Bluebeard

I think that after "Breakfast of Champions", that Vonnegut had done all he could do in the medium of literary fiction and had peaked out as a writer. I regard the later novels as increasingly weak with "Hocus Pocus" being a particular disappointment. However, "Bluebeard" while more conventional in style, contains all his great strengths as a story teller, a creator of characters and ultimately at touching the reader's heart. A late triumph in a stellar literary career: "Bluebeard". Sometimes I think that Vonnegut has gone out of style in the American literary landscape but I predict that one day his best novels, short stories and essays will return to the center of our literary and cultural consciousness.

For a great Canadian novel in the Vonnegut tradition, read "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel.

A fairly interesting and entertaining story about a "modern artist". This fictitious character was a contemporary of Jackson Pollack and that whole crowd. At some point in his life, he stops painting because he comes to believe that he lacks talent or vision or something. But he continues to collect abstract paintings and ends up holding a quite expensive collection which he has hanging on the walls all over his house.

This is not Vonnegut's best book (that would be Cat's Cradle, in my opinion) but it's quite good. Like much of Vonnegut's writing, it's entertaining as well as thoughtful, and you find yourself moving along through the book quite quickly, not feeling burdened the way you often can with a book. (Face it, it's a lot easier to watch TV than read! Even if the rewards aren't nearly as great.)

The story of Rabo Karabekian a painter,father a man caught in his past. Vonnegut's writing about one of his characters in Rabo whom as been in other of his works.
Now get this "Blubeard" is Rabo Karabekians autobiography how genius is that. The book has a great easy flow. Typical Vonnegut work. Rabo is telling about of course his life with the help a new friend Circe Berman, whom the book is get this dedicated to..haaaa
Rabo is a medicore painter,who had to find himself. The book changes quickly from the the past to the present, but it is done so remarkably well that you wont even notice.
I felt that the book was about a man lost on his on canvas and the picture of his life he is painting as his writes his memories.I hope that my review does justice to the book. I will remember this line," ..That the human condition can be summed up in just one word, and this is the word:Embarrassment." IT's True,IT's True.....

Being a college English major, it's tough to find time to read books for fun. Well, I imagine that's a problem with just about any major, but I have firsthand experience with English majors. Anyhow, when I do get that rare few days that I can fit in some personal reading, I look for something that I can finish in a short amount of time, but that'll still be fullfilling, something that won't make me go, "WHAT WAS I THINKING!?" Anyhow, one particular author that fits this particular niche in my reading curriculum is Kurt Vonnegut.
I read "Bluebeard" in 3 days and as much as I try to avoid cliches, I cannot deny the appropriateness of the following phrase:
I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!
Ok, I said it, there. It was funny, heartwarming, sad in places, and it welled up a plethora of emotion in me as I read. The novel didn't quite have the social commentary of some of Vonnegut's other works; this should not dismay any Vonnegut nuts. The author spends some time looking at how the ideas of nationality and "roots" manifest, especially in the contrast between the protagonist, Rabo Karabekian (an Armenian Abstract-Expressionist painter) and Dan Gregory (also Armenian, but Americanized his original last name, Gregorian, and a painter/illustrator of a more realistic school). Dan Gregory is Karabekian's tutor and we hear about him in flashbacks, when Karabekian recalls his past to Circe Berman, the vivacious and interesting widow who invades Karabekian's life. Circe Berman's role in the novel is an immensely enjoyable one and as I read I went through ups and downs, practically screaming at her through the pages things like "What gives you the right!?!" But she grew on me as the pages went by and I slowly saw that there was more to her than meets the eye (ahhh! cliche #2!!).
Take my word: wrapped in this novel is a fantastic story with an incredible ending preceded by page after page of memorable scenes starring one of the greatest fictional Abstract Expressionist painters in history, Rabo Karabekian, and his most interesting life and his most interesting houseguests.

