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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I thought I'd read every Vonnegut word available. I was mistaken.
Classic. Vintage. All the words.
"He said that when things were really going well we should be sure to notice it. 'He was talking about simple occasions, not great victories: maybe drinking lemonade on a hot afternoon in the shade, or smelling the aroma of a nearby bakery, or fishing and not caring if we catch anything or not, or hearing somebody all alone playing a piano really well in the house next door. 'Uncle Alex urged me to say this out loud during such epiphanies: ‘If this isn’t nice, what is?’”
Classic. Vintage. All the words.
"He said that when things were really going well we should be sure to notice it. 'He was talking about simple occasions, not great victories: maybe drinking lemonade on a hot afternoon in the shade, or smelling the aroma of a nearby bakery, or fishing and not caring if we catch anything or not, or hearing somebody all alone playing a piano really well in the house next door. 'Uncle Alex urged me to say this out loud during such epiphanies: ‘If this isn’t nice, what is?’”
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is cruelly underrated - straight up one of my favourite books of all time.
The early short stories of Vonnegut are comic and bleak sci-fi in a Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson vein. His first novels show an incredible knack for sticking such sci-fi and surreal elements into stories about people who are depressed at and striving against the slow weight of an inherently corrupt state of the universe. Vonnegut always draws his conclusions more deeply than most are willing to explore, often going a layer deeper into human complicity and the beauty of things than one would expect. He feels like a glutton for the punishments that comes in living with eyes wide open.
Timequake is the last Vonnegut novels and as such, represents the least narrative of all of his works. As his works progressed, it seemed he had less and less motivation or inspiration to write stories and more and more of a tendency to step into his novels and monologue or start essays. In my opinion, Breakfast Of Champions displays a total success in stepping into the pages of his novel to interact with his characters and dialogue with them about his creations and the state of the known universe. But Timequake takes this concept to the extreme, often feeling like scattered paragraphs of various essays and diatribes.
Vonnegut can get away with a lot because he tells you what he is doing and often steps into his character's situations himself. He starts Timequake by explaining that he wrote it at an old man and fought against it for ten years or so before chopping out the pieces he liked and abandoning the rest. So the book it self is less of a narrative and more of an explanation of how and why he was trying to write a novel which was stillborn. This concept is more interesting when the book itself is about the entire world being forced to relive a decade it has already completed. It is as if the book we end up with is a reliving and summary of his first effort in the original novel.
The book we end up with is an explanation of the core concepts of what Timequake would have been and what it would have meant to him. It is full of personal life antidotes and reflections, thoughts on the lives and deaths of his friends and family members, essays on the value of art and the ugly changes of the internet age. It is also a collection of scenes from Timequake, an explanation of Kilgore Trout's last days and thoughts on living the last decade of his life twice. Trout, Vonnegut's alter ego homeless novelist bum with whom he interacts regularly in his novels, is just about the only person on earth who doesn't end up shell shocked and deeply demoralized by the reliving of a decade of struggles, mistakes, and pains.
While Vonnegut doesn't give us enough of the original Timequake to really come away with a strong understanding of the plot, he condenses out his points, which are that most of humanity is so busy living that they don't know if it's really worth the effort at all. When things go back to normal, Trout finds his role in society reversed. Instead of being a depressed and worthless prophet on the fringe of society, he becomes lauded as a humanitarian that helps all the demoralized people find their feet again. His immortal words of reconciliation to a dazed and confused humanity are simple and robotic, an attempt to comfort the civilizations he has warred against for decades.
His famous phrase is a sort of concession, on both Vonnegut and Trout's part. The world is all pain and confusion. The universe seems like an eternal adversary. But when humanity is suddenly made aware that everything may be pointless, Trout responds to encourage the myth.
"You were sick, but now you're well again, and there's work to do."
Timequake is the last Vonnegut novels and as such, represents the least narrative of all of his works. As his works progressed, it seemed he had less and less motivation or inspiration to write stories and more and more of a tendency to step into his novels and monologue or start essays. In my opinion, Breakfast Of Champions displays a total success in stepping into the pages of his novel to interact with his characters and dialogue with them about his creations and the state of the known universe. But Timequake takes this concept to the extreme, often feeling like scattered paragraphs of various essays and diatribes.
Vonnegut can get away with a lot because he tells you what he is doing and often steps into his character's situations himself. He starts Timequake by explaining that he wrote it at an old man and fought against it for ten years or so before chopping out the pieces he liked and abandoning the rest. So the book it self is less of a narrative and more of an explanation of how and why he was trying to write a novel which was stillborn. This concept is more interesting when the book itself is about the entire world being forced to relive a decade it has already completed. It is as if the book we end up with is a reliving and summary of his first effort in the original novel.
The book we end up with is an explanation of the core concepts of what Timequake would have been and what it would have meant to him. It is full of personal life antidotes and reflections, thoughts on the lives and deaths of his friends and family members, essays on the value of art and the ugly changes of the internet age. It is also a collection of scenes from Timequake, an explanation of Kilgore Trout's last days and thoughts on living the last decade of his life twice. Trout, Vonnegut's alter ego homeless novelist bum with whom he interacts regularly in his novels, is just about the only person on earth who doesn't end up shell shocked and deeply demoralized by the reliving of a decade of struggles, mistakes, and pains.
While Vonnegut doesn't give us enough of the original Timequake to really come away with a strong understanding of the plot, he condenses out his points, which are that most of humanity is so busy living that they don't know if it's really worth the effort at all. When things go back to normal, Trout finds his role in society reversed. Instead of being a depressed and worthless prophet on the fringe of society, he becomes lauded as a humanitarian that helps all the demoralized people find their feet again. His immortal words of reconciliation to a dazed and confused humanity are simple and robotic, an attempt to comfort the civilizations he has warred against for decades.
His famous phrase is a sort of concession, on both Vonnegut and Trout's part. The world is all pain and confusion. The universe seems like an eternal adversary. But when humanity is suddenly made aware that everything may be pointless, Trout responds to encourage the myth.
"You were sick, but now you're well again, and there's work to do."
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It very well may be that my impression and reaction to the book is all due to the voice actor I've listened to (Arthur Bishop), but the book was very dark, very good.
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
No
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
Strong character development:
No
I enjoyed this. It made me feel sad and down. I went around for a while just saying to myself shoot me now, while I’m happy! A bit hard to follow and I don’t like the sexist women parts. I kind of wish timequake was a novel because it’s a fascinating idea but I preferred the real life stuff Kurt wrote. Feel like I know him better even though I like him less.