Pete's Log: Bluebeard
Entry #1226, (Books, Writing, n such)(posted when I was 23 years old.)
I read the entire text of Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebeard over a period of about 24 hours. Of those 24 hours I spent about ten sleeping and three or more at Andy's place where his mom prepared a delicious meal for us. I also spent some time on IM. But other than that, this past day has been all Vonnegut, all the time.
Bluebeard was a lot of fun. I like Vonnegut a lot, and this book added to my appreciation of his work. It alternated between being satirical and cynical and showing off some of the great things about us humans that make life worth our while. It was funny and touching. Rabo Karabekian is a truly likable character.
I did not read the back cover at first, and instead began reading it with no knowledge of what it was about at all. But then when I was about 50 pages into it, I read the back cover for some reason. I wish I hadn't. I think I may have enjoyed the story a little more if I had not. If you have not read this book, I recommend that you do and that you do not read the remainder of this log entry until you have.
Here is the synopsis from the back of the book: "At 71, Rabo Karabekian no longer paints. He wants only to be left alone. But now Circe Berman, a young widow, has invaded his Long Island estate, bullied him into writing his autobiography, and is trying to discover the secret locked in his barn. Bluebeard's wives once had a similar goal. What can the secret be?"
While I had already come across mention of this barn by the time I read the synopsis, and while I was already curious as to its contents, I think I would have enjoyed the book more had I not known that the contents of the barn was the big theme of the book, because much of the book deals with the life of Rabo and not with the mystery of the barn. The importance of the barn became clear enough in the end, I didn't need to know about it in the beginning.
I am becoming more and more convinced that the best way to enjoy good books and good movies is to go in without any idea of what is going to happen. Previews suck.