"Jailbird" by Kurt Vonnegut

Just a minute past, I finished my conversation with Kurt Vonnegut after little more than a month of time well spent.  It was not a book I entered into reading on my own.  I knew the name, but I knew nothing about what he wrote, or how he wrote.  No, this was, like many good books, the suggestion of a friend.

The story opens with a prologue relaying an incident occurring between labor and management.  It took place at the turn of the 19^th century into the 20^th, and it involved the presence of a young may by the name of Alexander Hamilton McCone.  Beyond that, all I can tell is it was known as the Cuyahoga Massacre because it was the day management opened fire on striking members of labor.  Alexander McCone, though not literally involved, was present.  He went onto become the benefactor for a Walter Starbuck, who serves as the main character to this tale.

This prologue tale was lengthy and confusing – at least so to these reader eyes.

I followed very little of the narrative, and wonder, even now having finished the book, what purpose it was meant to convey.  If I returned to it and reread that opening act might ascertain a better picture, but not now.  Perhaps later.

Walter Starbuck, as an adult, opens the first chapter waiting for release from prison.  It was the 1970s, and he was part of the Nixon administration.  Though technically innocent of everything, the stand and refrain of guilt by association – along with the money hidden in his forgotten basement office – drug him down with the rest.

As he waits on the guard to escort him into his first full day of freedom in two years.  Growing up as a ward of Alexander Hamilton McCone; attending Harvard falling in love; becoming a communist intent on changing the world; becoming involved in politics, not just in the Nixon administration and Watergate, but likewise by being called before the Joseph McCarthy hearing to ferret out Communists in the United States government.

Walter Starbuck lived quite the life – though now, being released from prison, he was an old man with only a few hundreds dollars to his name and nowhere specific to go.  His wife of many years was dead; his only son disowned him; what lied next for this fixture in American history?

While I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent reading this book, paying close attention to the myriad of characters produced and the myriad of stories they all had to tell, I never fully ascertained any theme, or purpose, or reason to propel the author into penning this interesting tale.

Where is Walter Starbuck heading?  When has he become from all his life experiences?  Is there any particular idea Vonnegut is working to convey?  Maybe; or then again, maybe not.  Or maybe I’m just too dense a soul to grasp it.

There is plenteous talk of the Ramjac Corporation.  It seems to own virtually everything.  And Walter meets the window, Mrs. Jack Graham, of its CEO, who turns out to be a former girlfriend, Mary Kathleen O’Looney, when she confront him on the street as a shopping bag lady, as he encounters the man he accidently ousted as a Communist, Leland Clewes, who wished to express his gratitude for the prison term which changed his life.

Fascinating.  Is Vonnegut condemning the corporate big business system?  Who knows?  All I can say with absolutely certainty is this book was a more enjoyable read.