Vonnegut In Retrospect: Galapagos, Bluebeard, and Hocus Pocus

Galapagos (1985)

I unfortunately have waited so long to write down my thoughts on Galapagos that the book is no longer fresh in my mind. I know I enjoyed it, but I also took forever to read it for some reason. The premise, the last humans on earth being stranded on an island and evolving into something else, is a good one and mostly overcomes some sloppy structure that drags in parts.

7.9/10

Bluebeard (1987)

This is one of Vonnegut's most readable and focused novels. Written (like Mother Night and Hocus Pocus) as an autobiography by a fictional character, Bluebeard is the memoirs of abstract expressionist painter Rabo Karabekian who used a type of paint that unexpectedly eroded and fell off the canvases after just a few years. The cast of characters is small and the story straight as an arrow.

8.5/10

Hocus Pocus (1990)

This story is like a shotgun blast, with a few pieces hitting the mark and others flying around uselessly. It's the memoirs of Eugene Debs Hartke, Vietnam vet and college professor. The novel is set in the not too distant future with foreign interests having taken over the American economy and things generally going to pot for the country and Hartke personally. An unsatisfying and meandering tale.

6.4/10