Bluebeard: A Novel (Delta Fiction)

Strangely, this is in my top 2 of Vonnegut books. It is almost universally acknowledged that Slaughter House Five is his very best. A masterpiece. Bluebeard is a very different narrative style for Vonnegut, but has the same, deeply moving emotion that makes Slaughter House a classic. It is a very well told story in what is a much more traditional voice. Evidence that Vonnegut would have been a genius in any style he chose. And this work is genius. I can make a lot of arguments for other books being in his top 2, but I can't make an argument why this one is not, which is ridiculous logic, but, in the end, it is the visceral response. It is that, when I think of Vonnegut, this and Slaughter House are the first two books I think of. Can you go wrong with Vonnegut, anyway? No, you can't. Even if you don't agree that it is perhaps his second best novel, you will be very unlikely to regret reading it.

I have EXTREME ADHD. The way Vonnegut writes, I find it very easy to follow. There are just chunks of writing, meaningful chunks, but chunks nonetheless. It is easy to follow a book this way because you never have to struggle to finish a portion of the book. Just read to the end of a small chunk, do what you need to do, and come back!

It's Kurt Vonnegut ffs... I can't be expected to write a separate review for each of his books so here's my answer for 'Should I buy (insert KV book here)?YES... (insert KV book here) is amazingly well written... you'll laugh out loud at least once... you'll cry at least once... You'll catch yourself at least once with super dumb expressions on your face and make sure no-one is looking at you... you'll have to put the book down at least once because it's too much feelz... You will read many phrases that you'll think 'I should write this down to mention to people!' but don't bother, there are too many and people will feel like you're obsessed with Kurt Vonnegut.Seriously though, about Bluebeard... It's KV writing about abstract expressionists (painters), which I love, and I've always considered KV an abstract expressionist writer in a way... You sometimes have no idea what you are reading or have just read, but you stare off into space and simply say... "Wow... Deep."

Seventy-one year-old Armenian-American Abstract Expressionist painter Rabo Karabekian is living alone on the oceanfront of East Hampton, Long Island, in his lonely 19-room house. A new arrival shows up on his private beach, and she quickly takes over Rabo’s house and life. She is an author, and encourages Karabekian to write his autobiography.This is an amusing look at modern art and artists, war memories and cruelty, art in general, and it’s told with all that I love about Vonnegut.Kurt Vonnegut + art discussion = a great read. Recommended.

Read and re-read this book multiple times. Love Bluebeard for its simplicity in terms of plot and for its complex examination of the full spectrum of personal relations among relatives, strangers, colleagues and even people whom we may not even like but with whom we nevertheless associate. And of course the ever-present war commentary, as Rabo recalls the events that shaped his amazing abilities and unfortunate shortcomings. I'll wait a few years and then re-read so I can be reminded of one simple truth -- we all need to cut ourselves some slack and remember what we indeed bring to the world.

Have been reading him for years. This book let me escape from the horrible and hateful politics of 2019 and remember the history and devastation of WWII. And somehow be grateful again for being American and not tell Europeans I am Canadian when over there for fear they will react badly. (They should, and do.)It was hysterically funny, tremendously sad and interestingly educational about this genre of art. Bad for sleep, though, as hard to put in down before 2 am.

I love this book. I have read it four times over the past couple of years. I have bought multiple copies as gifts for others. Kurt Vonnegut is (was) such a great genius, I love all of his works, but this one really speaks to me. While I know it is not considered to be one of his finest works, I find the book brilliant and engaging. I am sure I will read it many more times.

Another home run Vonnegut story. I started reading Kurt when I ran out of Chuck Palahniuk books and Bluebeard is another great one. It ties nicely into a lot of his other stories in small ways. I feel like Kurt's at his best when he's able to talk about the country's wars and how they relate to the rest of our world.

The biography of Rabo Karabekian; draughtsman and painter of vanishing works, zeitgeist of C20th art and war and a friendless man who has lost his way...and that's just the veneer folks. What lies beneath is an exploration of what art means, how it plays out in life and why it is important to the human condition.I utterly, utterly loved this book. I loved the characters, the tale and the wisdom all writ so simple. The last 30 pages, made my jaw drop and my soul sing. Vonnegut distils my 55 year love affair with abstract art into 5 words (page 251) and the pool is limpid.

Bluebeard, or Rabo Karabekian, is a fictional character who has been compelled to write his autobiography by a women novelist who showed up on his private beach and promptly moved in with him. He's Amenian, his parents survived the genocide and moved to New York and later, as he's writing the book and after having found considerable financial success, he's living in the Hamptons.So his story unfolds. He tried to make it as an artist, he fought in the war where he lost an eye, he returned and tried to make it as a business man and an artist, neglecting his duties as a husband and father, something he regrets. Calamities ensued. He has a secret in the potato barn that he will tell no one but everyone knows there's something in there, something he doesn't plan to have revealed until the instructions in his will say that it should be opened.I really, really enjoyed this one. It was funny and sharp and uplifting. I guess I don't read a lot of "happy" books but this definitely was one. The ending in particular was absolutely perfect. Apparently, Rabo Karabekian is also briefly in of Breakfast of Champions, so I guess I had better read that too.I loved it. Read it. Then talk about "And Now it's Women's Turn."

Kurt Vonnegut has news for George Santayana, the philosopher who stated that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. On the contrary, he says, we're doomed to repeat the past no matter what. That's what it is to be alive. Furthermore, belief is nearly the whole of the Universe, whether based on truth or not. Time, you see, is liquid. One moment is no more important than any other and all moments quickly run away. Let's admit first of all Bluebeard is a little self-indulgent and by no means Vonnegut at the top of his form. This is not Slaughterhouse Five, Galapagos, Breakfast of Champions, or even Player Piano. He inhabits the skin of an abstract impressionist painter, someone in the same loft complex as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, etc, but with a different kind of talent. Profoundly unfashionably, he has the gift of realism at a time when realist painters are not in vogue. Furthermore, he used a degraded set of materials for his largest and most respected abstract impressionist work. After a few years strips of it dropped from the canvas, much of it crumbled away. But he's doing all right, nevertheless, and has drawn the attention of a neighbour whose opening gambit on the beach is, "Tell me how your parents died." Circe Birman, this personable, if discomforting, woman is to change several things in his life, not all of them for the better. What is it that he has locked away in his huge potato barn? Vonnegut's least impressive writing is worth a read. And he's right you know, time is liquid.

Vonnegut gives the fairy tale of Bluebeard a twentieth-century twist by making Bluebeard an artist who has survived World War II and, in its aftermath, become an abstract expressionist as well as something of a recluse. Through his musings, Vonnegut explores the themes of gender politics and the existentialist crisis of meaning. As a Vonnegut fan, I thought this didn't quite measure up to his "big idea" novels such as Slaughterhouse Five and Timequake, but as someone with an interest in modern art, I enjoyed it and found myself quite invested in the outcome (which, however, I will not spoil for other readers!)

A most interesting book (a fictional biography of an Abstract Expressionist artist in USA) which covers various subjects including Armenian history, wars, love and marriage, and the world of art and artists. A very human story and easy to read, although one does have to concentrate whilst reading it.