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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.8 in general
2.5 compared to some of his other work
This is dark, unfiltered, and deeply cynical. It's also clever and highly imaginative. This isn't my favorite book by Vonnegut, but I enjoyed it. It uses simple language and Drunk-Mad-Hatter-style whimsy to comment on some really heavy topics (racial inequality, gender inequality, wealth inequality, colonialism, etc), along with some sillier ones (like penis size and the value of minimalist artwork). I laughed. I cringed. I felt Vonnegut's weariness throughout. This is not a happy book in the least, and that's exactly how he meant for it to be.
PLOT SUMMARY
Honestly, don't read this for the plot. It's all over the place. The plot was as coherent as it needed to be in order for Vonnegut to put his thoughts and feelings out there. It turns out, it didn't need to be *that* coherent for him to accomplish this.
WHAT I LIKED/DIDN'T LIKE combined:
It was creative of Vonnegut to insert himself as the God of the book IN his book, though I'd hoped he'd do more with this idea, given how much he talks about the Creator. The stories in here were absurd, and there was a bunch of talk about vaginas and buttholes and such, in addition to dead rabbits and pooping yeast. If he was *trying* to make this book as random as he believed life is by nature, then he certainly accomplished it. If he was was *trying* to make this as grimy a read as Kilgore Trout's mind, then he accomplished that too. That said, the plot was a hot mess, there were too many characters, and his messaging became redundant.
Still would recommend. It's a unique book.
2.5 compared to some of his other work
This is dark, unfiltered, and deeply cynical. It's also clever and highly imaginative. This isn't my favorite book by Vonnegut, but I enjoyed it. It uses simple language and Drunk-Mad-Hatter-style whimsy to comment on some really heavy topics (racial inequality, gender inequality, wealth inequality, colonialism, etc), along with some sillier ones (like penis size and the value of minimalist artwork). I laughed. I cringed. I felt Vonnegut's weariness throughout. This is not a happy book in the least, and that's exactly how he meant for it to be.
PLOT SUMMARY
Honestly, don't read this for the plot. It's all over the place. The plot was as coherent as it needed to be in order for Vonnegut to put his thoughts and feelings out there. It turns out, it didn't need to be *that* coherent for him to accomplish this.
WHAT I LIKED/DIDN'T LIKE combined:
It was creative of Vonnegut to insert himself as the God of the book IN his book, though I'd hoped he'd do more with this idea, given how much he talks about the Creator. The stories in here were absurd, and there was a bunch of talk about vaginas and buttholes and such, in addition to dead rabbits and pooping yeast. If he was *trying* to make this book as random as he believed life is by nature, then he certainly accomplished it. If he was was *trying* to make this as grimy a read as Kilgore Trout's mind, then he accomplished that too. That said, the plot was a hot mess, there were too many characters, and his messaging became redundant.
Still would recommend. It's a unique book.
This is by far the zaniest Vonnegut book I've read! Very meta and crazy but also seriously critical of society and human existence, all narrated in his typical bone dry tone. Thoroughly enjoyable!
dark
funny
mysterious
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:
Complicated
funny
fast-paced
This is a book about "unwavering band of lights," all with stories held in equality regardless of their stations in life. But that's not quite how it begins.
"I tend to think of human beings as huge, rubbery test tubes, too, with chemical reactions seething inside."
Experiments to miracles.
This is an odd, but entertaining book. Breakfast of Champions is a disjointed satire of the American state of mind. Keyword: disjointed.
The text is a narrative, but it's built almost peripherally through anecdotes -- biographical development of the two main characters and historical descriptions of a parallel, but very much alternate, United States of America.
For this reason, the book is a bizarre experience: it's easy and enjoyable to read and, at the same time, challenging to follow. Pieces of the narrative come at you from odd angles, and it is often your responsibility as the reader to put them together in some semblance of an order.
"Here was the thing about my control over the characters I created: I could only guide their movements approximately, since they were such big animals. There was inertia to overcome. It wasn't as though I was connected to them by steel wires. It was more as though I was connected to them by stale rubberbands."
And a warning: if you like your fourth wall securely intact, this book will irritate you. Vonnegut takes little, mildly damaging swipes at it with a pick axe and then lobs over a grenade. Good luck following the narrative once he throws in that doozy.
However, it's extremely effective, both as a literary device and in completely removing the security of being detached from troubling characters.
Prepare to me reminded, again and again, that you are only as human as the worst human you can imagine.
"We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane."
And so on.
"I tend to think of human beings as huge, rubbery test tubes, too, with chemical reactions seething inside."
Experiments to miracles.
This is an odd, but entertaining book. Breakfast of Champions is a disjointed satire of the American state of mind. Keyword: disjointed.
The text is a narrative, but it's built almost peripherally through anecdotes -- biographical development of the two main characters and historical descriptions of a parallel, but very much alternate, United States of America.
For this reason, the book is a bizarre experience: it's easy and enjoyable to read and, at the same time, challenging to follow. Pieces of the narrative come at you from odd angles, and it is often your responsibility as the reader to put them together in some semblance of an order.
"Here was the thing about my control over the characters I created: I could only guide their movements approximately, since they were such big animals. There was inertia to overcome. It wasn't as though I was connected to them by steel wires. It was more as though I was connected to them by stale rubberbands."
And a warning: if you like your fourth wall securely intact, this book will irritate you. Vonnegut takes little, mildly damaging swipes at it with a pick axe and then lobs over a grenade. Good luck following the narrative once he throws in that doozy.
However, it's extremely effective, both as a literary device and in completely removing the security of being detached from troubling characters.
Prepare to me reminded, again and again, that you are only as human as the worst human you can imagine.
"We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane."
And so on.
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes