Breakfast of Champions

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It's a hit!

This is the kind of book that makes me change the way I look at Planet Earth, and people in general. And penises. Few books have the power to do ... (show more)

This is the kind of book that makes me change the way I look at Planet Earth, and people in general. And penises. Few books have the power to do that, but Vonnegut's got it. It's like he's writing from an alien perspective, or rather he IS the author, and maybe he's writing for future aliens or people who won't know things like assholes and dinosaurs and bumper stickers and so on. The tangential nature of the book is not some rambling thing. When Vonnegut follows Dwayne or Trout and then follows something else related to the character, and then something else, it becomes all-inclusive. It's not just about an insane car salesman or a secret-genius sci-fi writer who sells aluminum siding. it's about us, the world, everything in it. The humor is pitch black but also dry, sometimes written in a clinical style where the humor and subversive nature takes a few pages to really sink in. And yet through all of the warped satire, these are real people that Vonnegut is looking at - a real planet in peril , full of lies and hypocrisy and death and "bad chemicals". It also looks at people and what they do in society seriously, every step of the way, even while poking fun out of any and everything possible - even if it doesn't look like it. It's a novel that inquires how a book should be written while it's unfolding, and the drawings help in making it a brainy page-turner. Words cannot full describe how much this book has made an impact on me. Books are pages with words written on them, sometimes in complete sentences. (show less)

 

 

by Jack Gattanella

No, it's a flop!

So incredibly bizarre I had a hard time reading it. Vonnegut is funny, and there were several laugh-at-loud parts of the novel. I just couldn't get... (show more)

So incredibly bizarre I had a hard time reading it. Vonnegut is funny, and there were several laugh-at-loud parts of the novel. I just couldn't get into it, though. Almost every page he forewarns the audience of Hoover's impending psychological snap, but when it does occur, it is only for a few pages and completely anti-climatic. That's probably the point right there, but I can honestly say I just didn't get it. The whole thing, however entertaining, was rambling and scattered. Funny? Totally. But everything else just seemed so strange and unconnected that I didn't enjoy it too much. Vonnegut is an acquired taste, I have a feeling, and this book has certainly picqued my interest in his writing style. (show less)

 

 

by Kelsey Hamilton

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  Some call it si-fi, but ultimately Vonnegut re-defines soft si-fi with an originality that can't be as easily defined. This book was the gate-way to my literary journey, that I owe all the credit too. Though Vonnegut has had many great writings in his illustrious career, I owe my future, and past, to this outstanding story. It brought a new out look on, not only plot, but story -telling, that I had not yet experienced. Though I may have been in my young teens at the time of my first reading o... (show more)

  Some call it si-fi, but ultimately Vonnegut re-defines soft si-fi with an originality that can't be as easily defined. This book was the gate-way to my literary journey, that I owe all the credit too. Though Vonnegut has had many great writings in his illustrious career, I owe my future, and past, to this outstanding story. It brought a new out look on, not only plot, but story -telling, that I had not yet experienced. Though I may have been in my young teens at the time of my first reading of this book, I would recommend this to anyone whomever, or had ever given up on entertainment in literature.
  Thank you Kurt Vonnegut for your words, babels, and rants that will never out-live or die, due to the legacy of you and the filthy, starving author we all came to know, and love as the fantastic character, author, or alter-ego, Kilgore Trout! (show less)

   

  by Nicholas David on Apr 18, 2009 at 08:53AM

  Want to read

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  Vonnegut, rest in peace, is a genre all of his own. I've looked for him in sci-fi and in literature never finding him. This gem was located at a secondhand bookstore and I'm guessing has an original cover design (not the V covers shown generally).

  Covers. How boring.

  I was determined to finish this on a Monday some I could exclaim the tagline from the book but then decided that I wouldn't want to defeat the purpose of this review convincing someone else to read it.

  Someone else ... (show more)

  Vonnegut, rest in peace, is a genre all of his own. I've looked for him in sci-fi and in literature never finding him. This gem was located at a secondhand bookstore and I'm guessing has an original cover design (not the V covers shown generally).

  Covers. How boring.

  I was determined to finish this on a Monday some I could exclaim the tagline from the book but then decided that I wouldn't want to defeat the purpose of this review convincing someone else to read it.

  Someone else should read this book. And then explain to me what it's about because I was just enjoying the ride.

  Favourite moments: wide-open beavers, leaks, the insistent details of the lengths of male ...er, anatomy and Kilgore Trout.

  What kind of author puts himself in the book as the author and Creator of the Universe and so on?

  The kind that makes you laugh. And laugh. And so on.

  Goodbye blue Monday! (show less)

   

   

  by Britton Leigh Cowman on Nov 30, 2009 at 11:19PM

  Already read

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