by Eric L. Haschert

Created on: August 02, 2009   Last Updated: August 03, 2009

Blue Beard by Kurt Vonnegut is about a failed painter turned collector Rabo Karabekian who is writing his memoirs at the insistence of a gorgeous younger woman. The woman is an artist in her own right. A writer of frank teenage-girl confession stories finds Karabekian at home morning the loss of his late wife. Karabekian, cut off from society is brought back to life by his new mission to write his memoirs. The story is told form Karabekian's point of view and explains why American Abstract Expressionist Art is trying to create paintings that cannot be created with a camera. Just think Jackson Pollack and you know what kind of art they stand for.

Karabekian takes us on a journey through his career in art. He explains why he had the women he did, what made them love or hate him, how he was a failed painter and what a spectacular failure he was! They even named the nature of failure he was a "Karabekian" but how as a collector he had no equal. There is also a subplot in which the contents of his potato barn are sought by every other character in the story.

I am impressed at how Vonnegut takes the diverse and obscure then creates a funny story out of it all. Not as controversial as his other works Blue Beard is still a joy to read and hard to put down. This is the fifth book of his that I've read and I've never been disappointed. I've read Timequake, Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, and Deadeye Dick besides this one. I look forward to reading other Vonnegut books in the future.

Vonnnegut is a World War II veteran, receiver of a purple heart for "Frostbite", and was a POW in Dresden during the fire bombing of Dresden. He holds more than one college degree none of them in writing and has been married twice. His experiences in the war and later in life led him to write.

Slaughterhouse Five: one of his most famous books is now considered one of the best American novels of the 20th century and was also inspired by his time spent as a POW in Dresden.

In 1999 an asteroid was named in his honor.

He had many occupations such as working for the Chicago City News department, General Electric, managing the first Saab dealership in North America, and as a writer at Sports Illustrated. At Sports Illustrated he was assigned a story about a race horse that had jumped the fence and tried to run away. After having writer's block on the horse story Vonnegut wrote "THe Horse jumped over the F*ing fence" and left. He almost abandoned writing at this point but "Cat's Cradle" became a success and he began to write Slaughter House Five.

Kurt Vonnegut died on April 11, 2007 he was 84 years old.

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