Never have I been so impressed with Vonnegut's ability to create character's. You can really tell that he becomes his character's, which is a trait you don't see in many author's. Although 'Bluebeard' is not one of his most immediatly interesting books, it is definantly one of his more satisfying. Unlike 'Breakfast of Champions', 'Siren's of Titan', and 'Slaughterhouse Five', 'Bluebeard', works more on character development, rather than using speratic Sci Fi stories from the likes of Kilgore Trout to convey Vonnegut's often hilarious mindset.
This time around Vonnegut uses an autiobiographical setting, much like 'Mother Night', to delve into the human condition. Although 'Mother Night' seems to be more satisfying, in whole, 'Bluebeard' is a much more impressive outing. As you can tell, I've read most of his works. Which tells you I'm a bit partial to him as an author. But, I still recommend 'Bluebeard' very highly to those that know his previous works. To those beginners, I'd recommend starting with one of his more famous novels.

If Kurt Vonnegut takes on War in "Slaughter-House Five" and Greed in "God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater", the incomparable author tackles a less conspicuous vice in "Bluebeard"---Modern Art.

The story's hero, a mildly talented Armenian illustrator named Rabo Karabekian, happens to run with the biggest names in modern art before modern art gets big. In exchange for loans, the fledgling artists give Rabo paintings that all skyrocket in value once the troubled artists inevitably kill themselves.

Part flashback, part real-time, "Bluebeard" runs through Rabo's various loves, picking up the recurring Vonnegut theme of first marriages' (much like his own) failing. There's also a strong, very accurate undercurrent of Armenian culture (I should know; my brother-in-law's as Armenian as they get). But behind it all lies the question of art...how to recognize it and how to ignore it. Vonnegut has some beautifully lucid passages that answer the question and are, in poetic irony, lustrous art in and of themselves.

As always, there are what must be Vonnegut's own pet ideas masquerading as the raving lunatic's. His washed-up novelist Paul Slezinger's Theory of Revolutions is one such concoction. In Slezinger's theory, every revolution must have three specialists. 1. The genius who stands alone at the top as the fertilizing mind. 2. The "highly intelligent citizen in good standing in the community who understands and admires the genius and testifies the genius is not mad." And 3. "The Explainer", who explains everything to the ignorant masses' satisfaction.

"Bluebeard" might not be Vonnegut's finest, but it certainly fulfills everything the Vonnegut fan might expect: Disarming insights on sadness and death, scathing cultural indictments, a major cultural grail dismembered, and all of it done with an almost jarring lightness of touch.

As Rabo's father concludes: "If anybody has discovered what life is all about, it is too late. I am no longer interested."

After reading other reviews of this book, I have come to the conclusion that it's a book for certain people, and those people love it to death, while the others find it a disappointment. Having said that, I must say that this is quite possibly the most moving book I have ever read. It is so much of an enigma to me as to what precise ingredients touch me so emotionally, but something in there spoke to me underneath the words. It's heartbreaking, beautiful, lonely, incredible, and as my title suggests, it hits, for me at least, incredibly close to home, as though I were a Rabo Karabekian in my last life. And, without giving it away, I thought the secret was, for lack of a better word, perfect.

Bluebeard harbors two themes: good old-fashioned appreciation of the USA and the human spirit's longing to achieve something great in life. The cowboy boot symbolizes one character's achievement, the secret in the potato barn represents the hero's.
Rabo Karbekian (from BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS) is an aging artist writing his autobiography. He recounts his parents' stories -- their immigration from Armenia. His mother adaptated to life in America, his father didn't.
Vonnegut moves his story skillfully between past and present. Karabekian's work -- his paintings -- have disintegrated into dust of the floors of galleries and private collections worldwide (did A. Wyeth's work inspire this story?) but he now owns the largest collection "of abstract expressions paintings still in private hands." A widower, he has adopted two friends, a has-been novelist and Circe, a widow he finds on the beach. Circe inspires him to write his autobiography and it is to her that he reveals the secret in the potato barn (which, in his mind likens him to the Bluebeard of fairy tale fame).
The reader will enjoy this book on several political and philosophical levels in addition to enjoying a fine story. It is tender yet sometimes loveless, a blending of wisdom and insanity.
Vonnegut's writing is of the Hemingway/Dick-and-Jane style -- short, sharp and exasperating. He writes like someone who has no appreciation for the English language and wants to use as little of it as possible. That's stylish today, but vexing to someone who likes to read. I find his author intrusion distracting and annoying but his characters enchant, his wit amuses and his observations stimulate. BLUEBEARD's wit, substance and style are pure Vonnegut.

