#158 in Classics
Bluebeard
- 300
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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About the book
Bluebeard, the Autobiography of Rabo Karabekian (1916–1988) is a 1987 novel by American author Kurt Vonnegut. Told in first-person narrative, it describes the later years of fictional Abstract Expressionist painter Rabo Karabekian, who first appeared as a minor character in Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions (1973). The novel’s circumstances bear a rough resemblance to the fairy tale of Bluebeard, popularized by Charles Perrault, a connection that Karabekian mentions once in the novel.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.9 across 121 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 44% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Classics average of 7.7. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.2 | 13 | 11% |
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 108 | 89% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“I just really like Rabo. There are a lot of interesting things in the plot about art, war, relationships, and what truly lasts.. but I was really taken with Rabo's personality, narrator characters arent often so distinctive.”
“I had real mixed feelings about this book. At the beginning it was charming with Vonnegut's trademark simplistic views toward complex subjects, his drunkard's walks of apparently meaningless detail and his gleeful depiction of coincidence. But toward the end it was actually becoming tedious for…”
Frequently asked
How long is Bluebeard?
It has 300 pages — longer than 62% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 7.6 and 8.0, closest to this book.
