book data
5002 ratings, 3.61 average rating, 217 reviews
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published
2005
(first published 1997)
binding
288 pages
isbn
9648838011
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avg 3.61
Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Serious Vonnegut fans
I've read a few Kurt Vonnegut books that I remember being fun reads, but I wouldn't say this was one of them. I'm aware that he's since passed and this was his last novel published. He mentioned that it was a story he had been working on for a decade, "piecemeal", eventually compressing bits of fiction together with autobiographical accounts interspersed (I felt like they outweighed the actual story). I think I needed to be more interested in the author to have appreciated this. He has...more
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Read in April, 2008
At first I didn't get into this book, and I had put it down and forgotten about it. Recently I spotted it on my bookshelf and, needing something new to read when I finished my last book, I grabbed Timequake. I read it mostly on the train thinking that would force me to get over the hump I couldn't overtake a couple years ago when I first tried to read it. I was surprised this time around that I had ever put it down. It's extremely witty; full of humor and beauty and saddness, but told in a re...more
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Unfortunately, it's been a while since I read Timequake, so I can only talk about the general trends I remember, rather than the specifics of plot, and character.
This is Vonnegut's last Novel, and he certainly goes out with a bang. The literary devices that Vonnegut uses throughout his catalogue are all utilized in Timequake with new force and life. Vonnegut regularly steps outside of the fiction to analyze the novel he is writing, and clue the reader into what he is thinking, who he is bas...more
This is Vonnegut's last Novel, and he certainly goes out with a bang. The literary devices that Vonnegut uses throughout his catalogue are all utilized in Timequake with new force and life. Vonnegut regularly steps outside of the fiction to analyze the novel he is writing, and clue the reader into what he is thinking, who he is bas...more
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Read in November, 2007
I hate to say this because I love Vonnegut. Cat's Crade and Slaughterhouse were pure genuis - satire at it's best. I also liked Sirens and Breakfast of Champions even though they were not of the calibre of his best works.
However, I am starting to fear that most of his other books are a waste of time. I think people read them only because they love Vonnegut and they desperately want to experience again the simple delight of discovering books that can shake you and engulf you.
I did not e...more
However, I am starting to fear that most of his other books are a waste of time. I think people read them only because they love Vonnegut and they desperately want to experience again the simple delight of discovering books that can shake you and engulf you.
I did not e...more
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Read in November, 2006
recommends it for:
First Time Vonnegut Readers
This is Vonnegut’s bestseller and my least favorite. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d like it when I picked it up. Generally speaking if I love an author, I don’t like his/her bestseller. This book focuses largely on the autobiographical aspect of his writing, but does not provide the fictional counterpoint found in books like “Slaughterhouse Five.” While it is amusing, I found myself wanting more at various points in the book, and at other points I felt like I had already read t...more
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Read in September, 2007
I liked this book. I have a feeling that this is not considered to be his best. He seems at this point a tired man and I don't think he would have won the acclaim that he has if this was his best. This was the first Vonnegut for me and I probably should have started with something else like slaughter house five. I have now just started "God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian" and I'm liking it a hell of a lot so I'm looking forward to reading some of his earlier stuff.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
This is Vonnegut's last novel and his most autobiographical. He alternates between thoughts on his life, a fictional story centered around his alter-ego Kilgore Trout, and the struggles of writing this story. The basic premise of the fictional story is that the expanding universe has a little hiccup (a "Timequake"). Time, instead of progressing, goes back exactly 10 years. Everyone is compelled to relive the last decade, knowing in advance what will happen and is powerless to chang...more
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Read in October, 2008
Een manier om Timequake te karakteriseren is als een verzameling amuserende anekdotes. Die anekdotes worden bewoond door kleurrijke personages die niet zozeer personages zijn als wel karikaturen of eendimensionale personages. Ook zijn er een aantal uitdrukkingen en woorden die Vonnegut door het hele boek door steeds blijft gebruiken zoals “something the cat drug in” en “Ting-a-ling”. Dit zou gemakkelijk kunnen ontaarden in een onregelmatige chaos van kortstondige genialiteit, ware het ni...more
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Read in April, 2008
At first, I wasn't too enthralled by Timequake and thought it might end up the same way Galapagos had, which is that I wouldn't finish it, but I kept reading out of a sense of boredom, perhaps, or for something to occupy my mind other than my thoughts. As a result, I have found a true gem in the ever-shrinking library of Vonnegut titles I haven't read or don't want to.