Why this isn't commonly considered Vonnegut's best novel is beyond me. Probably because its plot is hard to articulate, I guess. The book deals with the self-doubt that plagues those who choose to call themselves artists or writers. As one of them, this book and its message struck a chord and Rabo is such a lovable narrator.

Kurt Vonnegut-for writing glib, memorable characters to take part in your puppet shows. An aging Abstract Expressionist is trying to enjoy his last years in obscurity when a woman suddenly befriends him and more or less forces him to think about his past and write his autobiography. As the demanding guest makes him dig deeper into his unhappy life, he remembers his intrinsic worth that half a century of war and art had blurred. Few writers are any good at making you feel for their characters. Bluebeard is a fine example of Vonnegut's mastery. Certainly one of the best I've read from him.

While Breakfast of Champions remains my all time favorite, Bluebeard ranks a close second. The story is a witty and poignant autobiography of Rabo Karabekian, a WWII vet and artist friend of Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock. In a way that it seems only Vonnegut can, sad, depressing characters are interwoven with a satirical wit that produces a cunning commentary on American culture. Like most Vonnegut books, whenever I attempt to convey the plot to a friend (who is unaware of his writing style) they say something like, "oh - that sounds so depressing!" Yet, Vonnegut writes with a trenchant wit that digs below just the character's emotions, to the culture and influences that create such actions.

The most intriguing aspect of the plot is Vonnegut's satire on various art movements, as well as the art market. Rabo was initially trained by a horribly haughty painter who painted in a realist style. Upon returning home after WWII, Rabo rejected his tutor's style and became friends with Jackson Pollock and Terry Kitchen (who I had never heard of before, but googled and found that he was a fluxus artist-?). His actions caused his marriage to disintegrate and his two sons to disown him.

Similar to his personal life, his paintings, made out of Sateen Dura Luxe, also disintegrate and fall apart, thus destroying his artistic career. His paintings were solid layers of the Dura Luxe on canvas, with small pieces of tape added. While his career and personal life were in shambles, Rabo ended up a very wealthy man. In return for money, his artist friends gave him many of their paintings (which they considered worthless at the time). His enormous collection of Abstract Expressionist paintings was the largest in the world. At the time he is writing his autobiography, Rabo is an old man living alone in a big, empty house in Long Island. While he has given up painting, he has one big secret locked in the potatoe barn behind his house.

What makes the Abstract Expressionist works so famous and revered? While Rabo's abstract work, which he clearly has no attachment to, is shown in museums and art history classes, he admits that his most beloved painting will be adored only by the laymen and "common people." Created in a realistic style he says - "It isnt a painting at all! It's a tourist attraction! It's a World's Fair! It's a Disneyland!" Bluebeard satirizes this adoration of "famous" works, forcing you to question and ponder the various definitions of art, and how one work becomes more famous than another.

I absolutely loved when Rabo would talk about his "meat" vesus his soul. "My soul didn't know what kind of picture to paint, but my meat sure did."

I am continually amazed at the nonchalance with which Vonnegut can wrap one within a story that hasn't happened yet, or if it has, only to a very few. His innate self deprecation, coupled with his very human but sometimes brutal honesty, somehow ties in with his subtle but TOTAL deference to women. I think that is who he came to be, if not who he always was. Mr. Vonnegut, we hardly knew ye.

With the exception of Player Piano, I have not read a Vonnegut book that I didn't enjoy and treasure--and I've read all of his novels--but Bluebeard is solidly in my Vonnegut top five if I was forced to rank them. An author everyone should read, and one I consider the finest of his generation, a uniquely American national treasure. We're lucky to have him forever through his writing.

Having now read all of Vonnegut's novels, I would say this is at least as good as any of them. I am an avid fan of all his works, and feel the loss of this great writer. His satire and laconic wit are unexcelled. Fortunately, this kind of material is no longer censored. Bluebeard sticks a to realism, as compared to sci-fi elements of Galapagos, Sirens of Titan, etc. There may be intended irony in this, as Bluebead involves the contrasting art styles of super-realism and abstractionism.

