Book Report: Mother of all Spy Thrillers (sort of)

"I had hoped, as a broadcaster, to be merely ludicrous, but this is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings so reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate."

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I think I noted in one of my updates that although it was written in 1961 and on the surface deals with issues from WWII and the Cold War- much of what Vonnegut challenges us to consider in this book are acutely poignant today. Fear, anger, insecurity, self-importance, nationalism, racism, politics and hypocrisy, these are themes Vonnegut expertly balances and dances with like a plate-spinner on the Ed Sullivan Show.

As usual, he makes us laugh at things that could easily make us cry. I think that this novel does a better job of featuring the insanity and absurdity of politics, espionage, and war than Heller's 'Catch-22.'

'Mother Night' is about William Campbell Jr. an American living in Germany before WWII when he is recruited by the U.S. to transmit vital information to the Allies. His cover, was to become one of the leading NAZI propagandist. Unfortunately for him, only three people know his true mission- two of whom die before the end of the war (one of whom was President Roosevelt). Consequently, the Israelis want to put him on trial for his war crimes. In between he gets tangled up with some Soviet agents after a Russian looter plagiarize his entire pre-war career's worth of plays and novels.

To say this is a "mad-cap" comedy would be an understatement. I couldn't help thinking of Mel Brooks' 'The Producers' toward the end when Campbell is being sheltered by neo-NAZI nut jobs near the climax of the book.

At one point Rev. Dr. Lionel J.D. Jones D.D.S., D.D., the publisher of a right-wing extremist newspaper indignantly tells an FBI agent that instead of breaking up the meeting of his "Iron Guard" youth meeting, they should be joining his movement:

"Why bother us? Everything we do is to make the country stronger! Join with us, and let's go after the people who are trying to make it weaker!"

"Who's that?" said the G-man.

"I have to tell you? said Jones. "Haven't you even found that out in the course of your work? The Jews! The Catholics! The Negroes! The Orientals! The Unitarians! The foreign-born, who don't have any understanding of democracy, who play right into the hands of the socialists, the communists, the anarchists, the anti-Christ and the Jews!"

"For your information," said the G-man in triumph, "I am a Jew."

I thought that I could've been reading about a present-day "Tea Party" rally- the only people he didn't mention were the Gays and the Mexicans. In some ways, as funny as 'Mother Night' was, it's also as unnerving as '1984' because it's so prophetic.

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