Kurt Vonnegut

Hocus Pocus (Paperback)

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(3.3) 3.3 stars out of 10 reviews 10 reviews
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Hocus Pocus (Paperback)

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3.3 out of 5stars
(10 reviews)
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Most helpful positive review

5.00 out of 5 stars review
Verified Purchaser
10/24/2011
I will preface my revi...
I will preface my review by saying that Kurt Vonnegut is not for everyone. Personally, I love the subject matter he writes about and his style. However, I know quite a few people that wouldn't be able to get through two chapters of this. Hocus Pocus doesn't have much of a traditional plot; if anything, it's more of a character study of Hartke, the main character in the novel. Like the summary says, it's a fictional autobiography. For some readers, it may be slow going because of this, but there's plenty of action and drama to keep interest. It's hard to give a review of Hocus Pocus, because it's so different from most novels. I will say that I loved it and found it highly entertaining. Vonnegut tackles a lot of issues in this novel -- environmental concerns that are eerily accurate for a book written in 1990, the effects that war has on a person and a nation, bureaucratic power games, etc. I liked the numerology aspects that are included, though the ending gave me a bit of a headache trying to figure out; I'm sure it's much easier when you're actually reading the book rather than listening to it being read. Even though it's definitely depressing (which is to be expected from Vonnegut), I found myself chuckling at many of Hartke's observations and at the weird things that have happened in his life. There was one thing and one thing only that bothered me about Hocus Pocus. There were quite a few references to Slaughter-House Five. Hartke mentions "some author" who wrote about Trafalmadorians and goes on to mention them multiple times throughout the second half of the novel. I didn't think these references added anything to the story -- in fact, they took me out of the story because I kept wondering why Vonnegut couldn't think of anything else to reference besides his own novel. George Ralph's performance is astounding. His tone is perfect for this book. For the humorous, satirical parts, he speaks as if he's serious, but somehow still makes it known that the words aren't meant to be taken literally. Hartke came alive for me because of Ralph's narration, and I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed Hocus Pocus as much had I not listened to this audiobook.
sedelia

