![]() Virtues and vices, pleasures and pains cross boundaries at will.” I can’t believe that they mark the end or the beginning of anything of real concern to a human soul. Those imaginary lines are as unreal to me as elves and pixies. It’s no doubt a great flaw in my personality, but I can’t think in terms of boundaries. ‘It’s impossible for me to get emotional about it, because real estate doesn’t interest me. That would be as silly as loving it,’ I said. While readers will never adore the motley crew in Mother Night the way they might for something like Harry Potter, they will enjoy learning from then and have a few good laughs at their expense. Furthermore, Vonnegut rendering many of the characters harmless through his satirical depictions also enables the reader to enjoy reading about characters that they would normally despise while also fully engaging in and appreciating the moral that ultimately accompanies their story. The characters are wildly entertaining, and their descriptions will have many readers snickering even as they converse about things that would normally turn the stomach. Beyond Campbell himself, almost everyone has some extreme idiosyncrasy that aids in turning their narrative into a moral at some point. The characters in this work, beyond a set few, could better be labeled caricatures with comically extreme personality features that set the satirical tone of the novel. “Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.” While ultimately the plot is satirical in almost every turn, the moral examinations that accompany these moments are what make the book so incredibly compelling. Beyond the main moral of ‘be careful of who you pretend to be’, there are also examinations of how one comes to such radical beliefs and the altered machinations of the mind that make such hatred possible, as well as the justifications of hate without reservation. The plot itself, however, serves as a vehicle to examine the many morals Campbell comes to understand as he bumbles through a world deadest on believing he truly was not only the great voice of Nazi propaganda, but that he believed anything of what he said. The confessions that he writes, with Vonnegut serving as his editor of sorts, are from an Israeli prison as he awaits execution. Thus, he is thrust into a world of people who believe that he truly meant every hateful word he ever said. Campbell does his job only too well but finds out when the war is over that only three people knew he was serving as a spy, none of whom are willing to step forth and claim him. He is then approached and enlisted by an American agent to serve as a spy for the allies through posing as the voice of Nazi radio propaganda. Campbell Jr., an American that spent his entire life growing up in Germany and who was enjoying mild fame as a playwright/writer when the second world war broke out. The main plot line follows the final confessions of a man named Howard W. “And yet another moral occurs to me now: Make love when you can. My full written and video review of this novel can be found below. As Vonnegut warns us at the outset, we are what we pretend to be, so we must be wary of what we pretend to be. The book is both darkly amusing and painfully relevant, with a wealth of morals that are as true today as they were over fifty years ago. The novel precedes what is perhaps Vonnegut’s most well-known work, Slaughterhouse Five, by about 7 years and shares some similarities of theme and tone with that work. and published by Fawcett Publications in February of 1962. Mother Night is a dark comedy written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” Book Review Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
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