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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Vonnegut’s semi autobiography has no character growth or plot or in some cases sanity. It’s just perfectly Vonnegut in every way.
"Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people don't care about them. You are not alone.' "
1. I have owned this copy of this book since I was 15 and finally read it. Small victories and accomplishments!
2. I laughed and I cried.
3. I will always love you, Kurt Vonnegut.
2. I laughed and I cried.
3. I will always love you, Kurt Vonnegut.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Free will!
You were sick, but now you're well... and there is reading to do!
Start with this one!
You were sick, but now you're well... and there is reading to do!
Start with this one!
I just couldn’t like the main character. But I did like the idea that we’re all time travelers, every time we tell a story of the past or think about the future.
Have you read Vonnegut before? No? You simply must! Just don't start with this one. This is a great one to read once you've read several others among Vonnegut's works (assuming you enjoyed them). This is not so much a novel as it is a memoir full of anecdotes about Vonnegut's family and friends, and other random musings. I enjoyed it simply because I enjoy listening to/reading what trains of thought Vonnegut entertains.
Timequake strikes me as less a novel than a loose autobiography with embellishments. And it's often quite a bummer, though more than a couple lines made me laugh. There's some frank and honest reflections on life and free will, which are sharp and zany in such a way as could only have been composed by Vonnegut, an irascible old codger. The whole structure is thin, almost to the point of seeming frail: he tosses out pitch after pitch for hypothetical stories, alluding to a first draft of the same book we're reading currently, while drifting back and forth from his own life to his fictional creations. I doubt anyone else could make this work so charmingly.
3.5 stars. Certain observations and parables are quite resonant, offering intriguing considerations about free will and the often baffling state of affairs we find ourselves in as humans groping around for agency while living in what appears to be a sometimes strangely semi-automated, deterministic world. Other parts are underdeveloped, leaving me wanting much more. Altogether I feel this book is best recommended strictly to Vonnegut completionists, and to them only after having read all his other stuff first.
3.5 stars. Certain observations and parables are quite resonant, offering intriguing considerations about free will and the often baffling state of affairs we find ourselves in as humans groping around for agency while living in what appears to be a sometimes strangely semi-automated, deterministic world. Other parts are underdeveloped, leaving me wanting much more. Altogether I feel this book is best recommended strictly to Vonnegut completionists, and to them only after having read all his other stuff first.