Review: 'Jailbird' by Kurt Vonnegut

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

'Jailbird' by Kurt Vonnegut, 310 pages - Instagram @c_reads_books

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Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut tells the life story of Walter F. Starbuck. Narrating his first days of freedom after being in jail, Walter recounts various stories from different points in his life, explaining how he ended up where he did. From a chauffeur’s son to a Harvard man to a communist to a WWII soldier to an “advisor for youth affairs” in the Nixon White House to Watergate’s least known minor co-conspirator, Walter has had quite the life. Newly released from a minimum-security prison in Georgia, he is without a friend on the outside, but Walter sees a new beginning when he travels to New York City and once again sees the people from his past.

I loved this book, as I have the other 12 books I’ve read by Vonnegut (so far). This book is different from his other work in that it is less absurd, and maybe the most serious novel of his that I’ve read so far. The story is still told as Vonnegutian as Vonnegut’s other novels, yet it is more outwardly dark, lacking some of his usual absurdity to lighten the story (which I actually enjoyed as a change of pace). That being said, even though the story was more serious than I had anticipated, Jailbird definitely did not disappoint. The story made me both want to laugh and cry, as any good book should! To top it off, everyone’s favorite fictional science fiction writer Kilgore Trout makes an appearance (I must say though, that I was shocked and confused (and even a little saddened) to learn that his name was just a pseudonym)! Overall, this book is as amazing as all of Vonnegut’s other work, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and satire!