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Product Description
Review
“[Vonnegut] is our strongest writer . . . the most stubbornly imaginative.”—John Irving
“A gem . . . a mature, imaginative novel—possibly the best he has written . . . Jailbird is a guided tour de force of America. Take it!”—Playboy
Book Description
LIFE GOES ON, yes-and a fool and his self-respect are soon parted, perhaps never to be reunited even on Judgment Day. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
poignant portrait of fallen bureaucrat,
By moroe(wrowe@epix.net) (America) - See all my reviews
This review is from: JAILBIRD (Mass Market Paperback)
Definitely the best of Vonnegut's novels that I've read, Jailbird is the story of Walter F. Starbuck, the smallest co-conspirator in the Watergate scandal. Having made his loyalties the best as he could, Walter finds himself in prison for withholding evidence against Nixon, even though he really had no true connection to him or respect from his fellow conspriators. After prison, Walter falls once again, committing a crime that mirrors his Watergate involvement in quite a few ways, and he goes to jail for the second time.Vonnegut's ingenious humor is present always in the book, and his prose is bedazzlingly perfect for the subject. Even though the novel may seem sentimental at times, that seems to be Vonnegut's purpose: his character is a sentimental man and bureaucrat. Readers should note that Vonnegut also uses some symbolism to perfect effect, making the book subtler than most Vonnegut novels. All these elements are Vonnegut at his best; he recreates, hilariously and perfectly, the political world of modern times. Throughout the story, Jailbird provides a pitiful hero, knocked down over and over again by his own fault in the bureaucratic world he has chosen for his home. It seems not so much the facelessness of the bureacratic system that destroys Walter(a theme visited over and over again in too many books, movies, etc.) as his own attempts to try and become part of that system and his emotional view of this world as a place where people are always considerate; his own desire to be a successful, protected, and respected man is the thing that makes him loyal and willing for all the wrong reasons and to the wrong people. In the end, Walter F. Starbuck is a victim of himself, a "jailbird."
3.0 out of 5 stars
For the more advanced Vonnegut reader,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Jailbird: A Novel (Paperback)
Jailbird wouldn't be the first book I'd recommend a first-time Vonnegut reader. The character of Vonnegut's pen isn't as bright in Jailbird as it is in SH5 or God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. That being said, it is a great book. His characters have the Vonnegut humanity we expect - full of contradictions, folly and reality.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Jailbird,
By
This review is from: Jailbird: A Novel (Paperback)
First Vonnegut book I've read, and it's nothing special. Took a very long time to set the story line, but read very fast. In the end it was an alright book, and I wish it had been longer. I look forward to reading his other works.
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