A large part of Timequake deals with death because Vonnegut was nearly seventy-five when he wrote it, and because a lot of pe...more
A large part of Timequake deals with death because Vonnegut was nearly seventy-five when he wrote it, and because a lot of pe...more
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Read in January, 2008
It's touching and heart-breaking, genius and of course humorous. A rare look into the brilliance that is Vonnegut, who himself narrates the story. Different from any other pieces from his cannon and in my opinion superior in large part due to its sincerity. Vonnegut puts his family, ancestry and life into the narrative and reaches out to the reader in a more intimate way than in any previous novel.
He writes at one point, “what most people want…what many people need desperately to receive ...more
He writes at one point, “what most people want…what many people need desperately to receive ...more
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Read in December, 2007
I read Slaughterhouse 5 when I was in highschool, and I did not get it. In recent years, I have had friends whose opinions I respect rave about Vonnegut, so I decided to try him again. I accidentally came across Timequake at a used bookstore and decided I would give it a whirl. And whirl is a good way to put it.
Most of the way through, I was lost, just as I had been with Slaughterhouse, but this time I saw flashes of merciless insight, droll humor and stark honesty. I struggled, however,...more
Most of the way through, I was lost, just as I had been with Slaughterhouse, but this time I saw flashes of merciless insight, droll humor and stark honesty. I struggled, however,...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Miggle by:
Madrerecommends it for: anyone with an eye for satire.
I was right on the edge of giving this book a rating of 4 stars; in terms of Kurt's ability in the context of his prowress shown in earlier works, this one is under par, and thus the demerit. However, the book does some to outplay the various selections available, and so I'll grant it the benefit of a doubt by means of my not-quite-infamous 5-star rating.
Vonnegut's reputation is due to his style of drawing the reader into a story with a really message, but by means of various quips that someho...more
Vonnegut's reputation is due to his style of drawing the reader into a story with a really message, but by means of various quips that someho...more
Can it really be possible I have never written a review of TIMEQUAKE? What kind of crazy hell is this?
Okay, this is my favorite Vonnegut book. I quote it on a daily basis. If you've ever gotten an email from me you've been Timequaked!
"In real life as in grand opera arias only make hopeless situations worse."
"You were sick and now you're well and there's work to do."
"Ting-a-ling, you son of a BITCH!!!"
"Call me Junior, my grown children do. Th...more
Okay, this is my favorite Vonnegut book. I quote it on a daily basis. If you've ever gotten an email from me you've been Timequaked!
"In real life as in grand opera arias only make hopeless situations worse."
"You were sick and now you're well and there's work to do."
"Ting-a-ling, you son of a BITCH!!!"
"Call me Junior, my grown children do. Th...more
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Read in November, 2008
I'm suprised that I found some of Vonnegut's later, less talked about books as enjoyable as some of the classic ones. But I enjoyed Bluebeard, Hocus Pocus and Timequake just as much as Slaughterhouse 5, Cat's Cradle, Mother Night or Breakfast of Champions.
Even though this technically isn't the last Vonnegut work, it's obvious that he was thinking of it as his swan song in fiction, and it's a near-perfect farewell.
Even though this technically isn't the last Vonnegut work, it's obvious that he was thinking of it as his swan song in fiction, and it's a near-perfect farewell.
