I had to read this for American Lit. last semester, and enjoyed it very much. It is easy to read but at the same time you have to pay attention to what is going on. The way the novel is pieced together is different, and it makes it all the more interesting. I highly recommend this book, and I can't wait to read more of his books, and I also want to try reading his son's books also.

Social inequalities with a humorous twist!

Hilarious, wonderful Vonnegut...you are sure to enjoy!

A Vonnegut classic, comedy, satire, social commentary, very easy to read and engaging

I love Vonnegut's sharp-toothed satire on americans and humans in general. I highly recommend that you check him out!

Joseph Heller and Playboy magazine liked it.

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"Irresistable...Hocus Pocus is vintage Vonnegut, witty, startling, satiic...Off the wall brilliance. Vonnegut is a true original. Hocus Pocus is not only Poignant and provocative, it is outrageous and very funny indeed. If Luck and Time are the two prime movers of the Universe, we are lucky in our time to have a Kurt Vonnegut to prod us, scold us, astonish us, unnerve us, entertain us and make us laugh..."

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Eugene Debs Hartke -- Vietnam Vet and career officer, teacher, philanderer, and now... prisoner. "Hocus Pocus" tells his story in small snatches of thoughts he scribbles on whatever comes to hand. He's accused of masterminding the largest mass prison breakout in US history. (As a side project to these notes, he's assembling two lists: all the women he's loved and all the people he's killed.)

This is classic Vonnegut. His black humor is in full force as Hartke comments on war, love, politics, the prison system, insanity, education, misinformation, and the "ruling class" in America.

For longtime Vonnegut readers, we even get to revisit a story by his fictional alter-ego, Kilgore Trout. Hartke finds deep meaning in "The Protocols of the Elders of Tralfamadore" which he finds in a copy of "Black Garter" magazine.

Maybe the last sentence of the book sums up its viewpoint best: "Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe."

Not Vonnegut's best work, but awesome nonetheless.

From Publishers Weekly
While awaiting trial for an initially unspecified crime, Vietnam vet and college professor Eugene Debs Hartke realizes that he has killed exactly as many people as he has had sex with, a coincidence that causes him to doubt his atheism. According to PW , "The cumulative power of the novel is considerable, revealing Vonnegut at his fanciful and playful best."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

While awaiting trial for an initially unspecified crime, Vietnam vet and college professor Eugene Debs Hartke realizes that he has killed exactly as many people as he has had sex with, a coincidence that causes him to doubt his atheism. According to PW , "The cumulative power of the novel is considerable, revealing Vonnegut at his fanciful and playful best."

Read All Book Reviews of "Hocus Pocus"