as an instructor at a college for underwhelming students, and as an instructor at a nearby prison after he is fired from the college. After a massive prison break, Eugene's former college is occupied by escapees from the prison, who take the staff hostage. Eventually the college is turned into a prison, since the old prison was destroyed in the breakout. Ironically, Eugene is ordered to be the warden of the prison, but then becomes an inmate, presumably via the same type of "hocus pocus" that led to his dismissal from his professorship. The novel is written on scraps of paper as Eugene is awaiting trial based on a bogus charge that he incited the prison break. The novel also has a reference to "Tralfamadore," the fictional planet from "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Sirens of Titan." The exploits of multi-dimensional beings are chronicled in The Protocols of the Elders of Tralfamadore (a title which parodies The Protocols of the Elders of Zion), which is published serially in a pornographic magazine called Black Garterbelt. The magazine turned up in Eugene's footlocker from Vietnam.

Overall, this was another of Vonnegut's biting satires on mankind. It was filled with humor but was also very thought-provoking and I will probably be reading more of Vonnegut's novels that I have missed.

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