11th out of 32 books
—
330 voters
Timequake
According to science-fiction writer Kilgore Trout, a global timequake will occur in New York City on 13th February 2001. It is the moment when the universe suffers a crisis of conscience. Should it expand or make a great big bang? It decides to wind the clock back a decade to 1991, making everyone in the world endure ten years of deja-vu and a total loss of free will - not...more
Paperback, 219 pages
Published
August 6th 1998
by Vintage Classics
(first published 1997)
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One thing that never fails to annoy me when authors take on the subject of The Meaninglessness Of Modern Life, is when they assert that, at some point in the past, life was not meaningless. That everyone would read books and discuss them, that everyone was intelligent and imaginative, and life was good and interesting. And then something happened (usually taken to mean: the television was invented), and now everyone is a slobbering idiot with horrible taste, and society is falling apart because...more
May 21, 2009
Δx Δp ≥ ½ ħ htgkvkkviholmvobsvzighxofyyzmw
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Jika kata 'Humor Cerdas' didefinisikan sebagai humor yang dibuat oleh orang cerdas, diceritakan oleh orang cerdas, disampaikan dengan gaya yang cerdas serta orang yang menyimaknya akan menjadi cerdas, kira-kira menurut Anda, ada berapa jumlah buku di dunia yang memiliki humor cerdas?
Setau saya, jumlahnya hanya ada satu. dan buku ini yang paling layak disebut sebagai cerita 'humor cerdas'.
Ok, buku ini akan membuat otot perut dan otot alis pegal saat membacanya. Soalnya saat membaca buku ini kita...more
Setau saya, jumlahnya hanya ada satu. dan buku ini yang paling layak disebut sebagai cerita 'humor cerdas'.
Ok, buku ini akan membuat otot perut dan otot alis pegal saat membacanya. Soalnya saat membaca buku ini kita...more
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 a unique...more
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 refre...more
Dec 07, 2007
Fredstrong
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
all-time-favorites
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 basing...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 basing...more
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 enjoy Von...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 enjoy Von...more
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 the text. In the...more
This is the first novel by Kurt Vonnegut that I have read. To be honest, I have no idea what made me pick up Timequake, but I’m sure it has something to do with my perception that Vonnegut is one of those authors I should read. This book has been on my bookshelf for several years now (how many, I have no idea, but it’s been awhile). I decided to try to read the book again, this time from start to finish. I was successful and did get to the end, but not because I was at all interested in the endi...more
Apr 02, 2013
Kaitlin
added it
As in his novel Breakfast of Champions, here Kurt inserts himself as a character, this time adding much more autobiography and trailing frequently into his personal musings on the modern world. As is typical, these comments are at turns critical and forgiving, always pacifistic, aesthetic, and in summation they are what I would consider rather wise.
Starting in the year 2001, the story goes, the Universe ceases to expand and instead contracts backward ten years to 1991. Vonnegut's familiar charac...more
Starting in the year 2001, the story goes, the Universe ceases to expand and instead contracts backward ten years to 1991. Vonnegut's familiar charac...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Originally published on my blog here in June 2001.
In 1997, Vonnegut imagined that on February 13, 2001 there would be a timequake; the universe would revert to its position about ten years earlier, and the decade would be repeated exactly as before, with the massively important difference that everybody would remember what happened the first time around, but be powerless to change anything.
Vonnegut's novel is not a narrative of the ten year rerun. It is, instead, a series of commentaries on it,...more
In 1997, Vonnegut imagined that on February 13, 2001 there would be a timequake; the universe would revert to its position about ten years earlier, and the decade would be repeated exactly as before, with the massively important difference that everybody would remember what happened the first time around, but be powerless to change anything.
Vonnegut's novel is not a narrative of the ten year rerun. It is, instead, a series of commentaries on it,...more
I enjoyed this book even more than some of Vonnegut’s other novels. It was semi-autobiographical and very funny. Basically, a “Timequake” shrinks the Universe back 10 years in time and everyone has to relive their last 10 years exactly how they happened the first time, with no free will to change the outcome of anything. Imagine reliving every stupid mistake, every awkward moment, without having any power to correct them. Then when the rerun is over, everyone is slow to realize it so many of the...more
"...He said that when things were really going well we should be sure to notice it.
He was talking about simple occasions, not great victories: maybe drinking lemonade on a hot afternoon in the shade, or smelling the aroma of a nearby bakery, or fishing and not caring if we catch anything or not, or hearing somebody all alone playing a piano really well in the house next door.
Uncle Alex urged me to say out loud during such epiphanies: 'If this isn't nice, what is?'"
