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I can never decide if Cat's Cradle is the funniest book I've ever read, or Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. Some days, Dunces wins, but the majority of the time

I can never decide if Cat's Cradle is the funniest book I've ever read, or Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. Some days, Dunces wins, but the majority of the time all it takes is remembering ice-nine and it's back to camp Kurt I go.

anonymouse008 4y ago
I just feel so sad reading Tooles because it reads like his autobiography, edited by his madness.
awirth 4y ago
Cat's Cradle is one of my favorite books, but to be honest, I've never found it that funny - at least not in the sense that it makes me laugh much. What do you find so funny about it?
- labster 4y ago
  Everything about it is funny. Humans are absurd, and Cat’s Cradle revels in the absurdity. It’s funny in the same way atom bombs are funny, that our species would hate itself so much as to make a weapon that could destroy us all, and like, we ignore it almost all of the time? Bokonon and the dictator becoming their roles is absurd, but aren’t people this absurd? Also, there are a lot of chapters. Every single chapter break is there to let a punchline sink in. It’s a literary pause for laughter.
  - cm42 4y ago
    Have you read Tim Dorsey at all? His stuff is full of this type of humor, with notes of whatever decades of covering Florida Man stories for a Miami newspaper does to a man.
    - labster 4y ago
      I’d never even heard of him. But as a meteorologist, that main character of his sure sounds fun.
  - awirth 4y ago
    That's interesting, I've always reveled in the absurdity, but perhaps I'll re-read it with an eye to take each chapter in as a discrete unit. Thanks!
    - labster 4y ago
      Sometimes it’s a whole scene, but sometimes the only reason for a new chapter is comic timing. Or to shove more jokes in the chapter titles, of course. So I wouldn’t say they were discrete, as a break could come in the middle of a scene. Seeing Vonnegut use chapter breaks for all sorts of purposes — dramatic, comic timing, scene breaks, suspense, etc — really encouraged me to use shorter chapters in some of my own writing, along with some of the techniques. Just like metadata is data, chapter breaks, line breaks, and white space are text. Of course the more you use it for tricks, the more you see the fourth wall, which might not match your tone — like all techniques there’s always a trade-off. More tonally serious works that use short chapters tend to avoid chapter titles, for instance.
sharkweek 4y ago
Both are in my top five, but something about Vonnegut’s style gives him the edge in this comparison for me. Any chance you’ve read any Paul Beatty? His book “The Sellout” shot to the top of my list of funniest books as well, in the same realm as the above when it comes to absurdist comedy.
sixstringtheory 4y ago
A Confederacy of Dunces is the only book I’ve read cover to cover in one day. I just couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t see straight by the time I finished. I’d say it’s funny in a more down to earth way than Cat’s Cradle. But I do enjoy Vonnegut’s sardonic sense of humor.
- rsj_hn 4y ago
  Have read both in college and enjoyed them thoroughly. I remember talking to my undergrad advisor, raving about Cat's Cradle, and asking him if he'd read it or wants to read it, and he looked at me and said something to the effect of "I don't need to read a book by a Preacher my own age" or something to that effect, and it really is quite a preachy book, as are all of his books. It makes a big impact on younger people, though. So it's in the bucket of books I remember enjoying, and wouldn't want to spoil that memory by rereading. Confederacy of Dunces, on the other hand, is timeless.
slothtrop 4y ago
Dunces outstays its welcome, though this could just be because of the format.
Synaesthesia 4y ago
I found mother night awfully serious but really laughed a lot during Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse five.

anonymouse008 4y ago

I just feel so sad reading Tooles because it reads like his autobiography, edited by his madness.

awirth 4y ago

Cat's Cradle is one of my favorite books, but to be honest, I've never found it that funny - at least not in the sense that it makes me laugh much. What do you find so funny about it?

labster 4y ago
Everything about it is funny. Humans are absurd, and Cat’s Cradle revels in the absurdity. It’s funny in the same way atom bombs are funny, that our species would hate itself so much as to make a weapon that could destroy us all, and like, we ignore it almost all of the time? Bokonon and the dictator becoming their roles is absurd, but aren’t people this absurd? Also, there are a lot of chapters. Every single chapter break is there to let a punchline sink in. It’s a literary pause for laughter.
- cm42 4y ago
  Have you read Tim Dorsey at all? His stuff is full of this type of humor, with notes of whatever decades of covering Florida Man stories for a Miami newspaper does to a man.
  - labster 4y ago
    I’d never even heard of him. But as a meteorologist, that main character of his sure sounds fun.
- awirth 4y ago
  That's interesting, I've always reveled in the absurdity, but perhaps I'll re-read it with an eye to take each chapter in as a discrete unit. Thanks!
  - labster 4y ago
    Sometimes it’s a whole scene, but sometimes the only reason for a new chapter is comic timing. Or to shove more jokes in the chapter titles, of course. So I wouldn’t say they were discrete, as a break could come in the middle of a scene. Seeing Vonnegut use chapter breaks for all sorts of purposes — dramatic, comic timing, scene breaks, suspense, etc — really encouraged me to use shorter chapters in some of my own writing, along with some of the techniques. Just like metadata is data, chapter breaks, line breaks, and white space are text. Of course the more you use it for tricks, the more you see the fourth wall, which might not match your tone — like all techniques there’s always a trade-off. More tonally serious works that use short chapters tend to avoid chapter titles, for instance.

sharkweek 4y ago

Both are in my top five, but something about Vonnegut’s style gives him the edge in this comparison for me. Any chance you’ve read any Paul Beatty? His book “The Sellout” shot to the top of my list of funniest books as well, in the same realm as the above when it comes to absurdist comedy.

sixstringtheory 4y ago

A Confederacy of Dunces is the only book I’ve read cover to cover in one day. I just couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t see straight by the time I finished. I’d say it’s funny in a more down to earth way than Cat’s Cradle. But I do enjoy Vonnegut’s sardonic sense of humor.

rsj_hn 4y ago
Have read both in college and enjoyed them thoroughly. I remember talking to my undergrad advisor, raving about Cat's Cradle, and asking him if he'd read it or wants to read it, and he looked at me and said something to the effect of "I don't need to read a book by a Preacher my own age" or something to that effect, and it really is quite a preachy book, as are all of his books. It makes a big impact on younger people, though. So it's in the bucket of books I remember enjoying, and wouldn't want to spoil that memory by rereading. Confederacy of Dunces, on the other hand, is timeless.

slothtrop 4y ago

Dunces outstays its welcome, though this could just be because of the format.

Synaesthesia 4y ago

I found mother night awfully serious but really laughed a lot during Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse five.