Comments on: Vile and Ludicrous https://habitablezone.com/2019/06/03/vile-and-ludicrous/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2019/06/03/vile-and-ludicrous/#comment-43268 ER Mon, 03 Jun 2019 15:16:36 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=76978#comment-43268 is a novel about an American radio broadcaster working in Berlin when America is drawn into World War II. At the direction of American Intelligence, he poses as a traitor to his country and starts making anti-Semitic propaganda broadcasts for the NAZIs, including in them cleverly coded messages on German troop movements and military and diplomatic secrets he is privy to due to his Nazi friends. Unfortunately, after the war is over, his US handlers forget about him, and he becomes a wanted man, forced to go underground under a pseudonym. He is simultaneously sought out by the Israeli Mossad, the US CIA, and a ruthless racist right wing organization in the US who feel he is their hero and want to make him their leader. To complicate matters, his next-door neighbor and chess buddy in the ratty New York apartment building where he lives is a Soviet sleeper agent who after decades still patiently awaits the coded want ad that will trigger his deadly mission. Great stuff. This and "Cat's Cradle" are the only Vonnegut books I really cared for. is a novel about an American radio broadcaster working in Berlin when America is drawn into World War II. At the direction of American Intelligence, he poses as a traitor to his country and starts making anti-Semitic propaganda broadcasts for the NAZIs, including in them cleverly coded messages on German troop movements and military and diplomatic secrets he is privy to due to his Nazi friends.

Unfortunately, after the war is over, his US handlers forget about him, and he becomes a wanted man, forced to go underground under a pseudonym. He is simultaneously sought out by the Israeli Mossad, the US CIA, and a ruthless racist right wing organization in the US who feel he is their hero and want to make him their leader. To complicate matters, his next-door neighbor and chess buddy in the ratty New York apartment building where he lives is a Soviet sleeper agent who after decades still patiently awaits the coded want ad that will trigger his deadly mission.

Great stuff. This and “Cat’s Cradle” are the only Vonnegut books I really cared for.

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