I really dislike some of the Vonnegut books that mainstream critics most adore (especially Slaughterhouse-Five, which alternately bored and irritated me until the last five pages), but I'll give the man credit for writing Cat's Cradle; it was probably the most depressing book I've ever read, and I mean that as a high compliment.

I think he was good at what he did, but he was definitely a little too addicted to using pulp sci-fi tropes in a self-conscious attempt at irony. His short stories are considerably better than his full-length prose.