SUN MOON STAR by Kurt Vonnegut and Ivan Chermayeff


 


Highly Recommended

Originally published in 1980.

A mutual friend in publishing approached artist/graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff and author Kurt Vonnegut with a proposal. He wanted them to work together on a book. His proposal was that Chermayeff work up some illustrations and present them to Vonnegut and then Vonnegut would write a book based on those illustrations.

Vonnegut, even then, was an internationally celebrated author. Chermayeff created many of the images Americans see every day - the corporate logos for such companies as Chase Bank, National Geographic, Scholastic Books, Univision, NBC, PBS, and more.

Chermayeff presented Vonnegut with a series of simple, childlike paintings of the moon, star, and the sun. They came with no explanation. There is also a diagram of an eyeball. I do not know if that was part of Chermayeff's art or if Vonnegut added it, but I would imagine that Vonnegut added it.

Vonnegut took the drawings and made Sun Moon Star, a beautiful children's story about Jesus on the day of his birth. 

When I say that this is a children's story, I really mean that this is a book for adults in the guise of a children's story. There is nothing that is inappropriate for children and a child would be able to follow along with most of it. 

pages 62 and 63 of Sun Moon Star
Adults, however, will appreciate the care that well-know atheist Vonnegut brings to the concept that the creator of the universe has brought himself into his creation as a baby, with all of the limited perspective that a baby has. The warmth of a sun is compared to the warmth of a mother's embrace - and the love of a mother's embrace is superior. The eyes that witnessed creation itself are now the eyes of a newborn that don't quite know how to work together yet.

I found this to be a thoughtful and surprisingly sweet book. It doesn't feel like a typical Vonnegut book, but it may just be one of my favorites. 

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Sun Moon Star by Kurt Vonnegut and Ivan Chermayeff. 

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