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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"You were sick, but now you're well again, and there is work to do."
It is February 13 2001 and unknown to everyone the universe is about to send them back 10 years. This timequake takes people back in time with all the knowledge they had over the last 10 years but they are unable to change anything. They are stuck on autopilot having to relive for better or worse every event in their lives.
The story is told by Kurt and his fictional alter ego Kilgore Trout as they live through this event. There is next to no plot but rather chapters reflecting on Kurt's life. Being the last novel he wrote it is filled with his thoughts on life. What makes a life worth living, why do people give up on life, regrets and the stranglehold they put people in, as well as his views on life as it is in the late 90s. It is a very personal novel with him reflecting on his on life and death as well as his brother's and the rest of his family.
He talks a lot about how we are becoming more disconnected and isolated as a society even though we may be more connected than ever. How this then effects us individually and as a culture. He discusses the effects of war or in his words "societies attempt at committing suicide" how we can invent ways to kill millions and then give those same people peace medals. How even when you think you are the best at something there is always someone better. Or even the effect parents have on their kids for better or for worse.
There are times when it feels very old man yelling at clouds, but with Kurt's dark humor thrown in. It is certainly not a book to read unless you are a fan of Vonnegut's because of the structure and personal nature, but nonetheless a very good book.
It is February 13 2001 and unknown to everyone the universe is about to send them back 10 years. This timequake takes people back in time with all the knowledge they had over the last 10 years but they are unable to change anything. They are stuck on autopilot having to relive for better or worse every event in their lives.
The story is told by Kurt and his fictional alter ego Kilgore Trout as they live through this event. There is next to no plot but rather chapters reflecting on Kurt's life. Being the last novel he wrote it is filled with his thoughts on life. What makes a life worth living, why do people give up on life, regrets and the stranglehold they put people in, as well as his views on life as it is in the late 90s. It is a very personal novel with him reflecting on his on life and death as well as his brother's and the rest of his family.
He talks a lot about how we are becoming more disconnected and isolated as a society even though we may be more connected than ever. How this then effects us individually and as a culture. He discusses the effects of war or in his words "societies attempt at committing suicide" how we can invent ways to kill millions and then give those same people peace medals. How even when you think you are the best at something there is always someone better. Or even the effect parents have on their kids for better or for worse.
There are times when it feels very old man yelling at clouds, but with Kurt's dark humor thrown in. It is certainly not a book to read unless you are a fan of Vonnegut's because of the structure and personal nature, but nonetheless a very good book.
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Kurt you’ve done it again…..
I actually gave up 70% of the way in because it stopped being enjoyable and Kilgore Trout is an awful name I don't have the time to indulge.
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
With no concise storyline or anything really sparking major interest throughout the story I could not bring myself to finish this book. It's a shame as I've read Vonnegut previously, but this one did not stick for me.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
One of my personal favorites of Vonnegut or of any writer for that matter. A kaleidoscope of the author’s personal musings and philosophies interwoven with a wild story of déjà vu en masse. The mantras at the end of this book become a soothing balm for any who have known the obliterating mental fallout of losing control. What’s more, they might even offer a way out. “You were sick, but now you’re well again, and there’s work to do.”
David Foster Wallace, in an interview with Larry McCaffery (an interview I truly can’t recommend enough) talks about experiencing a special sort of buzz in his favourite literature, a sense of internal resonance which he labels a “click”, a term borrowed from Yeats, who analogised this experience to “the click of a well-made box.”
There are dozens of authors who click for me: DeLillo, Pynchon, Helen DeWitt, DFW. They’re the experiences I’m constantly chasing in literature – they’re the quotes that knock around endlessly in my head as the anchors to my thoughts.
I can trace the lineage of my clicks through major figures all the way back to the beginning, to my personal Original Sin, to Kurt Vonnegut. He wasn’t the first writer that clicked for me (that goes to Joseph Heller), but he was my first literary hero – he got me hooked on his click.
Over the last year or two, I’ve realised that the reason I’m still alive is mostly out of a sense of debt, a personal awareness I can’t throw in the towel until I’ve created something which at least attempts to repay my immense debt to all the great artists that have carried me to where I am today, of whom Vonnegut was my proverbial snake.
There are a few obvious Vonnegut books better than this one but this one meant a lot to me back when I first read it in 2017 (and plus, before rereading this book I had just finished reading Nietzsche and with notions of eternal recurrence at the forefront, Timequake seemed most appropriate…).
Timequake is ostensibly about a ten-year period – starring, of course, the eternal Kilgore Trout – wherein the universe momentarily shrunk back 10 years forcing everyone to relive this period internally knowing this shrink had happened but not being able to act differently from how they had the first time. Much more so than this it’s an autobiography and an homage to what makes life worthwhile, a list which includes (but is not limited to): chewing the cud, being sure to notice the simple pleasure by remarking “if this isn’t nice, what is?”, and art (particularly literature because, well).
Vonnegut is probably the funniest writer I’ve read and possess a remarkably rare ability to spin horribly bleak remarks about the “crock of shit” that is life into sentences that I guarantee will make you laugh out loud.
Whenever someone who’s less familiar with literature wants a book recommendation, I immediately revert to Vonnegut because I know from personal experience that one Vonnegut book can doom someone forever to chasing the moments of ecstasy only found in art, all the while convincing them they’ve enjoyed what may ultimately be a life sentence.
There are dozens of authors who click for me: DeLillo, Pynchon, Helen DeWitt, DFW. They’re the experiences I’m constantly chasing in literature – they’re the quotes that knock around endlessly in my head as the anchors to my thoughts.
I can trace the lineage of my clicks through major figures all the way back to the beginning, to my personal Original Sin, to Kurt Vonnegut. He wasn’t the first writer that clicked for me (that goes to Joseph Heller), but he was my first literary hero – he got me hooked on his click.
Over the last year or two, I’ve realised that the reason I’m still alive is mostly out of a sense of debt, a personal awareness I can’t throw in the towel until I’ve created something which at least attempts to repay my immense debt to all the great artists that have carried me to where I am today, of whom Vonnegut was my proverbial snake.
There are a few obvious Vonnegut books better than this one but this one meant a lot to me back when I first read it in 2017 (and plus, before rereading this book I had just finished reading Nietzsche and with notions of eternal recurrence at the forefront, Timequake seemed most appropriate…).
Timequake is ostensibly about a ten-year period – starring, of course, the eternal Kilgore Trout – wherein the universe momentarily shrunk back 10 years forcing everyone to relive this period internally knowing this shrink had happened but not being able to act differently from how they had the first time. Much more so than this it’s an autobiography and an homage to what makes life worthwhile, a list which includes (but is not limited to): chewing the cud, being sure to notice the simple pleasure by remarking “if this isn’t nice, what is?”, and art (particularly literature because, well).
Vonnegut is probably the funniest writer I’ve read and possess a remarkably rare ability to spin horribly bleak remarks about the “crock of shit” that is life into sentences that I guarantee will make you laugh out loud.
Whenever someone who’s less familiar with literature wants a book recommendation, I immediately revert to Vonnegut because I know from personal experience that one Vonnegut book can doom someone forever to chasing the moments of ecstasy only found in art, all the while convincing them they’ve enjoyed what may ultimately be a life sentence.