"Jailbird" is Vonnegut's attempt to bring the political upheavals of the 1970's into focus (Walter F. Starbucks, the lead character, is the least known of all the Watergate conspirators). Where he succeeds is in showing that things are not always as they seem and that everyone is redeemable. Where he fails is in his heavy-handed dealing with bums and the mis-characterization of one Kilgore Trout (his most popular character, drastically miscast as a conman in prison). A fine book full of funny and poignant moments, "Jailbird" unfortunately remains one of Vonnegut's lesser novels, and a contributer to the great glut that he fell into at the end of the '70's