Mother Night

Rating:
Summary: Vonnegut in his chilling best...
Review: As an avid Vonnegut reader, I found "Mother Night" to be particularly frightening and questionable...but in a good way. He points out the weaknesses of a government while also causing us to question morality. Howard Campbell was a Nazi, but a United States Government spy. Unfortunately, his actions caused a chain of events, leading to the death of many Jew's and causing a rise in nationalism for Germany. Only one other person knew he was legitamate in his actions, the man who recruited him. His life in radio propaganda used secret codes in his script. But then how do we consider a man who helped in the war effort by becoming the enemy? It's like answering the question, "Is it alright to steal a loaf of bread if your family is starving?"

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good...
Review: Although this is not Vonnegut's best, it's still worthy of being read more then once. A very dark novel that I felt to be a drama and not a comedy. It's theme "Be careful what you pretend to be" is brilliant. It's characters are very realistic. And I love Vonnegut's writing so much, I'm soon going to read this book again!

Rating:
Summary: mesmerizing
Review: Finished reading this book in one sitting. Powerful, intriguing, and above all thought-provoking. Innocence and guilt, irrationality and rationalization, the horrible and the mundane...all in one.

Rating:
Summary: Be careful who you pretend to be...
Review: Is Howard W. Campbell's conscience clear? Should it be? Can Campbell function as an allied agent while spewing hateful propaganda over German radio? Is the good he does spying greater than the harm he does supporting Nazi power and by extension the Holocost and WWII itself?

This is Vonnegut's most conventional novel (though none of them is sci-fi really) and Campbell's eventual exile and self-doubt is beautifully and convincingly rendered. Among other things, we are asked if Campbell's attitude--having no politics but a "nation of two" with wife Helga--is sufficient in a time of war. To what extent is he responsible for his actions regardless of his intentions? And what is he to do about it, both during the war and after? Could he have done anything differently or better? Would doing nothing have been better?

Aside from the moral conundrums there is a strongly realized and written novel here that holds its own with any other writer's work, with rich characters and scenes that might surprise the reader of other Vonnegut novels with its conventionality. In particular, Campbell's long exile in New York mourning Helga (and to a lesser extent himself) is often poignant. His nearly domestic relationship with George Kraft during this time is charming. Of course Kurt Vonnegut also puts Campbell in conversation with fellow Haifa prisoner Adolf Eichman, as only K.V. would do. One of Vonnegut's best.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: Mother Night is one of Vonnegut's best and especially after reading Breakfast of Champions, this one surprised me. Vonnegut has best range of a writer that I have ever seen( or read in this case). In Breakfast Of Champions, he throws you into the modern day world and doesn't expect you to really take any of this seriously. In Mother Night he takes you on the journey of Howard W. Cambell Jr., through his time as a playwrite and author before the war, through his happy times with his wife,Helga, through his recruit ment by a dissapearing american soldier,and so on.Anyway I thought it was going to be hard to take this into heart, but I ended up beleiving every word. Mother Night is not only a great Vonnegut book, but a great read in itself, pick it up you won't be dissapointed.
Hiho.

Rating:
Summary: A great read from Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Review: If you've never read any of Vonnegut's books, this is a great place to start. This is a well paced story of an American posing as a Nazi sympathizer in WWII Germany. Working as a spy for the US Government, Howard Campbell broadcasts Nazi Propaganda, filled with coded messages for Allied forces.
His choices leave his life in ruins, and make him a 'war criminal', years later.
As a side note, this was also made into a pretty "true to the original book" movie.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite Vonnegut.
Review: No sci-fi makes it even more thought provoking.

Rating:
Summary: Vonnegut at his most likeable
Review: Vonnegut is one of those writers whom everybody either loves or hates--there's very little middle ground. He's like vanilla Coke.

"Mother Night" is situated right on that narrow little line. It's a book that just about anyone can enjoy, even the most ardent foes of Indiana's favorite son. It was his third novel and, as such, represents the sort of pre-caricature phase that ended with the breakaway success of "Cat's Cradle" two years later. Here you see Vonnegut at his most human and, in some ways, his most vulnerable as he switches off the bombastic humor and lets his reader see the man behind the curtain.

Of course, the characteristic Vonnegut still shines through, but it's muted by a disarming candor about love lost and the stagnation it breeds. If you don't know anything about Vonnegut, this is a great place to start. If you love him, this book will make you melt. If you hate him, well, it might at least give you pause.

Rating:
Summary: A nation of two
Review: One of the many wonderful angles of this book is the way Vonnegut is able to raise questions worth answering. One that's been talked about quite a bit is whether or not people can serve evil and still be considered good, even to themselves. As the narrator, Howard W. Campbell Jr. raises this question quite often by being ruthlessly honest with himself concerning his vitriolic radio addresses and other actions, and how they might have impacted the genocide that was occurring around him. In this way, Campbell seems to me a pretty reliable narrator, earning our trust by not trying to shift blame for his actions as an American agent. But I think Vonnegut also means for us to question some of Campbell's other actions that set up his future misery. In particular, Campbell seemed to be guilty of too much "uncritical love," the term he gave the love that his wife, Helga, showed him.

Campbell doesn't detail much of his thought process or how he wrangled with his decision to become a spy. Major Wirtanen, his recruiter, thinks he should because Campbell loves good, hates evil and believes in romance. That's true, but Campbell also says the best reason of all was that he would "have an opportunity for some pretty grand acting. I would fool everyone with my brilliant interpretation of a Nazi, inside and out." And that's it. Next thing you know, he's a spy. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of introspection there, just uncritical love for himself and his own acting ability, finally getting to act out his own play instead of just writing it.

Also, there's the uncritical love he returns to Helga. Although Vonnegut closes his introduction by saying, "make love when you can. It's good for you," he seemed to show through his portrayal of the romance between Campbell and Helga (and later Campbell and Resi) that uncritical love, while it can be intensely gratifying, can lead to trouble later on. Campbell notes how "mindlessly" the two clung to each other, and the scant evidence he provides of the relationship outside of the bedroom seems to back that up. He says that the two only heard "the melodies in our voices. The things we listened for carried no more intelligence than the purrs and growls of big cats." Helga actually believed everything Campbell said on the radio -- and this actually made Campbell happy. He had no problem with his wife seeing him as a Jew-baiting Nazi, even though he was completely different on the inside. If he had told Helga that he was a spy, perhaps she would've been able to keep him grounded when away from his work as an agent, reassuring him that he was only performing a duty, an act, that he really was a different person. Likewise, although he doesn't present any evidence (perhaps because he didn't want to), Helga appeared to be just as patriotic toward the Nazi cause as Campbell pretended to be. Apparently, this didn't bother Campbell either. In reality, neither of the two cared what the other did or said -- they were star-struck lovers, and Campbell's uncritical love of Helga came back to haunt him (for the rest of his life) when she was killed in Crimea. His desperation manifested itself in his easy acceptance of Resi as Helga later on in the book. Campell was so eager to give his love away that he couldn't (or maybe didn't want to) distinguish betweent the sisters. This, too, came back to haunt him through Resi's betrayal and death, making Campbell more despondent -- despondent enough to set up the conclusion of the novel.

Rating:
Summary: Vonnegut does it again!
Review: "Mother Night" by Kurt Vonnegut is one of the best books ever written. Although not as publicized as some of his other works, it is definitely up there with the rest of them. This book would be an excellent read for anyone that likes books about espionage.