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Player Piano

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 20,572 ratings · 685 reviews

Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines. Paul’s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut—wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality.

Paperback, 341 pages

Published January 12th 1999 by The Dial Press (first published 1952)

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Jun 07, 2007 graycastle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

There was a period in my life when I read all the Vonnegut I could get my hands on, which is mostly a very rewarding experience, but oh man, this is terrible. It's his first novel, and it really should've been a short story - even as a short story, it would've been forgettable. Classic scifi man/machine themes unleavened by the irony I would usually expect from Vonnegut, drawn out far too long, with characters who lack depth or interest. Read, I dunno, anything else by Vonnegut instead, and you'...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Rob rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

I can't really explain why I didn't like this one more than I did. I did some vigorous head-nodding with the message, and it's an at-least-decent showing for a first novel, and there are moments that seem downright prescient for something written 60 years ago. So why did I keep nodding off in the middle of it? Why did I entertain thoughts of abandoning it? It's a 2-star book with several 4-star moments, but not enough to average out to 3-stars. Not for me. Were my expectations too high? Was I sp...more

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Aug 19, 2008 Hank rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: managers and corporate cheerleaders.

Shelves: dystopian

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. You could see Vonnegut's genius in his first novel.

On a blog I read, the Devil Vet's been thinking about hope and hopelessness in dystopian fiction. I think Player Piano is good example of how hope plays into dystopian narratives. The Ghost Shirt Society of the book rises in rebellion against the soul-numbing mechanized society even though they know they will fail. Why? Simply to show that it can be done. That there can be light at the end of that tunnel, if power is wrested from the managers an...more You could see Vonnegut's genius in his first novel.

On a blog I read, the Devil Vet's been thinking about hope and hopelessness in dystopian fiction. I think Player Piano is good example of how hope plays into dystopian narratives. The Ghost Shirt Society of the book rises in rebellion against the soul-numbing mechanized society even though they know they will fail. Why? Simply to show that it can be done. That there can be light at the end of that tunnel, if power is wrested from the managers and engineers who hold it in that society. "Hope in hopelessness" indeed.

But then, that's one of Vonnegut's favorite themes (literally from the beginning, as we see) to kick around. You might have the whole world against you, you might know from the beginning that stretching your wings will just result in being shot out of the sky, but the exercise of whatever freedom you can snatch is worth the fall.

Of course, he didn't rely simply on ideas. The man could spin a yarn. The whole section of the book where Proteus has to go on an annual weekend team-spirit-building retreat had me chuckling through my anger. I hate that kind of workaday pep rally crap, and that particular scenario sounds like my idea of four days of hell. And the chapter in which Proteus buys a small, old school farm - thinking that will calm his need to get out of the "we are all cogs" system - and his wife takes it completely the wrong way sort of broke my heart. Though, I have to admit, I felt some for the wife - it's not like he spent any time communicating his feelings or situation to her.

The running thread of the Shah of Bratpuhr touring the US, with his guide in more and more dire straits, was a nice touch. Sometimes that kind of show-and-tell subplot can feel tacked on or unnecessary, but Vonnegut's storytelling allowed it to weave in and out of the major action.

final thought: No surprise, I agree with him. If you take away a person's chance to do for themselves, you take away a major reason to get out of bed every morning. I'm not saying we all have to work hard or die. I'm just saying, yeah, we all need that feeling of dignity that honest work can provide, whether for decent wages or just for our own benefit.

(epicdystopia.blogspot.com)(less)

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Nov 06, 2007 Matt Dorsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Is it acceptable to call a soft sci-fi dystopian novel badass? Does that reveal the total nerd at the core of my character?

The only reason I can see for this book not to be mentioned as one of Vonnegut's greats is that it's edged out by the half-dozen or so outright masterpieces in his canon. But for a first novel, this is ace. It's Vonnegut's most conventionally structured novel, and possibly even his least original. The plot is more or less a tweaking of Huxley's 'Brave New World' (Vonnegut h...more Is it acceptable to call a soft sci-fi dystopian novel badass? Does that reveal the total nerd at the core of my character?

The only reason I can see for this book not to be mentioned as one of Vonnegut's greats is that it's edged out by the half-dozen or so outright masterpieces in his canon. But for a first novel, this is ace. It's Vonnegut's most conventionally structured novel, and possibly even his least original. The plot is more or less a tweaking of Huxley's 'Brave New World' (Vonnegut himself has admitted this). Yet frankly, I like it better than that dystopia, as 'Player Piano' is more focused, has better flow, and the satirical elements don't rely as much on suspension of disbelief.

Kurt Vonnegut was not a luddite. This is important to keep in mind when considering the book's premise. The idea of mechanical labor replacing human workers is simply the means around which Vonnegut builds his multi-tiered assault on corporate aristocracy, to borrow an excellent and underused term from David Korten. The satire is wicked-sharp. Consumerism, the class divide, barriers to entry of higher education, and even peace-time mentality all get their comeuppance in Vonnegut's portrayal of a near-future America where socialism and manufactured material desires are used to sate the drive of the lower class (most of the population), while ass-kissing mono-talents get drunk off their own wealth and power. It's socio-political satire that's refreshingly more socio than political, and it's no less relevant now, 55 years after its first pressing, than it was then. Somewhere in the book's final third, the resistance movement gains a strong voice, and the writing may coax the reader into aligning with it. The wit and intellect of the author really comes through here: does this story have any heroes, or are the revolutionaries really just anarchists who by their nature must shake up whatever order there is?

After this, his first novel, Vonnegut went on to write far more original and versatile works, many of which I've read. Absent here are the non-linear narratives, single-word commentary sentences, chatty introductions and frequent narrator editorializing which would become his M.O. However, reading 'Player Piano' should make it obvious why he soon created his own rules for writing a novel: with his very first, he'd already done all he could within the bounds of conventional composition. 'Player Piano' is Vonnegut's most straightforward narrative, but also possibly his harshest and most thorough satire; his social discontent and bitterness does not jump out in short bursts here, but is more cool and collected, and therefore able to seethe beneath every word of this carefully constructed and brutal depiction of the powers-that-be and the trail of human wreckage left behind in the name of "progress".(less)

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Nov 21, 2008 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's pretty amazing that Vonnegut could write so brilliantly about a technological backlash in a computerized society well before the age of the PC and the internet. Besides the fact that vacuum tubes are considered high tech in this book, it could have been written yesterday. You know, if he hadn't died. I didn't love the way the book wrapped up, but I'll cut him some slack since it was his first.

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Mar 23, 2012 Lee Sree rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopian-fiction

That's not the Vonnegut I like!

It was just so dead serious and extended to the max, while it was more of a short story material. I find that book way too long, colourless and just plain boring. I really hated the main character, whose only goal in life was to be a part of something. I felt sorry for him and his inability to see that everyone around is only trying to use him, starting from his own wife, ending at the system. Or maybe he did know that but didn't complain because it satisfied his...more

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Sep 29, 2008 skye rated it 3 of 5 stars

I started this book 4 times before finally getting into it around 100 pages in this time. I really love his imagination of the future -- very analogous to Brave New World in many ways -- but he builds a realistic and compelling drama among the people too. This book is very prescient for its time (the 50s), and an excellent read today. Also, as an earlier work, it is much more traditional in format, compared with (for example) Breakfast of Champions. I may prefer his later free-wheeling style......more

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Mar 15, 2009 Jillian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: gym, dystopian, own

Player Piano follows the powerful and the dispossessed members (and several characters in the former category who suddenly find themselves in the latter) of an almost fully mechanized society. The primary protagonist is Dr. Proteus, a top engineer who gradually becomes disillusioned with the world that he and his famous father helped to create. Vonnegut also offers the perspectives of foreign dignitaries familiar with a very different social structure, the barely employed lower classes, and the...more

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Mar 08, 2013 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work--this is a gift of God.
-- Ecclesiastes 5:19

Whoever *did* write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut!
-- Back to School

Where to begin? With Goodread's rating system, I feel like I'm underrating books, but I would say that I liked it, but didn't really like it. One negative was that it seemed kind of slow-moving (or even boring) at times, even though o...more

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Jan 26, 2013 Crystal rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 12, 2013 Nathan Titus rated it 5 of 5 stars

Vonnegut is one of my favorite writers, and this is my favorite book by him. However I don't consider it exactly a Vonnegut book because it is absolutely unlike anything else he has ever written.

Vonnegut likes to brag that he has never written a book with a villain in it. To that I add that he has never written a book with a hero in it except for Player Piano. His other characters are merely protagonists, people who do not even so much as have things happen to them as observe that things happen....more

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Dec 22, 2012 Mike Gyssels rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Vonnegut establishes himself as a satirical juggernaut in his first novel, and true to the jacket, his commentary is extremely close to reality. Though more grounded in the technological reality it was written in than say Huxley or Orwell (all technological apparatuses operate based on tapes and recorders), Vonnegut's vision of the future is no less haunting and truly uncanny.

The satire offered by the "Shah" is harsh, poignant, and altogether hilarious--this novel is everything that the "black...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars

In one of the more awkward chapters of my adolescence, my dad started to read me Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions, which if you haven’t read before, or if it’s been awhile, you ought to know opens with graphic (literally) descriptions of beavers - animal and otherwise. While I knew enough to be mortified, and my dad knew enough to immediately stop reading, I couldn’t help but recognize something addicting about an author who wrote in such a sacrilegious tone, with such disregard for the pr...more In one of the more awkward chapters of my adolescence, my dad started to read me Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions, which if you haven’t read before, or if it’s been awhile, you ought to know opens with graphic (literally) descriptions of beavers - animal and otherwise. While I knew enough to be mortified, and my dad knew enough to immediately stop reading, I couldn’t help but recognize something addicting about an author who wrote in such a sacrilegious tone, with such disregard for the pretensions of readers. And so later, under the covers and lit by the hallway light, I read Breakfast of Champions, and decided that Mr. Vonnegut was okay by me.

Now, decades (!, well, a lie, just a decade) later I’ve read Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel, Player Piano, and I’m reluctant to report that it’s… not very good. Not bad! (I’d rather not post at all if it meant besmirching the good name of one of my better, favourite authors) Just, not very good. The novel follows Paul Proteus as he sorts out what it means to be human in the age of machines, and what it means to be smart/wealthy (smalthy?) in the age of mass unemployment and ignorance. His journey (a short one) to the climatic not-epiphany takes us through farming, summer camp, and nights at the bar. His not-epiphany? Art might make us human; hierarchies, while troubling, might ultimately be for the greater good. Always might.

To what do I attribute my dissatisfaction? Well, Paul, despite his ostensible ideological journey, doesn’t evidence any noticeable character change - I’d just as easily believe he swears allegiance to the company as to the radicals (is this the point? maybe…) and the symbols bear down on this reader like too much bread and potatoes.

Why does it still count as not bad? Well, expert in tone, Vonnegut delivers in the first novel the same wry tone you’ll know and love in later novels, as well as the simplest of questions - what makes us human? - explored as it ought to be, through a fiction we recognize as true (enough).(less)

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Oct 17, 2012 Jenny Achiam rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was so glad to finally read my favorite author's first novel. I was expecting some naivete on his part. Or at least- I wasn't expecting the masterful command of pathos that I've encountered in his later works. I figured he wouldn't have developed that yet and was looking forward to reading a less astonishing work with an underlying potential for greatness.

But by god! Vonnegut doesn't miss a beat. Ever. This novel was not only as full of impact as his later ones, but in some ways more-so. With...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Mark Picketts rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not sure if this is a three or a four but it was a really interesting read and I was amazed at the society that Vonnegut depicted long before the era of the PC and general outsourcing of the American work force. It was particularly poignant as i was still thinking so much about an education system made to create factory workers (Stop Stealing Dreams). Although his first book my pervious discoveries in reading Vonnegut remained: very readable, powerful, interesting characters, and scattered throu...more Not sure if this is a three or a four but it was a really interesting read and I was amazed at the society that Vonnegut depicted long before the era of the PC and general outsourcing of the American work force. It was particularly poignant as i was still thinking so much about an education system made to create factory workers (Stop Stealing Dreams). Although his first book my pervious discoveries in reading Vonnegut remained: very readable, powerful, interesting characters, and scattered throughout with moments of hilarity. A really enjoyable read.

Some parts that particularly grabbed me (unsurprisingly a long list with Mr. Vonnegut):

"know how and world law were getting their long-awaited chance to turn earth into an altogether pleasant and convenient place in which to sweat out Judgement Day." 2%

"First Industrial Revolution devalued muscle work, then the second one devalued routine mental work. I was fascinated." 4%

"the idea of designing and manufacturing and distributing being sort of a holy war: all that folklore was cooked up by public relations and advertising men hired by managers and engineers to make big business popular in the old days" 27%

"I'm going to get myself a uniform, so I'll know what I think and stand for" 28%

"The house seemed to have twisted and stretched on its foundations until it had found a position of comfort for all of its parts - like a sleeping dog." 44%
great imagery

"a postwar development of three thousand dream houses for three thousand families with presumably identical dreams." 47%

"everything you think you think because somebody promoted the ideas. Education -- nothing but promotion" 58%

"Paul continued to contemplate trivia, to atomize the fixtures and conventions of the only way of life he'd ever known, an easy, comfortable life, with simple answers for every doubt." 65%

"show me a specialist, and I'll show you a man who's so scared he's dug a hole for himself to hide in." 65%

"He was understanding now that no man could live without roots -- roots in a patch of desert, a red clay field, a mountain slope, a rocky coast, a city street. In black loam, in mud or sand or rock or asphalt or carpet, every man had his roots down deep -- in home." 68%

"the machines are to practically everybody what the white men were to the Indians. People are finding that, because of the way the machines are changing the world, more and more of their old values don't apply any more. People have no choice but to become second-rate machines themselves, or wards of the machines." 84%

"[you] have continued to believe that the condition of man improves in direct ratio to the energy and devices for using energy put at his disposal" 87%

“And a step backward, after making a wrong turn, is a step in the right direction.” 91%

Long list, yes; but even on re-read i think they're good ones. The sheer length of the list had me bump the three to a four, there are definitely some gaps, and its a little rough - but its his first and well before its time.(less)

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Jan 17, 2012 Kyle LaDuke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Player Piano is a book by the renowned author Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the story of Dr. Paul Proteus, manager of a large plant in the city of Ilium. The town has gone through a “second industrial revolution”, resulting in a sort of dictatorship based on machines. If a man’s IQ is too low, he is given a small meaningless job in the bad side of the town, but Dr. Proteus is one of the lucky few to have jobs in management. The novel focuses largely on his distaste for how society values machines ov...more Player Piano is a book by the renowned author Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the story of Dr. Paul Proteus, manager of a large plant in the city of Ilium. The town has gone through a “second industrial revolution”, resulting in a sort of dictatorship based on machines. If a man’s IQ is too low, he is given a small meaningless job in the bad side of the town, but Dr. Proteus is one of the lucky few to have jobs in management. The novel focuses largely on his distaste for how society values machines over men, and he is wracked with guilt knowing that managers like himself are part of the problem.

Paul’s inner turmoil ranges from his own marriage to the grand scheme of life as you watch his slow decent from a contented manager to a brooding, dissociative wreck. At first he is simply a bit unhappy with the way things are but still serves first and foremost as one of the leaders in the technological world, relying on machines and critiquing the imperfections of human labor. However, Dr. Proteus seems to have a soft spot for those deemed too unintelligent for the engineering field, rather than sharing the condescending perspective of his colleagues. Over the course of the book he takes multiple trips “across the bridge” to spend some time around what he thinks to be a simpler, happier people. This eventually has a lasting effect on the man, slowly altering his opinion of the industrial hierarchy to favor the common man.

One interesting subject Vonnegut approaches is Paul’s sentiment for people, focusing in particular on his wife Anita. Their marriage is loveless but sturdy, unsatisfying but also of great importance. Paul sees his wife as the only person he truly has in his life, and therefore tries hard to feel something for her. However, she doesn’t share his beliefs concerning the importance of humanity and eventually leaves him in his revolt against technology. The relationship is very well written, the tension between them made quite clear throughout the book.

Vonnegut takes his time introducing changes in Paul, subtly transitioning from calling him “Doctor Paul Proteus” at the start of each chapter to just calling him “Paul”. It certainly makes for an interesting read, tracking the thoughts of this man who is torn between the life and society he’s accustomed to and his personal ideals. Proteus’ thoughts grow constantly more radical, urging him to leave his current situation and live a simple life away from technology. Among his peers, such thoughts are almost treasonous, and this will eventually be his downfall.

Player Piano is a dark tale of the fall of humanity, poking fun at how machines have taken over a world once run by elbow grease. It’s a wonderful read for those who enjoy the suspense of a man’s conflict with himself, interesting on a psychological and an emotional level. The story is very well written, albeit a bit slow. With some patience, one will find themselves drawn right into the plot, on the edge of their seat despite the calm pace of the book. It’s a must-read for anyone who feels strongly regarding man’s receding role in the world.(less)

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Dec 11, 2011 Robert rated it 3 of 5 stars

Vonnegut depicts a planned society run by engineers and the computers and machines they've developed. It's an alternate America where efficiency and progress have divested most of the populace of the need to work - or the capacity to do useful, meaningful work - depending on your perspective. If you don't have a Ph.D. in engineering, the sciences, or even real estate, your only options are the military or the Reeks and Wrecks. In other words, busy work.

Vonnegut does a nice job of showing us the...more Vonnegut depicts a planned society run by engineers and the computers and machines they've developed. It's an alternate America where efficiency and progress have divested most of the populace of the need to work - or the capacity to do useful, meaningful work - depending on your perspective. If you don't have a Ph.D. in engineering, the sciences, or even real estate, your only options are the military or the Reeks and Wrecks. In other words, busy work.

Vonnegut does a nice job of showing us the many ways in which this idealized world is less than desirable. Since I'm from an area notorious for its road work, the huge crews working on bridge and road repairs in the novel struck pretty close to home. The idea of standardized tests determining your future also seems uncomfortably prescient. And if you lack that Ph.D., everything material about your life will be chosen for you, right down to the walls of your home and the furniture in it. And the Doctor of Real Estate is a masterstroke of satire.

Viewed with hindsight, the novel also gains an aspect it couldn't have when originally written. The peak of technology is a huge computer called EPICAC, which is housed in a series of caverns. EPICAC does the planning for this planned society, determining how much of everything to produce. Vaccum tubes, thousands and thousands of them, go into this marvel of a computer. Such a planned society would inevitably stagnate, and it might be fun to go back to this alternate world and depict the introduction of the microchip, either through the ingenuity of the vast numbers of unemployed, or having another country develop it, leap-frogging this engineering dystopia overnight. Curiously, the same year Player Piano was published, 1952, is also the year the microchip began to be developed.

The revolution against the machines plays out believably, and since I read this in the fall of 2011, I saw clear parallels to the protest movements of the large numbers of unemployed. I dearly wish Vonnegut were still with us.

As a final note, this novel involves a subplot of a visiting Shah, whose interpreter has one of my favorite names for a character, ever: Khashdrahr Miasma.(less)

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Jun 30, 2011 Mark Bratkowski rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am starting to run out of Vonnegut books that I haven't read. I picked this one because it was his first published novel. Also, I liked Vonnegut's style in his early work The Sirens of Titan and wanted to see if a similiar style appeared in this novel.
Player Piano shows Vonnegut going through the development of a story - exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, etc. However, the exposition is about 200 pages of the 340 page book. The climax wasn't worthy of this lenghty exposition....more

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Mar 01, 2011 Gabe Dybing rated it 3 of 5 stars

I like this one! If I had the option, I'd give it 3.5. In fact, I like it so much that, considering how topical its content is, I'm going to teach it in my next writing classes.

In this one Vonnegut describes a world in which people have replaced themselves with machines. The expected revolution ends up being bittersweet. That's all I'll say plotwise. What I will say is that I'm so attracted to this book, pedagogically, because "the machine" can be so easily likened to "the corporation." The nove...more

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Dec 11, 2010 Laurel added it

In some sense, this book is also a departure from his usual, what with sentences long enough to require multiple commas and all. This was his first book, and it's like he hadn't found his voice yet, which, while mildly disappointing at first, was interesting to observe in its own right throughout reading.

Overall, I found the book a bit heavy handed, or one-dimensional perhaps. It's hard to imagine a world in which Vonnegut doesn't flesh out all his characters, and this world was no exception, bu...more

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Apr 26, 2010 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: alt-history, fiction, read-in-2008

(written in 2008)
I’m always a fan of Vonnegut. I loved this book. What made it so fascinating (what makes all his books so fascinating actually) was that pieces of it were eerily close to the attitude of the world today. Every once and a while something would be familiar enough to make you think that perhaps this world isn’t so far off. And that is a scary thought. Makes you honestly wonder what mankind is capable of. How much freedom are we willing to give up for security? What are we willing t...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Красимир Стоев rated it 4 of 5 stars

Книгата представлява (анти)утопичен сблъсък между "новото" и "старото". д-р Протей е инж. (заради едното звание пред името?!) в завода Илион. Да кажем, че е главно шефче. Но...отвъд реката се сблъсква с много хора, които отдавна не са част от завода, заради глупавото модернизиране, машинизиране, механизиране и всичко възможно, което завършва на "иене"/"еене".

