Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut

Mother Night

By Kurt Vonnegut

  • Release Date: 1972-03-15
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 283 Ratings

Description

“Vonnegut is George Orwell, Dr. Caligari and Flash Gordon compounded into one writer . . . a zany but moral mad scientist.”—Time

Mother Night
is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American Howard W. Campbell, Jr., a spy during World War II, is now on trial in Israel as a Nazi war criminal. But is he really guilty? In this brilliant book rife with true gallows humor, Vonnegut turns black and white into a chilling shade of gray with a verdict that will haunt us all.

“A great artist.”—Cincinnati Enquirer

“A shaking up in the kaleidoscope of laughter . . . Reading Vonnegut is addictive!”—Commonweal

Reviews

  • Excellent

    5
    By michellenyc218
    If you like Moonglow by Michael Chabon, you will love this!
  • Brilliant

    5
    By Twinklemoon
    Captures your attention, deep and well written
  • My favorite Kurt Vonnegut book

    5
    By The Evidence
    This is a funny, compassionate and very insightful work of fiction that could well be true, but we will never know. The timing of Mr. Vonnegut's irony is terrific. I read most of his early books, but this one sticks in my mind. Just re-read it again after decades. I have also read most of Graham Greene's books but the ironic humor of Our Man in Havana is what sticks in my mind. These two authors seem similar to me. In both, my preference is for their humor.
  • So good!

    5
    By Bambam962627849
    Read it for school and thought it was great!
  • Amazing

    5
    By StarLawd
    This books also has a slight tie in with "Slaughter House 5" which is another awesome book by Kurt. This book has a great love story in it and a couple of twists lead by dark humor in it which on top of him being a war criminal was a good edition to it and molded this great book. You will not be disappointed in it! Also read "Slaughter House 5" after reading this!
  • Great book

    5
    By CharlieO911
    This was a quick and easy read! It was easy to get into and very interesting. When my teacher first recommended it to me I was reluctant to read it, since it was about war, I'm glad I read it because the book was not about the war. The book was a memoir of a high treason war criminal that was in hiding for a long time. After pretending he was someone who he wasn't for his whole life, Howard W. Campbell Jr. was very confused who he is. In the introduction Vonnegut says that this is the only novel of his that he knows the moral of; "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be" (Vonnegut V).