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Read in July, 2008
"wake up! for God's sake, wake up! free will! free will!"
ah, kurt vonnegut, you're lovely. deedly-deedly-deedly. i didn't think i liked this book until about halfway through, when i finally accepted the fact that it was part fiction/part autobiography/part who-knows-what, and then i fell in love. i especially loved the woman who laughs whenever a healthy person unexpectedly falls (as one who consistantly laughs when others are in pain, i understand).
i also loved the part ...more
ah, kurt vonnegut, you're lovely. deedly-deedly-deedly. i didn't think i liked this book until about halfway through, when i finally accepted the fact that it was part fiction/part autobiography/part who-knows-what, and then i fell in love. i especially loved the woman who laughs whenever a healthy person unexpectedly falls (as one who consistantly laughs when others are in pain, i understand).
i also loved the part ...more
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recommends it for:
رمان پست مدرن
به گمانم آخرين رماني است که ونه گات نوشته.
طنز ونه گات در اين رمان به اوج مي رسد و حد و حصري نمي شناسد. داستان کاملا به شيوه ي پست مدرن روايت مي شود و زمان را تکه تکه مي کند. همانطور که از عنوان بر مي آيد درون مايه ي آن زمان است و باز هم در اين رمان کيلگور تراوت شخصيت افسانه اي داست...more
طنز ونه گات در اين رمان به اوج مي رسد و حد و حصري نمي شناسد. داستان کاملا به شيوه ي پست مدرن روايت مي شود و زمان را تکه تکه مي کند. همانطور که از عنوان بر مي آيد درون مايه ي آن زمان است و باز هم در اين رمان کيلگور تراوت شخصيت افسانه اي داست...more
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Read in February, 2002
Very postmodern. So postmodern you'll probably gag. But if you like Vonnegut, and I do, then this novel is just more proof of his brilliance. It's time travel, but backwards, and you can't change anything. It's ten years of reruns. And Vonnegut's there, and Kilgore Trout, and you've got no idea where the story ends and the autobiography begins, but this is a damned good book -- if you like Vonnegut.
If you don't like Vonnegut then you'll probably want to drop-kick this across the room, and i...more
If you don't like Vonnegut then you'll probably want to drop-kick this across the room, and i...more
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Read in July, 2008
God, it pains me to give that kind of score to a Vonnegut book, but here we are.
As he puts it in his prologue, he had started a novel years ago called Timequake that just never came together for him. In 1996 he decides to dust it off an re-tool it, using it's premise of everyone getting a ten year do-over for a framework. He ultimately uses it as means to launch into many anecdotes and non sequiturs, and as a send off for Kilgore Trout. For all I know, there may not have been an origin...more
As he puts it in his prologue, he had started a novel years ago called Timequake that just never came together for him. In 1996 he decides to dust it off an re-tool it, using it's premise of everyone getting a ten year do-over for a framework. He ultimately uses it as means to launch into many anecdotes and non sequiturs, and as a send off for Kilgore Trout. For all I know, there may not have been an origin...more
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Read in June, 2007
It seemed timely to read a little Vonnegut after his death. "He's up in Heaven now."
Kilgore Trout rises out of his beggar's clothes to be accepted into a loving community, playing a big role in this novel (or half-novel half-memoir, or summary of a novel picked apart by its author). A Timequake in the 2001 universe caused time to reset to 1991, forcing everyone to relive those ten years, unable to do a thing differently and yet fully aware of the horrible choices and mistakes a...more
Kilgore Trout rises out of his beggar's clothes to be accepted into a loving community, playing a big role in this novel (or half-novel half-memoir, or summary of a novel picked apart by its author). A Timequake in the 2001 universe caused time to reset to 1991, forcing everyone to relive those ten years, unable to do a thing differently and yet fully aware of the horrible choices and mistakes a...more
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This book came off as a cheap rip-off of Breakfast of Champions... MINUS THE CHILDISH DRAWINGS!
A couple of my friends loved it, but they had never read anything else by Vonnegut.
If you can't get enough of Kilgore Trout, read this book. You might be as pleased as I am.
A couple of my friends loved it, but they had never read anything else by Vonnegut.
If you can't get enough of Kilgore Trout, read this book. You might be as pleased as I am.
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