TotalTelly.co.uk
Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV
Hocus Pocus or, What's the Hurry, Son?
RRP: £7.99
Our Price: £3.00 (subject to change)
- New
- Mint Condition
- Dispatch same day for order received before 12 noon
- Guaranteed packaging
- No quibbles returns
Mr. Vonnegut
Review date: 2010-06-12 Rating: 8 out of 10
I discovered Kurt Vonnegut the same year he died. It wasn't through the news of his death but a quote I saw on a website, of all places, that intrigued me.
After that I read Man Without a Country so I wasn't a typical fan reading his work beforehand, I read about the person behind books like Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle. I fell in love with the thoughts, theories and opinions of Kurt Vonnegut and of course fell in love with his work once I began reading it. Kurt Vonnegut was a man who had such imagination and such a view on the world that it's easy to capture his thoughts and look at the world through different eyes.
Hocus Pocus or, What's the Hurry Son? Is set in the near future (the book was published in 1990) and you follow a man and his story on how he became a prisoner across from his old place of work in Tarkington College. Inbetween you are being filled with background information, history and views of the place in which this character lives. Pretty soon you are in a world filled with details on his work, his family, his colleagues, his love and his fear. As always Vonnegut makes sure we get the picture, he's also the first author where I can imagine exactly how the story plays out in my head. His style of writing is magnificent.
It may not be his most famous work but I still think Hocus Pocus or What's the Hurry Son? is a must read for any fan of Kurt Vonnegut. You may even find a character that's came up in previous Vonnegut books.
Blink and you'll miss it but don't miss out on this great read.
Similar Products
Reviews
Funny and true
Review date: 2008-08-12 Rating: 10 out of 10
One of Vonnegut's best - up there with Mother Night and (almost) Cat's Cradle. With a wry eye for comedy and an unimpeachable feel for pacing, our hero somehow manages to convey what is both farcical and revolting in the normal state of human affairs. Funny and true.
American society as seen by Vonnegut
Review date: 2008-03-19 Rating: 8 out of 10
Vonnegut's incisive writing never ceases to amaze and entertain me.
Here he is as cynical, bitter and critical as always but one can't help enjoying his funny divergent perspective of reality.
Read this one and you will find yourself questioning a lot of what is happening in the society around you as you follow the life and worries of a Vietnam veteran. Excellent book.
Excellent book, excellent writer
Review date: 2008-02-10 Rating: 10 out of 10
I had never even heard of Kurt Vonnegut until being stuck in a car during a road-trip across California with only an LA Times to read - which happened to have a 2-page feature on the author just after he died. A few weeks later I ordered one of his books on the off-chance it might be good, and in the months following then I have been devouring his body of work, and recommending his books to anyone with an interest in reading.
Hocus Pocus is possibly my favourite so far, although in saying that I have not read a bad one yet. As with all Vonnegut's books, this is filled with cynicism, pessimism, tragedy, distrust of authority, brutal honesty and cutting character assinations (of character types if not of real people). Yet for all that, the humour, invention and underlying humanity of the man means this is never a depressing read.
A League of its own
Review date: 2007-10-06 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is my 3rd novel from this writer and I have come to the conclusion that Vonnegut's novels are a form onto themselves. Adjectives like good or bad don't apply. His novels simply are. You do not perceive any literary or stylistic attempt. There is only this voice, seamless (the highest possible praise to a craftsman I believe), telling you about sad stories which are also so extraordinarily funny. Funny because in Vonnegut's world, everything is meaningless and the human race's stupid persistence and naïve belief in its own rights and superiority is entertaining to watch. At least if you manage to avoid the bombs. He may be unduly pessimistic and has certainly been proved wrong many times (the USA has not so far been bought out by the Japanese), but who cares, it is his vision of life that matters and it would do good to everybody to have a dose of his light-hearted pessimism.
Incidentally, Hocus Pocus is about the Vietnam War and the decline of the USA's economic might in the 1980's and it is a great book.
Product Details/Specifications
Authors:
Kurt Vonnegut
Recording label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
EAN: 9780099877103
Binding: Paperback
Dewey decimal number: 813.54
ISBN: 0099877104
Number of pages: 268
Publication date: 1991-10-17
Language: English (Unknown)
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Published)