God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

It took me a while to get around to reading this. Perhaps it's the title, indicating that this is one of his non-SF books, inasmuch as any of his books can be described as SF. Vonnegut gently mocks himself, his characters, the entire universe, and that includes readers like me. I should have learned from him by now that it's actually absurd to approach Vonnegut from the direction of science fiction. He is clearly not a genre writer, unless you perceive him as being his own genre.

In my defence, I suggest that "Cat's Cradle", which preceded "God Bless You Mr Rosewater", is the best of Vonnegut's novels when read from the perspective of science fiction. But I digress...

There are several Rosewaters in the book - the main one is Eliot, heir to a fortune who turns his back on his privileged life and lives in a backwater county, devoting himself to giving away his money and being a friend to the poor. His father is the monstrous Senator Rosewater, who is staunchly, moralistically committed to the pure conservative ideas of capitalism and the power of money. He despises his son and is horrified at the idea of treating disadvantaged people with the same dignity as any other human being.

Senator Rosewater's speeches have a new currency in this age of American despotism, where the likes of Trump and DeSantis are rewarded with high office, in return for their vicious contempt for the masses they are intent on crushing. What's different today is the way the new breed of wannabe tyrants are lauded by the very people they trample on, as they slash welfare and health care, and shower the rich with dazzling largess.

While this book looks at the big ideas of America, the later "Breakfast of Champions" focuses on the small town and the personal trauma the USA inflicts on its people. In between, you have Vonnegut's masterwork "Slaughterhouse Five". You can see the germination of that book in "God Bless You Mr Rosewater". Eliot is a world war two veteran, his experiences in that conflict against the forces of tyranny lead him to develop a social conscience that his father so reviles. The war is the central motif in "Slaughterhouse Five".

Oh, and like all Vonnegut's work, "God Bless You Mr Rosewater" is laugh-out-loud funny, despite the dark and heavy themes that predominate.

I feel like re-reads of "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Breakfast of Champions" are in order. Vonnegut was a visionary and I love his work a lot. If I wasn't such a staunch atheist I'd say "god bless you Mr Vonnegut".

Is it self-destructive to devote your life to help others who bear no societal use? Would it be foolish to have no ambition of your own? To seek nothing but simple pleasures whilst simultaneously having a great effect on the lives of other people?

Eliot Rosewater, born into wealth that was born into wealth, has never had to worry about money in his life. He was set from the day of his birth and yet, somehow, without the influence of anyone he sets out to become a lifeline for the poor, disturbed, ill, whatever name you want to attach to common peoples' problems. What interests me most is how naturally it comes to him to rebel against his birth right, how effortlessly he conducts his rebellion—in fact, there's nothing he does or says explicitly to show he is actively choosing to rebel.

He is to be proven insane only so that his wealth can be transferred to distant relatives that are unaware of their connection to the wealthy Rosewaters. The poor-Rosewaters who struggle to feel they have a true identity in society because of their financial problems and the wealthy-Rosewater who seems not to care a dime (pun-intended) who or what anyone thinks of him. It is not to say that Eliot is absent-minded and unaware of the troubles he inflicts upon his family—for a moment he even even appears regretful when processing how his actions destroyed his wife—but he continues on.

'The problem is this: How to love people who have no use?'

5/5
Vonnegut you are in my good books (once more, pun intended).