What the Hell is Rabo Karabekian, abstract expressionist, WWII wizard of camouflage, victim of Sateen Dura-lux, hiding in his potato barn? As you weave through this psudo-autobiography of a self-exiled, modern day Bluebeard...Vonnegut takes you through one of his most linear stories, but with all the twisted takes on the futility of humanity we expect of him. It's his fullest, most realized character piece, if not quite his funniest. But as per usual...a great read from Vonnegut

Bluebeard is the fictional biography of Rabo Karabekian an artist who doesn't value his own work until the end of the book. It comments on war,
the great depression,the human condition and many other topics. It is well written and engrossing.

Kurt Vonnegut's body of work contains some of the most humane books i have ever read. Books that strive to teach everyone to act with an uncommon decency and to possess a soul of true wit. Often, however, his characters are overwhelmed by the allegories that vonnegut makes of their lives. Not so with 'Bluebeard,' a novel seemingly possessed with humanity.
Yes there are the wonderful lessons that we have come to expect from our buddy Kurt, but here we have a group of people who for once seem to grasp their lives in a way that makes them jump above the considerable intellectual content of the novel in which they are living.
i think this may be due to the fact that most Vonnegut novels chronicle some poor souls world falling down in a slow earthquake of time, Bluebeard shows a man living a life that builds in complexity towards a powerful climax of wisdom, of heart. Rabo Karabekian finds a way to bring his soul to the world. Rather than being a typical vonnegut hero going to hell on a road paved with his own good intentions, Rabo takes the various hells of his life and finds a way to turn them all into little jewels.
A sobering but ultimately marvelous gift to the world

Just for fun I was looking thru Vonnegut reviews and was shocked that no one has reviewed Bluebeard. I have read everything that Kurt Vonnegut has ever written. This for me was by far his best novel. It is a story of redemption written in a way that only Vonnegut could bring to frutition. It is a masterpiece from the master and belongs on the shelf of any serious reader of one of America's best novelists of the 20th century.

Most writers hit their stride during middle age. Then after, they're never able to create the spark known in their earlier work. Not in Vonnegut's case! I don't know how old he is but he's no sprung chicken - he's old as dirt! Still, advanced age doesn't prevent him from spinning his satirical and comic magic. This BLUEBEARD tale has so many twists, turns, incidentals, and intended digressions, my attention span was fast being redlined. But what a joy it was to read! Thank you, Rabo!

This was possibly my favorite Vonnegut book. I'm a painter so I might be slightly biased based on the subject matter, but as with all his books, it is about much more. Hilarious and depressing as always. If you can't find comedy in tragedy the world must be a bleak place.

This was my first Vonnegut book ever and it was....geez it was good. I finished the book in almost a day (i would have finished it straight but i had to go to class and eat dinner and such). It's not like something that's so gripping you can't put it down, it's more like it's just something that's so GOOD you don't want to stop. I really enjoyed it, and i'm definitely going to be reading some more Vonnegut in the very near future.

The main character, an artist, gets rich by getting nice work of arts from his poor, by that time unknown, friends as payments for loans etc. He has his own short hall of fame that comes to an end after a terrible mistake. The book is about his efforts to finally do the the right thing. It is a a fantastic book.

Anna Palmgren, Stockholm, Sweden

I've read nearly everything from Vonnegut. I must say, this is probably my new favorite! Even with the disclaimer from KV at the beginning (i.e., the story is all made up), I loved it! The writing style of mixing the past with the present was superb. The coincidences and the ironies made me smile quizzically chapter after chapter. Read it just to understand the mystery of the potato barn and what was inside. Heartfelt and brilliant writing, thanks KV! Highly RECOMMENDED by this reader!

I have never read any of vonnegut's works before, nor have I ever heard of them. This is the first book that I read that combined mystery, suspense, suicide, mental insanity, sex, lies, war, modern art history, love, heartbreak and humor; and i must say, it worked quite well. I am very impressed with Vonnegut and I want to read more of his books.

The novel Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is a fictional autobiography, written by an old, fictional painter who was a close friend of Jackson Pollock. Through its autobiographical style and expansive subject matter, this novel tells the story of an old man's memories and regrets against the backdrop of American history and the Abstract Expressionist art movement.

The novel is standard Vonnegut, full of absurdity and wackiness, delivered in a relaxed and amused tone. This novel is intended for those interested in detached reminiscences, as the novel is fractured into pieces of the life of its main character, Rabo Karabekian, an Armenian illustrator. It details his adventures from childhood through World War II and his postwar involvement in a burgeoning art movement. Through the whimsical style and subject matter ranging from young adult novels to Italian architecture, Vonnegut creates a novel that becomes satisfying as the reader grows accustomed to Rabo's constant failures and waits for him to finally succeed.

