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| View Larger Image | Jailbird
by Kurt Vonnegut
| | List Price: | $14.00 | | Price: | $11.20 | | You Save: | $2.80 (20%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 74051 | | Studio: | Dial Press Trade Paperback | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 320 | | Publication Date: | January 12, 1999 | | Publisher: | Dial Press Trade Paperback |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
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 penitentary 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. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 31 reviews)
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Vonnegut - a good example of his style 
Walter Starbuck, the main character of Jailbird, has much more control over his life than the main characters in some of Vonnegut's other novels, notably Paul Proteus in Player Piano and Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse 5, among others. Starbuck's rising and falling doesn't really get described in graphic detail... never does he really hit rock bottom nor seem to touch the stars (!) at all. The result feels a little flat. Sirens of Titan sees Malachi Constant go to tremendous extremes - which I personally find makes for voyeuristic, quick reading.
As an Australian, and an ignorant one at that, I have to admit to knowing very little about the Watergate scandal at all. Jailbird whetted my appetite to learn more. Perhaps I'll have to pick up some good non-fiction on the subject for some more in-depth investigating.
I don't know whether this says more about the book or about myself, but I have just reread this book after several years and found that I remember virtually nothing from the first reading.
July 07, 2008 | |
The true genuis of Kurt Vonnegut 
I sometimes refer to this novel as "the best book I've ever read that contains no plot whatsoever." That's a bit of hyperbole, but if you read the book, I think you'll understand what I'm getting at (and if you haven't read the book, it's very hard to describe what I mean). That said, I consider "Jailbird" to be one of Vonnegut's true masterpieces. Overshadowed by "Slaughterhouse-Five" and others, this book doesn't get nearly as much respect or attention as it deserves. It's amusing and engaging throughout, and deeply moving at many points, especially the end. While I was a Vonnegut fan before reading it, "Jailbird" helped me understand that the true genius of Kurt Vonnegut lies not with his incisive wit--which is considerable--but with his compassionate humanity. This book is recommended for everyone.
March 08, 2008 | |
All History is Gossip
Poor Walter F. Starbuck. He should have been a servant to those who make history because he certainly wasn't any good at participating in history. He serves a short sentence for being in the general vicinty during the Watergate mess. His crime seems to have been incurable obliviousness. He also was questioned during the Commie witch hunts of the 50's. He exonerated himself by telling the truth but witlessly ruined another man's career. Not every man who goes to Harvard is enlightened by the experience. A weak witless fool who goes to Harvard is an educated week witless fool when he graduates. School doesn't teach morality or common sense, neither does power. Certainly not power. Power corrupts and degrades and serves to expose, for all the world, weaknesses. Walter F. Starbuck wanders through the wreckage of history & his life and others and comments on it all in a dispirited "what a mess" tone. Neither bitter nor enlightened just exhausted.
May 30, 2007 | |
Reading Jailbird is not a bad sentence
Vonnegut writes another book with a slightly offbeat structure to it. Yes, Jailbird is a book that jumps from the present to the past and then to the future without a definite pattern that reminded me of a slightly demented stream of consciousness. Even with these random jumps between events I still thoroughly enjoyed the book. In fact, the random jumps were part of the reason I enjoyed the novel so much because at the end of the story all of the stories finally came together.
Obviously I had a few other reasons that made me give this book a rating of four stars. One of the major themes I located in Jailbird caught my interest. This theme is that when people act for themselves, ignoring money and other influences, they will be happier with the way their lives turn out. This theme was illustrated in the protagonist Walter Starbuck, who is both controlled and independent in different parts of the story.
This book immediately caught my attention because of the style in which it's written. Even though the story is written in first person it contains a disconnected tone to the whole story. Whenever major events in Walter Starbuck's life are described the description doesn't portray them as being as important as they should be. It reminded me a great deal of Slaughter House Five's "so it goes" comment whenever someone would die.
This is an interesting book for a multitude of different reasons. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of Vonnegut's offbeat writing style. Even though this story is nothing like the books I normally read for enjoyment, it was definitely worth my time.
February 02, 2006 | |
A bumbling antihero, stumbling through the great events of the century
This is a story of Walter Starbuck, WASPified son of immigrants, who, pushed along by various forces outside his control, attains a brief taste of the American Dream (TM), loses it all, gets it all back with a bonus, then loses it all again. It's told with great humor, a sharp wit, and a stinging criticism of government and capitalism.
January 26, 2006 | |
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