Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut

Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut (1979)

283 pages Paperback
Fiction

Walter F. Starbuck is getting out of prison. He was jailed for his part in the Watergate Scandal. The book takes us on a trip through his life leading up to this point. As a young man Walter’s mother works as a cook in a rich man’s mansion. Having no one to entertain him, Alexander Hamilton McCone took Walter and made him into a playmate. “He taught me hearts and old maid, checkers and dominoes – and chess. Soon we were playing only chess.” Along with teaching him the finer points of the game McCone also made a promise to Walter’s mother and father. “You are going to find yourselves the proud parents of a perfect Harvard gentleman someday.” True to his word Mr. McCone sent him to Harvard.

Eventually, Mr. Starbuck is hired by the Nixon administration of the President’s special advisor on youth affairs. It quickly becomes obvious that he job entails doing nothing, but still goes to work faithfully every day. He really doesn’t have much to do with the scandal, but much of the evidence is found within his “office” basically a whole floor of the Executive Office Building of which he only uses a small bit. He is charged with embezzlement, perjury and obstruction of justice.

Vonnegut tells this story jumping back and forth. At one point we are in a lavish unearned mansion and the next we sit waiting in a cell to be released from our time in prison. A few paragraphs detailing his friendship with a prison guard is juxtaposed with the first date with his wife. Walter seems amused by life. Prison isn’t much of an inconvenience to him. His wife died shortly before being arrested and he determines it can’t be that bad.

After being released from prison he starts to walk about New York. He gets a room and continues to roam. He comes upon a bag lady that attaches to him claiming to know him. After a bit he realizes this decrepit old woman is an old girlfriend of his that he had never devoted himself too. Her rambling keeps him mystified until an unfortunate series of events implicate him in yet another crime he has nothing to do with.

Vonnegut has a delightful writing style that is easy to read, but harder to digest. In this book he pokes fun at American politics and corporations and relationships as well. I think the book would have been a little easier to follow if I had been alive as the scandal was happening. This isn’t to say that it takes away from the book. Overall it is a light and quick read.

Emotional: 3 – Vonnegut’s writing is humorous and entertaining.

Intellectual: 2 – He picks on some of the systems in America, but overall it is light reading.

Long- Term 3 – Kurt Vonnegut has been established as an off the cuff writer. His work will be cherished by many for years to come. That being said Jailbird doesn’t stack up to his more famous work and just isn’t as memorable.

8 out of 13. Seems a bit blasphemous for such a revered writer, but I would suggest Breakfast of Champions, Slaughter House 5, and Cat’s Cradle or other books of his first.