Bluebeard is a minor novel in the Kurt Vonnegut's oeuvre. The character of Rabo Karabekian is taken from his previous novel, The Breakfast of Champions, in which Karabekian is a minor character, with a wildly different demeanor than in Bluebeard.

Among Vonnegut's less recognized novels, however, it stands out, mainly because of Karabekian's attitude about life and the way in which he, a painter, uses words to describe the events of his life. From the author of Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five, among others, Bluebeard is not as remarkable an achievement as it otherwise might be. However, taken on its own, the standards of excellence are quite different, as Vonnegut puts his own spin on new material, which is Abstract Expressionism.

The novel jumps around quite often, so it is difficult to establish the plot progression; in fact, whole decades of Rabo's life are barely touched upon. As Rabo says, his autobiography "turns out to be a diary of this past troubled summer, too" (1). It is a compilation of memories, loosely strung together through the narrative of his life. The basic events include Rabo's early life in "San Ignacio, California" (1), where his father is an Armenian immigrant cobbler; it continues during his apprenticeship to "one of the most popular American artists in history" (252), Dan Gregory, during the 1930s. After leaving Gregory, he serves in World War II in "a platoon of Army Engineers, curiously enough artists of one sort or another" (1) and, after returning home, gets involved in "the postwar movie" (223) by marrying his nurse and having two children. He then becomes a painter along with his friend, Terry Kitchen, and befriends Jackson Pollock and the other adherents to Abstract Expressionism. While he tells the reader the events of his life, he also recounts the events of the summer during which he writes his autobiography, when novelist Circe Berman comes to stay and tries to find out the secret that Rabo has hidden in the potato barn where he once worked.

The novel is exceedingly well-written, which is understandable since it is from late in Vonnegut's career, after he had thirty years to perfect his craft. A number of elements contribute to the high quality of writing in Bluebeard, including the use of style, structure, and themes.

Vonnegut's style heightens the feeling of reality found in Blueheard, by his use of literary tools such as like flashbacks, foreshadowing, and the "trivial footnote[s]" (153) interspersed throughout the narrative. As the timeline of Rabo's life unfolds, it almost feels like a sequence of real events, because it is packed with details, from Dan Gregory's cook who "was a hermaphrodite" (153) to "Kim Bum Suk" (227), the South Korean author of the fictional book Private Art Treasures of Tuscany. Rabo's character is developed through his narration until the reader feels as if he or she can almost see the mansion where he is working.

Typical of Vonnegut, the structure skips between past and present, incorporating incidental anecdotes. Unlike other similar novels like Slaughterhouse-Five and Deadeye Dick, however, a full narrative is developed parallel to the autobiography. It really is a "diary" (1), and Rabo jokes that "perhaps [he] should have scattered milestones along the route this book has taken" (212). With frequent "bulletin[s] from the present" (257), he details how Circe Berman is forcing herself into his life and controlling his actions, and how the novelist Paul Slazinger, who lives in the mansion, is ruining his own life. The events of that summer are mixed in with the events of Rabo's whole life, and the reader gets a feeling of the circumstances under which he is writing this autobiography. The present becomes as important as the past, as Rabo ties up the loose ends of his life.

The themes explored in Bluebeard range from the connections between war and gender to those between art and suicide. War, one of Vonnegut's favorite topics, is explored in depth when Rabo, like Vonnegut himself, ends up as a prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany. Like the protagonist of Slaughterhouse-Five, he emerges into postwar Germany, where all the prisoners are released. His old friend, the Countess Portomaggiore, believes that war is a useless creation of men. Her lover, Dan Gregory, however, fights for the Italian army in World War II, and believes that "no woman could succeed in the arts or sciences or politics or industry" (152). Being the autobiography of an artist, it also explores the purposes of art, and Rabo believes that, as in Abstract Expressionism, paintings should be "about nothing but themselves" (254).

Through his exploration of these ideas, Vonnegut makes Bluebeard more than just a "hoax autobiography," it becomes a comment on his life and the state of the world, as seen through the eyes of a man who believes he is a "floparroo" (258), and as such, it is a worthwhile read.

