Description
"[Kurt Vonnegut] has never been more satirically on-target. . . . Nothing is spared."-- People
Jailbird takes us into a fractured and comic, pure Vonnegut world of high crimes and misdemeanors in government--and in the heart. This wry tale follows bumbling bureaucrat Walter F. Starbuck from Harvard to the Nixon White House to the penitentiary as Watergate's least known co-conspirator. But the humor turns dark when Vonnegut shines his spotlight on the cold hearts and calculated greed of the mighty, giving a razor-sharp edge to an unforgettable portrait of power and politics in our times.
Praise for Jailbird
"[Vonnegut] is our strongest writer . . . the most stubbornly imaginative." --John Irving
"A gem . . . a mature, imaginative novel--possibly the best he has written . . . Jailbird is a guided tour de force of America. Take it!" --Playboy
"A profoundly humane comedy . . . Jailbird definitely mounts up on angelic wings--in its speed, in its sparkle, and in its high-flying intent." --Chicago Tribune Book World
"Joyously inventive . . . gleams with the loony magic Vonnegut alone can achieve." --Cosmopolitan
"Vonnegut is our great apocalyptic writer, the closest thing we've had to a prophet since . . . Lenny Bruce." --Chicago Sun-Times
"Vonnegut at his impressive best. . . . His imaginative leaps alone . . . are worth the price of admission. . . . His far-reaching metaphysical and cultural concerns . . . are ultimately serious and worth our contemplation." --The Washington Post