"Oh, earth, you're too wonderf...more
He was talking about simple occasions, not great victories: maybe drinking lemonade on a hot afternoon in the shade, or smelling the aroma of a nearby bakery, or fishing and not caring if we catch anything or not, or hearing somebody all alone playing a piano really well in the house next door.
Uncle Alex urged me to say out loud during such epiphanies: 'If this isn't nice, what is?'"
"Oh, earth, you're too wonderf...more
MY TAKE:
Books, because of their weight and texture, and because of their sweetly token resistance to manipulation, involve our hands and eyes, and then our minds and souls, in a spiritual adventure.
I enjoyed this book, but it seemed more like a social commentary than an actual story line, although Vonnegut admits that he writes non-linear plots– towards the end of his career most of his books had less story and more of a social commentary. A good way to say that doting on the past is irrelevant,...more
Books, because of their weight and texture, and because of their sweetly token resistance to manipulation, involve our hands and eyes, and then our minds and souls, in a spiritual adventure.
I enjoyed this book, but it seemed more like a social commentary than an actual story line, although Vonnegut admits that he writes non-linear plots– towards the end of his career most of his books had less story and more of a social commentary. A good way to say that doting on the past is irrelevant,...more
Going into this book, I expected science fiction and some crazy story about warped time or time travel. Some character might go to a different world or maybe time would stop and someone needs to put it back together. Boy, was I wrong. This book was very different indeed.
This book is loaded with stories which I had to put together to understand it all, but they are fairly well organized based on how he wants to build on the climax. The idea of a Timequake is very interesting and his use of the...more
This book is loaded with stories which I had to put together to understand it all, but they are fairly well organized based on how he wants to build on the climax. The idea of a Timequake is very interesting and his use of the...more
I’m not entirely sure what to say about this book … it’s confusing. I felt as if I was going back and forth between reading about Kurt Vonnegut’s actual life and a fictional one he had created. At times I could not tell the difference and most of the time I wasn’t even sure if what I thought were true stories were in fact true at all. However Vonnegut did loop in some historical characters and stories about their actual lives (which were very interesting most of the time). Kilgore Trout was agai...more
Oct 31, 2009
Erik Graff
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Vonnegut fans
Recommended to Erik by:
Thomas Miley
Shelves:
sf
Having traveled to California for the marriage and moving of an old friend currently on a short honeymoon, I'm now with his brother and nephew at a communally owned summer house on the edge of the Stanislaus National Forest. They live by the San Francisco airport while the marrying sibling is out in Sonoma, so the usual practice is to stay with them in the city for a few days before heading north to the Napa Valley. On this occasion, given the exigencies of marriage, we had the time to squeeze i...more
I was in a bookstore a few years ago, and discovered this novel in the discount bin.
“My God,” I thought. “Is Vonnegut still writing? Where has he been?”
Well, he hadn’t been anywhere; I was the one who had moved away. When I was in college, everyone was reading Kurt Vonnegut, and for good reason. His off-the-wall, free-floating plots, timelines, lost-and-found characters were fun and refreshing. Just the thing we needed in those oh so heady days. Life isn’t supposed to be serious all the time; a...more
“My God,” I thought. “Is Vonnegut still writing? Where has he been?”
Well, he hadn’t been anywhere; I was the one who had moved away. When I was in college, everyone was reading Kurt Vonnegut, and for good reason. His off-the-wall, free-floating plots, timelines, lost-and-found characters were fun and refreshing. Just the thing we needed in those oh so heady days. Life isn’t supposed to be serious all the time; a...more
To me, this novel/memoir/hybrid - whatever it is - is known by the other plot device in the novel, "The Clambake." It is "The Clambake" to me, and not "Timequake," because through my fairly quick reading of the book, I began to imagine myself at that setting: at a New England clambake, perhaps sitting by a bonfire, where one of my favorite authors is rambling wonderfully on about his life, his work, expressing as much of what he has learned in his long life as he can before the party ends. And t...more
Timequake is billed as Vonnegut’s last “novel” but it’s neither his last, nor a novel. Hocus Pocus was the final novel from the Master, and A Man Without a Country his last book. This is almost entirely autobiographical, with a few digressions on the career of Kilgore Trout to keep the fictional proceedings going.
No complaints from me. Kurt is on fine form, wisecracking and wise, settling into his batty old grandfather role with ease. What is surprising about this volume is the candour he displa...more
No complaints from me. Kurt is on fine form, wisecracking and wise, settling into his batty old grandfather role with ease. What is surprising about this volume is the candour he displa...more
The book has an interesting premise, it's partially an autobigraphy of Kurt Vonnegut mixed together with an unfinished novel that he had been working on. It's about a "Timequake" that occurred in 2001 that forced everyone to go back 10 years in time and do everything over again, being forced to relive it without being able to change it. It's an interesting premise, but it's obvious why it was probably never made into a full novel on it's own - it's repetitive and doesn't really go anywhere. (Whi...more
Teško mi je zapravo reći nešto...
