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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
fast-paced
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Quintessential Vonnegut and engagingly meta. It would be best to read this book only after reading other works by Vonnegut.
I'm a huge Vonnegut fan...here's a little example of why:
"But some of the nonsense was evil, since it concealed great crimes. For example, teachers of children in the United States of America wrote this date on the blackboard again and again, and asked children to memorize it with pride and joy:
1492
The teachers told the children that this was when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings were already living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them."
====================================================
"The driver talked about politics some. Trout couldn't tell one politician from another one. They were all formlessly enthusiastic chimpanzees to him. He wrote a story one time about an optimistic chimpanzee who became President of the United States. He called it "Hail to the Chief"."
====================================================
"Dwayne's bad chemicals made him take a loaded eight caliber revolver from under his pillow and stick it in his mouth. This was a tool whose only purpose was to make holes in human beings.
In Dwayne's part of the planet, anybody who wanted one could get one down at his local hardware store. Policemen all had them. So did the criminals. So did the people caught in between."
====================================================
"Patty Keene was stupid on purpose, which was the case with most women in Midland City. The women all had big minds because they were big animals, but they did not use them much for this reason: unusual ideas could make enemies, and the women, if they were going to achieve any sort of comfort and safety, needed all the friends they could get.
So, in the interests of survival, they trained themselves to be agreeing machines instead of thinking machines. All their minds had to do was to discover what other people were thinking, and then they thought that, too."
====================================================
Absolutely Brilliant...highly recommended read...
"But some of the nonsense was evil, since it concealed great crimes. For example, teachers of children in the United States of America wrote this date on the blackboard again and again, and asked children to memorize it with pride and joy:
1492
The teachers told the children that this was when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings were already living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them."
====================================================
"The driver talked about politics some. Trout couldn't tell one politician from another one. They were all formlessly enthusiastic chimpanzees to him. He wrote a story one time about an optimistic chimpanzee who became President of the United States. He called it "Hail to the Chief"."
====================================================
"Dwayne's bad chemicals made him take a loaded eight caliber revolver from under his pillow and stick it in his mouth. This was a tool whose only purpose was to make holes in human beings.
In Dwayne's part of the planet, anybody who wanted one could get one down at his local hardware store. Policemen all had them. So did the criminals. So did the people caught in between."
====================================================
"Patty Keene was stupid on purpose, which was the case with most women in Midland City. The women all had big minds because they were big animals, but they did not use them much for this reason: unusual ideas could make enemies, and the women, if they were going to achieve any sort of comfort and safety, needed all the friends they could get.
So, in the interests of survival, they trained themselves to be agreeing machines instead of thinking machines. All their minds had to do was to discover what other people were thinking, and then they thought that, too."
====================================================
Absolutely Brilliant...highly recommended read...
I was conflicted as to whether I'd give this book 4 or 5 stars, but after reflecting on it the past several days, I decided to go with 5. There are just so many deep layers to unpack with this novel that are well concealed by all of its surface-level scatology, pornography, and racism. If you're looking for a book with a great plot, this isn't it. If you are looking for a quintessential "Vonnegutian" read, there are few better than this. At first I found the random tangents about inconsequential characters to be distracting, but then I came to this line in the book:
"Once I understood what was making America such a dangerous, unhappy nation of people who had nothing to do with real life, I resolved to shun storytelling. I would write about life. Every person would be exactly as important as any other. All facts would also be given equal weightiness. Nothing would be left out. Let others bring order to chaos. I would bring chaos to order, instead, which I think I have done." - chapter 19
Once you put yourself in the author's shoes, the writing style and narrative decisions start to make a lot of sense. While writing Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut was dealing with an ugly divorce and the mental breakdown of his son Mark. He is clearing the junk out of his head. His experience with "bad chemicals" probably affected his personality and outlook on the world to the point where he could relate to Kilgore Trout. They are both perpetually suffering prolific authors whose meaningful writing is hidden within shamelessly vulgar publications.
The book is simply about humanity. The world has taken a bad turn, but humans are for the most part born as loving "machines" and must be "programmed" by external factors in order to hate. No line drives this point home more than this one, referring to a girl's pet greyhound named Lancer and the ex-con Hoobler:
"Lancer had a very small brain, but he must have suspected from time to time, just as Wayne Hoobler did, that some kind of terrible mistake had been made." - chapter 18
"Once I understood what was making America such a dangerous, unhappy nation of people who had nothing to do with real life, I resolved to shun storytelling. I would write about life. Every person would be exactly as important as any other. All facts would also be given equal weightiness. Nothing would be left out. Let others bring order to chaos. I would bring chaos to order, instead, which I think I have done." - chapter 19
Once you put yourself in the author's shoes, the writing style and narrative decisions start to make a lot of sense. While writing Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut was dealing with an ugly divorce and the mental breakdown of his son Mark. He is clearing the junk out of his head. His experience with "bad chemicals" probably affected his personality and outlook on the world to the point where he could relate to Kilgore Trout. They are both perpetually suffering prolific authors whose meaningful writing is hidden within shamelessly vulgar publications.
The book is simply about humanity. The world has taken a bad turn, but humans are for the most part born as loving "machines" and must be "programmed" by external factors in order to hate. No line drives this point home more than this one, referring to a girl's pet greyhound named Lancer and the ex-con Hoobler:
"Lancer had a very small brain, but he must have suspected from time to time, just as Wayne Hoobler did, that some kind of terrible mistake had been made." - chapter 18
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.75/5 - I think it’s one of those things you have to read and audiobook was an odd choice, although I really liked John Malkovich (but did not like hearing him say the n word so many times). Definitely ahead of its time in so many ways but it wasn’t always my cup of tea. The humor wasn’t always my favorite. I respect it though
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
After this and Slaughterhouse 5 I’m just not sure Vonnegut’s for me!
Some really enjoyable passages, themes and devices at play here but…!
At times I could enjoy it more if I envisioned it like some kind of Coen Brothers film, and you can feel it’s influence on a lot of *that kind* of filmmaking or storytelling but yeah.
(Also I know race in America is quite a key theme of the book but like… am I missing something that explains why Vonnegut’s just dropping the N word like 50 times in this book?)
(Also also I think sometimes books like this really suffer from the sheer overhype on places like r/books on Reddit lol)
Some really enjoyable passages, themes and devices at play here but…!
At times I could enjoy it more if I envisioned it like some kind of Coen Brothers film, and you can feel it’s influence on a lot of *that kind* of filmmaking or storytelling but yeah.
(Also I know race in America is quite a key theme of the book but like… am I missing something that explains why Vonnegut’s just dropping the N word like 50 times in this book?)
(Also also I think sometimes books like this really suffer from the sheer overhype on places like r/books on Reddit lol)
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes