Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut
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| The Tragic Death of Kurt Vonnegut | 3 | 09/17/2007 01:37AM |
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Read in April, 2008
Best passages:
I think I am trying to make my head as empty as it was when I was born onto this damaged planet fifty years ago.
I suspect that this is something most white Americans, and nonwhite Americans who imitate white Americans, should do. The things other people hae put into my head, at any rate, do not fit together nicely, are offten useless and ugly, are out of proportion with one another, are out of proportion with life as it really is outside my head. I have no culture, no human...more
I think I am trying to make my head as empty as it was when I was born onto this damaged planet fifty years ago.
I suspect that this is something most white Americans, and nonwhite Americans who imitate white Americans, should do. The things other people hae put into my head, at any rate, do not fit together nicely, are offten useless and ugly, are out of proportion with one another, are out of proportion with life as it really is outside my head. I have no culture, no human...more
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Read in August, 2007
A loveable, highly enjoyable and entranced satirical look at western culture (and the United States in particular), this might be rightly termed not as a novel but as one of the best examples of contemporary American parable. Vonnegut is witty, dry, matter-of-fact. His detached perspective gives fresh meaning to the subjects about which he writes, and he plays with words in a way that lets the reader know that, yes, the author is fully aware of the fact that this is fiction, not reality, and som...more
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Read in January, 2008
Kurt Vonnegut is hilarious, absolutely the funniest author I have read. In Breakfast of Champions, like his other novels, his humor is more meaningful than simple comedy. Vonnegut’s satirical portrayal of middle America (KFC, car dealerships and all), through his depiction of fictional Midland City, is terribly accurate. Trust me, I was in Illinois (not Chicago) recently- terribly accurate.
Although less abstractedly organized than Slaughterhouse Five, Champions skips around a great deal...more
Although less abstractedly organized than Slaughterhouse Five, Champions skips around a great deal...more
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Look everyone, it's *Breakfast Of Champions*, the book so many of you fall all over yourselves with praise for. Indeed, a certain friend of mine (You know who you are.) is fairly ga-ga over this title and when he discovered that I'd only given it three stars he practically chewed my head off in a fit of righteous indignation. So it goes.
Since another praise-filled review of *Breakfast* just scrolled past my homepage I was inspired to share something that I discovered just this weekend. It se...more
Since another praise-filled review of *Breakfast* just scrolled past my homepage I was inspired to share something that I discovered just this weekend. It se...more
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Read in August, 2007
I should have liked this book more. It's about as "Vonnegut" as Vonnegut books go - with Kilgore Trout as a leading character, and Vonnegut mixing his views into the narrative to the point of eventually inserting himself, as author, into the story. And, of course, the book is filled with Vonnegut's humorous drawings and ability to return to an earlier observation in a way not unlike an incisive stand-up comedian. A modern-day Mark Twain, Vonnegut has been one of my favorite authors ...more
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Read in February, 2001
(written 2/01)
Vonnegut is my favorite author I've come across so far -- this is my second time through this book and I found it much more enjoyable this time. As usual, hilarious, objective and yet so subjective, pure Vonnegut and I love it.
*
"I think I am trying to make my head as empty as it was when I was born onto this damaged planet fifty years ago. I suspect that this is something most white Americans, and nonwhite Americans who imitate white Americans, should do. The th...more
Vonnegut is my favorite author I've come across so far -- this is my second time through this book and I found it much more enjoyable this time. As usual, hilarious, objective and yet so subjective, pure Vonnegut and I love it.
*
"I think I am trying to make my head as empty as it was when I was born onto this damaged planet fifty years ago. I suspect that this is something most white Americans, and nonwhite Americans who imitate white Americans, should do. The th...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2000
Breakfast of Champions can be viewed lightly for its quirky humor, but is most enjoyable and meaningful if one extends the humor to a witty, no-holds-barred critique of this society. I say viewed, instead of read, because Vonnegut intersperses his own comical sketches to help illustrate the often bizarre situations described in his colorful, sometimes playful, textual ...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
People with bad chemicals in their heads
Good old Kurt (God rest his soul) has truly helped me understand what all this fuss is about "wide open beavers".
This is a quick and rewarding read (with funny drawings) that makes you think about the world in a totally new way. I love how Vonnegut writes about America as a civilization which died out long ago and is addressing an audience who knows nothing of it.
This book is hilarious and heart-breaking at the same time. It follows a sci-fi author (Trout) of Vonnegut's own creat...more
This is a quick and rewarding read (with funny drawings) that makes you think about the world in a totally new way. I love how Vonnegut writes about America as a civilization which died out long ago and is addressing an audience who knows nothing of it.
This book is hilarious and heart-breaking at the same time. It follows a sci-fi author (Trout) of Vonnegut's own creat...more
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Another Vonnegut favorite, after reading SH5, I was lured into reading Breakfast. At the advice of my Step-father, I eagerly began to read what I found to be another Vonnegut classic. The characters, the themes, and the black, saddistic and corrupt humor are all accounted for and appealing. Vonnegut 100 percent. The humorous illustrations are bizzarre as they mare the pages of this read. A bucket of fried chicken is scribbled underneath a passage describing "niggers" love of chicken. A...more
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Pretty good, but if I were only comparing this to other Vonnegut books, I'd probably give it three stars. It lacks the focus of Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle and at times seems like more of an excuse for Vonnegut to get rid of a few loose ends in terms of ideas/things to say.