Vremetres je je stilski dosta drugačija od prethodnica.Uprkos autobiografskim momentima u njegovim prethodnim knjigama, ova predstavlja najpotpuniju sintezu fikcije i stvarnosti . Štaviše, ovo je pre autobiografija, kolekcija Vonegatovih misli sa elementima fikcije koji su ubačeni da bi sve to skupa izgledalo profesionalnije. Ona ima centralnu temu ali ne i radnju koja će se razvijati po klasičnim normama Nešto se stalno dešava ali se ništa konkretno neće desiti....more
Vremetres je je stilski dosta drugačija od prethodnica.Uprkos autobiografskim momentima u njegovim prethodnim knjigama, ova predstavlja najpotpuniju sintezu fikcije i stvarnosti . Štaviše, ovo je pre autobiografija, kolekcija Vonegatovih misli sa elementima fikcije koji su ubačeni da bi sve to skupa izgledalo profesionalnije. Ona ima centralnu temu ali ne i radnju koja će se razvijati po klasičnim normama Nešto se stalno dešava ali se ništa konkretno neće desiti....more
This wasn't really what I expected. The blurb on the back makes it sound like another of Vonnegut's sci-fi novels, but in fact it's the literary equivalent of Fellini's 8 1/2 (he even makes a reference to that film late in the book). Basically, the premise is that he spent a long time working on a novel called "Timequake" that ended up being really lousy, so he scrapped it and started again with this one.
What we ended up getting isn't really a novel, although much of it is fiction. It's basicall...more
What we ended up getting isn't really a novel, although much of it is fiction. It's basicall...more
This is a book hat I have owned for more than 5 years and have been struggling to read for just as long. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that Vonnegut struggled to write it (it certainly reads that way and there is a reference to this edition actually being Timequake II). The crux of the plot is that there is a “glitch” in time, causing people to re-live 10 years of their lives. Everyone is aware of the re-play, but no one possesses the free will to change anything. The time quake device is...more
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.
Listen: At 2:27 pm, on February 13, 2001, a timequake occurred. It set the universe back ten years. As such, the unfortunate occupants of Earth were forced to repeat a decade of their lives starting in 1991. Think of it as a prolonged and constant state of déjà vu. They knew what was going to happen, knew what the impact was going to be, and were powerless to do anything about it. Time, after all, is time. There’s no monkeying around with it.
The timequake was very unfortunate for me, now that I...more
The timequake was very unfortunate for me, now that I...more
Nearly (?) Vonnegut's last book, Timequake is more memoir than story, with unrelated jokes and Vonnegut-isms thrown in. Because of that, it reminded me of Breakfast of Champions, but it has been a while since I read that book. Timequake sort of reads like his goodbye to fiction, although he ended up "outliving" his alter-ego Kilgore Trout, who in this book passes away in, I think, 2002? I love Trout's defense of why he doesn't bother with creating characters:
"If I'd wasted my time creating chara...more
"If I'd wasted my time creating chara...more
I am fascinated by the division between Vonnegut's earlier work and the books produced towards the end of his life. Timequake falls into this latter category; the book marries seemingly random thoughts and stories with a typical Vonnegut story arc. The jacket flap of my book describes Timequake as being about the sudden contraction of the universe 10 years, before it decides to return to expanding again. This sudden contraction makes the universe travel back 10 years, and everyone on earth must...more
I realized recently that it's been quite some time since I've read any Vonnegut (scattered short stories aside), and though my current historical jaunt into the battle of Stalingrad is excellent, it's also depressing as hell and I needed a literary foil. I pulled this book off the shelf at random because it's one of the first ones I ever read and one of the only ones I haven't re-read at least once (along with Hocus Pocus, one I read around the same time as Timequake and haven't gone back to, he...more
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Kurt Vonnegut, Junior was an American novelist, satirist, and most recently, graphic artist. He was recognized as New York State Author for 2001-2003.
He was born in Indianapolis, later the setting for many of his novels. He attended Cornell University from 1941 to 1943, where he wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Vonnegut trained as a chemist and worked as a journali...more
More about Kurt Vonnegut...
He was born in Indianapolis, later the setting for many of his novels. He attended Cornell University from 1941 to 1943, where he wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Vonnegut trained as a chemist and worked as a journali...more
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“Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.”
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Aug 29, 2012 02:25pm
Aug 29, 2012 04:43pm