The novel Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is a fictional autobiography, written by an old, fictional painter who was a close friend of Jackson Pollock. Through its autobiographical style and expansive subject matter, this novel tells the story of an old man's memories and regrets against the backdrop of American history and the Abstract Expressionist art movement.

The novel is standard Vonnegut, full of absurdity and wackiness, delivered in a relaxed and amused tone. This novel is intended for those interested in detached reminiscences, as the novel is fractured into pieces of the life of its main character, Rabo Karabekian, an Armenian illustrator. It details his adventures from childhood through World War II and his postwar involvement in a burgeoning art movement. Through the whimsical style and subject matter ranging from young adult novels to Italian architecture, Vonnegut creates a novel that becomes satisfying as the reader grows accustomed to Rabo's constant failures and waits for him to finally succeed.

Bluebeard is a minor novel in the Kurt Vonnegut's oeuvre. The character of Rabo Karabekian is taken from his previous novel, The Breakfast of Champions, in which Karabekian is a minor character, with a wildly different demeanor than in Bluebeard.

Among Vonnegut's less recognized novels, however, it stands out, mainly because of Karabekian's attitude about life and the way in which he, a painter, uses words to describe the events of his life. From the author of Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five, among others, Bluebeard is not as remarkable an achievement as it otherwise might be. However, taken on its own, the standards of excellence are quite different, as Vonnegut puts his own spin on new material, which is Abstract Expressionism.

The novel jumps around quite often, so it is difficult to establish the plot progression; in fact, whole decades of Rabo's life are barely touched upon. As Rabo says, his autobiography "turns out to be a diary of this past troubled summer, too" (1). It is a compilation of memories, loosely strung together through the narrative of his life. The basic events include Rabo's early life in "San Ignacio, California" (1), where his father is an Armenian immigrant cobbler; it continues during his apprenticeship to "one of the most popular American artists in history" (252), Dan Gregory, during the 1930s. After leaving Gregory, he serves in World War II in "a platoon of Army Engineers, curiously enough artists of one sort or another" (1) and, after returning home, gets involved in "the postwar movie" (223) by marrying his nurse and having two children. He then becomes a painter along with his friend, Terry Kitchen, and befriends Jackson Pollock and the other adherents to Abstract Expressionism. While he tells the reader the events of his life, he also recounts the events of the summer during which he writes his autobiography, when novelist Circe Berman comes to stay and tries to find out the secret that Rabo has hidden in the potato barn where he once worked.

The novel is exceedingly well-written, which is understandable since it is from late in Vonnegut's career, after he had thirty years to perfect his craft. A number of elements contribute to the high quality of writing in Bluebeard, including the use of style, structure, and themes.

Vonnegut's style heightens the feeling of reality found in Blueheard, by his use of literary tools such as like flashbacks, foreshadowing, and the "trivial footnote[s]" (153) interspersed throughout the narrative. As the timeline of Rabo's life unfolds, it almost feels like a sequence of real events, because it is packed with details, from Dan Gregory's cook who "was a hermaphrodite" (153) to "Kim Bum Suk" (227), the South Korean author of the fictional book Private Art Treasures of Tuscany. Rabo's character is developed through his narration until the reader feels as if he or she can almost see the mansion where he is working.

Typical of Vonnegut, the structure skips between past and present, incorporating incidental anecdotes. Unlike other similar novels like Slaughterhouse-Five and Deadeye Dick, however, a full narrative is developed parallel to the autobiography. It really is a "diary" (1), and Rabo jokes that "perhaps [he] should have scattered milestones along the route this book has taken" (212). With frequent "bulletin[s] from the present" (257), he details how Circe Berman is forcing herself into his life and controlling his actions, and how the novelist Paul Slazinger, who lives in the mansion, is ruining his own life. The events of that summer are mixed in with the events of Rabo's whole life, and the reader gets a feeling of the circumstances under which he is writing this autobiography. The present becomes as important as the past, as Rabo ties up the loose ends of his life.

