Jailbird: A Novel

Kurt Vonnegut

Jul 2010 · Sold by Dial Press

About this ebook

“[Kurt Vonnegut] has never been more satirically on-target. . . . Nothing is spared.”—People

Jailbird takes us into a fractured and comic, pure Vonnegut world of high crimes and misdemeanors in government—and in the heart. This wry tale follows bumbling bureaucrat Walter F. Starbuck from Harvard to the Nixon White House to the penitentiary as Watergate’s least known co-conspirator. But the humor turns dark when Vonnegut shines his spotlight on the cold hearts and calculated greed of the mighty, giving a razor-sharp edge to an unforgettable portrait of power and politics in our times.

Praise for Jailbird

“[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

“A profoundly humane comedy . . . Jailbird definitely mounts up on angelic wings—in its speed, in its sparkle, and in its high-flying intent.”—Chicago Tribune Book World
 
“Joyously inventive . . . gleams with the loony magic Vonnegut alone can achieve.”—Cosmopolitan
 
“Vonnegut is our great apocalyptic writer, the closest thing we’ve had to a prophet since . . . Lenny Bruce.”—Chicago Sun-Times
 
“Vonnegut at his impressive best. . . . His imaginative leaps alone . . . are worth the price of admission. . . . His far-reaching metaphysical and cultural concerns . . . are ultimately serious and worth our contemplation.”—The Washington Post

Ratings and reviews

Vonnegut was an elite. His story is full of clues that he was one more American blueblood. Read "Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon" by Dave McGowan to learn how celebrities have been used for decades -- or centuries -- to hoodwink commoners. Social engineering -- blatant or subtle. Yes, even those celebrities you *feel* and believe in are tools of the MIC. After I was 19 I just couldn't handle Vonnegut's self-righteous tone any longer. Instead of writing his hypocritical weeping willow hippie/old-timer books he should have just lazed around hanging out with his upper class comrades like Katherine Hepburn.

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About the author

Kurt Vonnegut’s humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America’s attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him as “a true artist” (The New York Times) with Cat’s Cradle in 1963. He was, as Graham Greene declared, “one of the best living American writers.” Mr. Vonnegut passed away in April 2007.