The Sirens of Titan/The Bell Jar (Reviews) in Back entries: 2013 - 2015

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (pages: 224) is about Winston Niles Rumfoord and his dog Kazak. The pair flew into a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, which means they spend their time as energy until a planet crosses their paths. It means that they return to Earth for an hour every fifty-nine days. When Malachi Constant hears from Winston that he is about to go on to an adventure that covers planets, a moon and that someone close to Winston is going to have a big part in his future, he doesn’t believe it.

To be honest, I don’t think The Sirens of Titan was as good as Cat’s Cradle in terms of writing style. The story line was interesting to some extent, but I did find that my interest ebbed and flowed throughout the book a bit too much. I may read this again at some stage.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (pages: 234) was a re-read and didn’t take me long to get through. I am suffering the end of a cold, and on Tuesday I was feeling pretty rubbish so I spent the day reading this. In 1953, Esther Greenwood has an internship with a fashion magazine in New York. However, she finds herself spiralling towards depression....

It was an alright read, although I think my judgement on it is clouded by the fact that I was pretty knackered and very snuffly. The Bell Jar didn’t grab my interest the same way that other books on mental illness have done (for example One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, which I have already read two or three times), but it’s still interesting.

Last updated January 01, 2015