The themes explored in Bluebeard range from the connections between war and gender to those between art and suicide. War, one of Vonnegut's favorite topics, is explored in depth when Rabo, like Vonnegut himself, ends up as a prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany. Like the protagonist of Slaughterhouse-Five, he emerges into postwar Germany, where all the prisoners are released. His old friend, the Countess Portomaggiore, believes that war is a useless creation of men. Her lover, Dan Gregory, however, fights for the Italian army in World War II, and believes that "no woman could succeed in the arts or sciences or politics or industry" (152). Being the autobiography of an artist, it also explores the purposes of art, and Rabo believes that, as in Abstract Expressionism, paintings should be "about nothing but themselves" (254).

Through his exploration of these ideas, Vonnegut makes Bluebeard more than just a "hoax autobiography," it becomes a comment on his life and the state of the world, as seen through the eyes of a man who believes he is a "floparroo" (258), and as such, it is a worthwhile read.

I am a fan of Vonnegut. This novel brought wonderful feelings of happiness, connection, desire to participate, be included into the circle of friendship, fragile and pure world of poor bohemian artists. I thing this book is the best book that he wrote. BLUEBEARD is a ready, well-defined movie scenario or a play for the theater. The characters touched my heart. I love them all, especially, Rabo. In short, when I feel down or sad I take Vonnegut's BLUEBEARD and read it. My spirit rises from sadness to the joyful non-reality of Rabo's clear, captivating world of humanity and art of living.

Not Vonnegut's typical style, but filled with unique characters & endless serendipity & coincidence. I'd honestly given it 3.5 stars I that were an option, but worth the read. It took a while to get into it, but by the end the characters felt so rich I was sad to finish the book.

After having read several of Vonnegut's works, I would recommend starting with Bluebeard. Though it is absolutely representative of Vonnegut's style, it doesn't include some of the off-the-wall practices in his more famous books (Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions) that may throw a first-timer. Bluebeard reads well as a complete story and reveals a great deal of Vonnegut's soul. It will not disappoint.

From the author's footnote: "May I say, too, that much of what I put in this book was inspired by the grotesque prices paid for works of art during the past century. Tremendous concentration of paper wealth have made it possible for a few persons or institutions to endow certain sorts of human playfulness with inappropriate and hence distressing seriousness. I think not only of the mudpies of art, but of children's games as well--running, jumping, catching, throwing. Or dancing. Or singing songs."

I like that aspect of Vonnegut's personality. That contempt for the religioso self-congratulatoriness of artsy-fartsy types. Unfortunately, Vonnegut is contradictory on the subject and has spent just as much time engaging in just the sort of artsy-farty self-congratulation that drives me up the goddam wall. And that's one good reason for hating BLUEBEARD: all the characters are artsy-fartsy types. Terry Kitchen says: "Something's just got to be worth doing! And painting is one of the few things I haven't tried."

It's Terry Kitchen who delivers the only decent joke in the whole book. Rabo tells Terry about Rabo's 3 hours of ideal lovemaking with Marilee, and how contentedly adrift in the cosmos those 3 hours made Rabo feel.

Terry replies: "You were experiencing a non-epiphany ... A concept of my own invention ... The trouble with God isn't that He so seldom makes Himself known to us. The trouble with God is exactly the opposite. He's holding you and me and everybody else by the scruff of the neck practically constantly ... Contendedly adrift in the cosmos, were you? That is a perfect description of a non-epiphany, that rarest of moments, when God Almighty lets go of the scruff of your neck and lets you be human for a little while."

Rabo: "Terry Kitchen said that the only moments he ever experienced as non-epiphanies, when God left him alone, were those following sex and the 2 times he took heroin."

Like abstract art bluebeard is a novel that deserves second glances inorder to fully understand the meaning of the book. The book is about human suffering and is innovativly hidden in a breezy novel with characters with a bountiful assortment of eccentrics.

Did you think Kurt Vonnegut would write about the saving power of love? This book amazes and touches you, while still providing everything we expect from Vonnegut: a witty and wry alternative view of our society

a decent read featuring Rabo Karabekian of Breakfast of Champions fame. Vonnegut loves to connect his books with recurring characters this is therefore essential to anyone who wishes to experience the complete vonnegut universe

Kurt strikes another blow, against all the vanity of humanity, in the style of Solomon in Ecclesiastes. He flensss the meat off of our souls, and leaves us cold and bereft. Would that he ever bring a ray of hope into his prose. I will now resume in my antipathy, clinging to my guns and my religion....