To The Last Page

Vonnegut's Mother Night is written as a final testament of Howard J Campbell Jr as he awaits trial and probably execution in an Israeli prison for crimes committed during WWII. Living in Berlin in 1938, writer and playwright of romantic fantasies, Campbell achieves notoriety as one of the vilest propagandists for the Nazis, but his radio broadcasts actually send messages to US intelligence.  he agent who recruited him becomes known as The Blue Fairy Godmother, since he hasn't appeared to testify to the work Campbell has done for the government. Campbell's account of his activities after the war, the loss of his German wife Helga, his escape back to the US is typically twisted, satirical and humorous in classic Vonnegut style. Hounded by fanatical racist admirers and  target for the hatred of all true Americans, Campbell becomes friends with a painter in a neighbouring apartment who is actually a Russian spy, and is re-united after a fashion with Helga (actually her younger...

By the time you get to the end of The Lives of Women  there's a feeling of incompleteness, of important things left unsaid, but considering the subject and the nature of the lives of the women concerned, that could be intentional. Whether that makes for an entirely satisfactory reading experience, maybe not, but what holds the reader is the possibility of a terrible revelation that is continually hinted at but always seems to be skirted around. You almost wonder whether the whole purpose of the book is to avoid confronting a dark secret that might not turn out to be all that big a deal. Again, this reticence reflects in a lot of ways the mindset of the life that Elaine, the main character in the novel, has lived with all her life. The revelation does eventually come, but whether it turns out to be a big deal or not, I'll not say, but what you can figure out is that the 'unfortunate tragedy' in the past that was serious enough to never be spoken of again. It would also a...