And don't get me wrong: they are great ideas -- Vonnegut's probably one of my favorite "idea" writers -- I just never felt like it was going anywhere. But he has an excuse for that!
Vonnegut's ...more
And don't get me wrong: they are great ideas -- Vonnegut's probably one of my favorite "idea" writers -- I just never felt like it was going anywhere. But he has an excuse for that!
Vonnegut's ...more
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recommends it for:
writers w/ ill-chosen publishers
as much the story of the misunderstood writer Kilgore Trout as anything else: Vonnegut describes Kilgore Trout's oeuvre thusly:
>>>Trout is consistent in that his tremendous body of work is for the most part unknown to the general masses. This is due to the fact that Trout's ill-chosen publisher, World Classics Library, is a firm specializing in pornographic novels and magazines, ensuring that his work is distributed only to stores that carry primarily this genre. Trout's work, with ...more
>>>Trout is consistent in that his tremendous body of work is for the most part unknown to the general masses. This is due to the fact that Trout's ill-chosen publisher, World Classics Library, is a firm specializing in pornographic novels and magazines, ensuring that his work is distributed only to stores that carry primarily this genre. Trout's work, with ...more
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Read in August, 2007
Re-read this after quite a few years - written in a faux-naive style that is occasionally just naive ("Communists...had a theory that what was left of the planet should be shared more or less equally among all the people"), it is still frequently good satire - unlike satirists who seem to hate everyone, Vonnegut really wants to find things to like about everyone, they just keep disappointing him.
Here's a quote I liked (remember this is from 1973) "When [Earthlings] built compute...more
Here's a quote I liked (remember this is from 1973) "When [Earthlings] built compute...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
People who breathe
When it comes to Vonnegut, I find it impossible to choose between my three favorites: Cat's Cradle, Sirens of Titan, and of course Breakfast of Champions. Each is a perfect example of the unmatched wit and creativity of Kurt Vonnegut.
Breakfast of Champions is the story of Dwayne Hoover, a car salesman who's slowly losing his mind. He has the misfortune of coming across a short story by classic Vonnegut character Kilgore Trout. This story, taking the form of a letter from The Creator, tips...more
Breakfast of Champions is the story of Dwayne Hoover, a car salesman who's slowly losing his mind. He has the misfortune of coming across a short story by classic Vonnegut character Kilgore Trout. This story, taking the form of a letter from The Creator, tips...more
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A substantial amount of time has passed since I completed a full read of BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS. I admit, my memory of the material has weakened, and only increases so the further I distance myself from the scripture and the closer my appointment with death approaches. There for, I would have to say, it would be unrealistic for me to give it a fair review at this point. However, my recollected feelings towards this literature can, and have been, expressed in my rating of the book. If, by chance,...more
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Read in March, 2007
this is the book that got me into kurt vonnegut. reading more of his books and getting familiar with his reoccuring characters and overlapping story lines made me want to reread it. this book is on the rather short list of books that i have read multiple times. as is the case with most of the late vonnegut's novels, this could be put under the category of sci-fi. but that would be misleading and perhaps off putting to some people who may not particularly enjoy science fiction but who would e...more
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Read in March, 2007
Very readable and amusing in parts. A little irritating in others. I wonder whether Vonnegut's eccentricity didn't get the better of him on this one. Don't get me wrong, I like that the author materializes himself into the action towards the end, guiding the reader through his decisions about the characters he's created. It provides a double-shot of irony since Dwayne Hoover comes to believe he's the only person in the world with free will right about the time Vonnegut puts himself in the scene....more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
Fans of the author
This book pushes the boundaries of Vonnegut’s style with one sentence sections and crude pencil’s sketches. The plot follows Kilgore Trout and Dwayne Hoover through a destine meeting at the opening of an art gallery. It is entertianing, but relatively unimportant. What separates this book from other Vonnegut works is his willingness to completely color outside the lines. Essentially, the work hinges on the quick asides and drawing that act as commentary from the author about his own writi...more
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Read in May, 2008
Breakfast of Champions reads like Kurt Vonnegut's encyclopedia of Americana. It's all bitter, cynical, hilarious asides, and Vonnegut's blunt language, though more effective in Slaughterhouse-Five, still works to reveal the underlying truths of our society and history through a brutally harsh lens. Vonnegut's dry sarcastic humor permeates the book, but he repeatedly punches you in the gut with passages that will always stick with you as you wade your way through life as an Americ...more
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Read in December, 2002
My very favorite Vonnegut book. Inspired a short story which, I believe, was the only reason I ended up with an A in one very hard fiction workshop during college.
"Trout sat back and thought about the conversation. He shaped it into a story, which he never got around to writing until he was an old, old man. It was about a planet where the language kept turning into pure music, because the creatures there were so enchanted by sounds. Words became musical notes. Sentences became melodies....more
"Trout sat back and thought about the conversation. He shaped it into a story, which he never got around to writing until he was an old, old man. It was about a planet where the language kept turning into pure music, because the creatures there were so enchanted by sounds. Words became musical notes. Sentences became melodies....more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
hard-core Vonnegut fans, but not the occasional Vonnegut admirer
I feel like this book started off much stronger and funnier than it ended. It's one of the most narratively interesting books I've ever read though - I'll say that much. Not only does it feature Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut's alter ego and pulp fiction writer, but at one point Vonnegut inserts himself as the writer into his own story. I won't give away more, but that scene if very interesting. Since this is such a quick read - could be done in a few hours - I'd recommend it for people looking for...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.10 (15581 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.09 (15078 ratings) number of reviews: 618popular shelves
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