Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Breakfast of Champions

April reading challenge: Something by your favorite author as a child or young adult

I had a brief period in high school/college after I read Slaughterhouse Five where I was obsessed with Vonnegut. He was unlike anyone I had ever read before, and I appreciated his dark humor and his ability to express his views via fiction. Breakfast of Champions was no different. I loved reading this book as a 30 year old adult whose beliefs and morals have become more concrete over time. He pushes the boundaries and points out hypocrisies. I love how he the narrator is also a character, as a creator of his Sims world. Vonnegut is bizarre and crass, yet compassionate. I can see why I loved him at 18!

Content Warnings

leoniefnk's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

Though there are moments that make you think (I like the idea of an author inserting themselves in a very meta way), overall, I found this vulgar and extremely unfunny. The random scatterbrain-ness of it is something which I've enjoyed in the past, but in books like Hitchhiker's guide, where there is far less offensive language for - what seems to be - the sake of offensive language. Was this supposed to make me think of something new or groundbreaking? What's worse, was this supposed to make me laugh?

Content Warnings

slanderoid's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Content Warnings

golelifsu's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Content Warnings

ajgillespie3's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

It starts with pointless wandering and ends with a cascade of epiphanies and redemption. Odd but beautiful.

Content Warnings

lilbrisket's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

bigenk's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Listen:

Vonnegut is a weirdo. He can be self-indulgent and self-involved. He often subverts expectations for no other than reason than to mess with the reader. I wouldn't fault anybody for not enjoying his writing. That being said; I do enjoy his work.

Breakfast of Champions is written in a way that reminds me of how someone would describe the intricacies of humanity to an alien race. Everything is drawn out, explained with the most basic and detached of descriptions. We learn tiny little details of everybody and everything involved in the story. I can't help but be left feeling just how absurd we are as a species. This book gave me a lens through which to view that absurdity, and laugh. Humor has always been one of Vonnegut's strong points as a writer, which is one of the reasons I tend to be drawn to him. Vonnegut is also a deeply political writer, and it shows especially strongly here. He has a lot to criticize about American values, history, and social structure. He is particularly blunt about his views, which I personally enjoy. I enjoyed the deeply flawed and at times contemptible characters. I especially enjoy Kilgore.

I still don't really know what to think about Vonnegut inserting himself into the story in the latter-half.

I think that Breakfast of Champions is a tad long though. I think that it would've lost little being paired down by 50-100 pages. It dragged for me towards the second half of the book. The short, segmented way in which it is written also prevented me from getting any sort of rhythm while reading, which was frustrating.

Overall, I would say that while Breakfast of Champions is not my favorite Vonnegut work, it's definitely and excellent work of satire and metafiction, that I'm glad to have read a few times in my life.

And so on..

Content Warnings

deroberts15's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

More...