j a m e s f o r s y t h ✡ n e t

Fry and Laurie on linguistics.

Walter Starbuck, the main character of Jailbird, has much more control over his life than the main characters in some of Vonnegut’s other novels, notably Paul Proteus in Player Piano and Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse 5, among others. Starbuck’s rising and falling doesn’t really get described in graphic detail… never does he really hit rock bottom nor seem to touch the stars (!) at all. The result feels a little flat. Sirens of Titan sees Malachi Constant go to tremendous extremes - which I personally find makes for voyeuristic, quick reading.

As an Australian, and an ignorant one at that, I have to admit to knowing very little about the Watergate scandal at all. Jailbird whetted my appetite to learn more. Perhaps I’ll have to pick up some good non-fiction on the subject for some more in-depth investigating.

I don’t know whether this says more about the book or about myself, but I have just reread this book after several years and found that I remember virtually nothing from the first reading.