Most helpful negative review

1.00 out of 5 stars review
Verified Purchaser
07/10/2009
True Vonnegut style, w...
True Vonnegut style, with some humorous moments, but truly a bitter book -- I was so depressed on finishing it. Yes, there are a lot of things that don't work in America, but this book was so full of hate for American things that I have to reciprocate with an equal amount of dislike.
NellieMc
  • 2.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    07/09/2021
    Not one of his better efforts. The…
    Not one of his better efforts. The more things change, the more they stay the same? What was the point? I really wasn't sure. The perpetual motion of a world feeding on its own inadequacies and eccentricities, perhaps? And I, unlike the protagonist's friend from Vietnam, did not have to laugh like hell.
    AliceAnna
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    10/21/2019
    "Any form of Government, not just Capitalism, is whatever people who have all our money, drunk or sober, sane or insane, decide to do today." ''Hocus Pocus'' is first-person narrative told by Eugene Debs Hartke, West Point graduate and Vietnam War veteran told in retrospective and written on scraps of paper whilst in prison. Hartke is thoughtful about his war record but not tormented by it and is quite candid about the number of people he killed or had killed on behalf of his Government nor the many official lies he dispensed whilst an information officer. After leaving Vietnam and the Army he is recruited by his old commanding officer to become a physics teacher at Tarkington College in upstate New York, an institution that specializes in nurturing the moronic sons and daughters of the ruling class. After years in tranquil academia Hartke is fired from the college for being too pessimistic and thus unpatriotic by rich and powerful accusers who never actually served in the military themselves. As he explains, ''I see no harm in telling young people to prepare for failure rather than success, since failure is the main thing that is going to happen to them.'' On dismissal from the college Hartke finds employment just across the lake at the former state prison, which is run for profit by a Japanese corporation and operates it much more efficiently and profitably than the state did. ''Poor and powerless people, no matter how docile, were no longer of use to canny investors.'' The prison is populated entirely by black inmates after a Supreme Court ruling that it was inhuman to confine one race with another so the entire prison population escapes, during a gang operation to break out an individual drug dealer and crosses the frozen lake to the Tarkington campus taking the college's Governors hostage. Believing that blacks were incapable of planing a prison break, Hartke is arrested as the leader of the uprising and incarcerated himself. In Hartke's America most of the country's companies and institutions has been sold to foreigners, who feel like invaders in business suits, and what is left is broken down and depleted where black markets and racial and social inequalities are epidemic. On the face of it this could be seen as a cynical and sarcastic critique of his own country. Yet it isn't totally pessimistic as there are also glimpses of compassion. I felt that Hartke was excellent characterisation. He wasn't without his faults but he does have some redeeming traits. "My own feeling is that if adultery is wickedness then so is food. Both make me feel so much better afterward." Therefore he comes across as being very human a fact enhanced by the almost conversational style to the writing. The story is told with shifting timelines, is erratic at times and occasionally goes off on tangents. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book feeling a mixture of emotions whilst doing so, some times laughing at others cringing and as such feel that it deserves to be more widely read.
    PilgrimJess
  • 2.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    02/28/2016
    A Vietnam vet writes a...
    A Vietnam vet writes an odd, disjointed memoir. As in other Vonnegut novels, the story jumps around in time, focused on one slightly anti-establishment man in his later years who observes the world around him with a slightly alien gaze. I wasn't too impressed with this one; there's no plot, of course, and I didn't like the main character or want to read about him.
    wealhtheowwylfing
  • 4.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    11/20/2013
    For the most part this...
    For the most part this feels like Vonnegut took a bunch of parts from other books and spliced them together into a new book. The jailhouse narrative from Jailbird, the slow apocalypse of Cat's Cradle, the soldier recovering from war like Slaughterhouse-V, and so forth. That doesn't mean this is bad, just that it seems like it's covering a lot of familiar territory. But while it came out about 20 years ago it's talk of corporate greed remains just as relevant. And if you change most of the mentions of Japan to China it would largely reflect our current world.That is all.
    ptdilloway
  • 4.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    04/02/2013
    I cant say that this ...
    I can't say that this is one of Kurt Vonnegut's best works. To be honest, it's rather more depressing than many of his other novels - and they're a rather depressing lot anyway! Unlike his Bluebeard, though, this book lacks a deeply moving and somehow uplifting ending. It lacks a sense of resolution...perhaps that's what Vonnegut intended. It probably is.But even so, Vonnegut retained his gifts as a writer. So although I found myself frequently feeling a little depressed by this book, I also couldn't stop reading it - and I'll eventually read it again.One thing that's almost shocking is the accuracy of Vonnegut's "future" (2001) America. Environmental collapse (from glaciers instead of global warming, but close enough), an ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor, a desperate energy crisis, booming prison populations and the privatization of prisons, the wholesale purchase of American businesses and properties by foreign businesses, chronic unemployment caused by the demise of American industry, no healthcare for the poor...and that's just from memory, I know there was more. The seeds of all these trends were not only planted but sprouting back in 1990 when Vonnegut wrote this, but even so he paints a pitiless and frighteningly accurate picture.It's nice to see a few of his old favorite characters in the book; it gives a feeling of continuity. And he retained his wicked wit and imagination. It just seems that they were being overshadowed by the essential bleakness of Vonnegut's worldview - a worldview which, I fear, was only too clear.
    PMaranci
  • 3.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    05/06/2012
    Hocus Pocus is a hodge...
    Hocus Pocus is a hodge podge of curiously disjointed bits of thought undeniably arranged in a flowing order originally written on bits of paper and post-it notes. A despicably likeable main character stuck in a bureaucratic mess forces him to confess his delightfully funny past actions in vain hopes of keeping his cushy job. Lots of random humor kept me on my toes.
    matthew254
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    10/24/2011
    I will preface my revi...
    I will preface my review by saying that Kurt Vonnegut is not for everyone. Personally, I love the subject matter he writes about and his style. However, I know quite a few people that wouldn't be able to get through two chapters of this. Hocus Pocus doesn't have much of a traditional plot; if anything, it's more of a character study of Hartke, the main character in the novel. Like the summary says, it's a fictional autobiography. For some readers, it may be slow going because of this, but there's plenty of action and drama to keep interest. It's hard to give a review of Hocus Pocus, because it's so different from most novels. I will say that I loved it and found it highly entertaining. Vonnegut tackles a lot of issues in this novel -- environmental concerns that are eerily accurate for a book written in 1990, the effects that war has on a person and a nation, bureaucratic power games, etc. I liked the numerology aspects that are included, though the ending gave me a bit of a headache trying to figure out; I'm sure it's much easier when you're actually reading the book rather than listening to it being read. Even though it's definitely depressing (which is to be expected from Vonnegut), I found myself chuckling at many of Hartke's observations and at the weird things that have happened in his life. There was one thing and one thing only that bothered me about Hocus Pocus. There were quite a few references to Slaughter-House Five. Hartke mentions "some author" who wrote about Trafalmadorians and goes on to mention them multiple times throughout the second half of the novel. I didn't think these references added anything to the story -- in fact, they took me out of the story because I kept wondering why Vonnegut couldn't think of anything else to reference besides his own novel. George Ralph's performance is astounding. His tone is perfect for this book. For the humorous, satirical parts, he speaks as if he's serious, but somehow still makes it known that the words aren't meant to be taken literally. Hartke came alive for me because of Ralph's narration, and I'm sure I wouldn't have enjoyed Hocus Pocus as much had I not listened to this audiobook.
    sedelia
  • 4.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    07/11/2010
    I have read a lot of V...
    I have read a lot of Vonnegut, and Hocus Pocus is pretty typical in its anti-war, social satire of the world we live in. However, I found it to be atypical in that it is much more cynical than the other Vonnegut novels that I have read. That isn't to say that all of his novels aren't cynical, but Hocus Pocus finds a Vonnegut that has almost written off the world. Through his protagonist, Eugene Debs Hartke, he pokes fun at the idea that we are somehow intelligent creatures, "the ruling class," and the idea that there is a god. Then, he turns around and has his character make decisions out of fear that their might actually be a Judgment Day and portrays certain members of "the ruling class" in a positive light. He even has one of his characters point out towards the end that a particularly pointed characterizations of Yale and other ruling class universities "might have been a little harsh." Basically, Vonnegut is cynical but inconsistent in the viewpoints expressed in this book. He comes across as the satirical muckraker who has suddenly realized that he might not have all the answers. He is an atheist, but we should be careful just in case there is a god. The ruling class is made up of plantation owners forcing the rest of us into slavery, but that might be a little harsh. It's these frequent contradictions that make this such a fascinating read. No one has all fo the answers. Not even someone who has as spent as many years observing all of the things that make us what we are as Vonnegut had.
    fuzzy_patters
  • 3.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    01/17/2010
    This is the first Vonn...
    This is the first Vonnegut novel I've read and enjoyed it to the point of wanting to read more of his work. I enjoyed the observations of his main character though I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps it's because it seemed more like an editorial of American life than a story.
    Tasker
  • 1.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    07/10/2009
    True Vonnegut style, w...
    True Vonnegut style, with some humorous moments, but truly a bitter book -- I was so depressed on finishing it. Yes, there are a lot of things that don't work in America, but this book was so full of hate for American things that I have to reciprocate with an equal amount of dislike.
    NellieMc
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