"Механичното пиано" не е типичната книга на Вонегът. Самото "механично пиано", в контекста, който е заложено, наистина е много добро попаде...more

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Aug 03, 2009 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm trying to get back in touch with my Indiana roots by reading more Indiana authors--starting, of course, with Kurt Vonnegut.

This is Vonnegut's first novel, about a mechanized future in which all Americans are either relegated to the Army, the "Reconstruction and Reclamation Corps" ("Reeks and Wrecks"), upper management, or the unemployment line--while machines and computers do all the work. It's classic Vonnegut, but it doesn't quite have the ironic craziness which defined so much of his late...more

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Aug 14, 2011 Seamus Thompson rated it 3 of 5 stars

It says a lot about the times in which we live that this dystopian novel (in the mold of Brave New World) published in 1952 depicts a world that is better than our own. Vonnegut's first novel is about a future United States where automation has eliminated all but a handful of satisfying jobs (most of which involve designing the machines that put people out of work). The result of all that automation (and the worship of efficiency and "progress" that drives it) is an underclass of average people...more

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May 05, 2011 Marit rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: modern-fiction

Vonnegut always makes for a quick but thoroughly interesting read. This may be one of the most easily understandable Vonnegut books I have read yet. His attack on the American mentality that machines can solve everything (efficiency, predictability in economic trends, safety, and more) is as relevant today as it was in 1952. The futuristic society he creates in Player Piano has become a strictly demarcated society based on IQ (not riches, per se) and though the common man has all the automated g...more

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Aug 06, 2010 Seth rated it 5 of 5 stars

As good as if not better than Catch 22. I loved it. Vonnegut challenges the fundamental assumptions of the American values. If we continue to value efficiency, quality, and productivity over humanity and quality of life, then, the machines that replace human labor will continue to displace the normal man. Here, only the high IQs have a chance to participate in society and progress because they are the creators of the machines. A man who competes with a slave is a slave. Thus, competing with mach...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Sheri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, poverty-class-issues

I read a bunch of Vonnegut's stuff in late high school and college (15-20 years ago) and remember really enjoying him. I didn't recall if I had read this one or not (and now after reading it am sure I did not) before and figured either way he is probably worth a re-visiting in an effort to update these reviews. This one (which I have discovered to be Vonnegut's first and was published in 1952, 5 years before Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged) was engaging and forward thinking social commentary. Certainl...more I read a bunch of Vonnegut's stuff in late high school and college (15-20 years ago) and remember really enjoying him. I didn't recall if I had read this one or not (and now after reading it am sure I did not) before and figured either way he is probably worth a re-visiting in an effort to update these reviews. This one (which I have discovered to be Vonnegut's first and was published in 1952, 5 years before Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged) was engaging and forward thinking social commentary. Certainly supports the idea that I should read (and re-read) more of his stuff.

Paul Proteus is a wishy-washy hero, but provides a great vehicle through which Vonnegut can make his comments and predictions of the future mechanization of American society. Certainly 60 years after its publication, I have the benefit of the unfolding of history to point out some of Vonnegut's weaknesses: socialization of the mass populace is not necessary, we moderns instead just disenfranchized those who are not willing to provide manual labor and the education of former third world populations has allowed us to outsource cheap intellectual labor rather than create a hierarchy of the intellectual (to which I am not convinced I am opposed..see Atlas Shrugged for a potential Utopian ideal). However, one can imagine how especially in the 50s the events of this novel may not have seemed so far fetched.

Over and over he gives us examples of the inefficiency created by the "uber-efficiency" of the machines: well qualified men being given the axe (Bud and Halyard) simply because they do not meet some ridiculous criteria. The well oiled machine of American society has been bureaucratized to such an extent that they are no longer making the best decisions on a global scale.

Vonnegut's plot is thin and the use of Halyard's tour with the Shah simply a vehicle for conversations with "interesting" other member of the population (barbers, Edgar Hagstrohm..average man, and college football coaches and players) as well as examination of the system by an outsider. I found the Shah's insistence on calling the averageman a Takaru (slave) and Halyard's original refutation of this term followed by his eventual agreement to be entertaining.

Of course Vonnegut is not attempting to really draft a compelling story; the whole thing is a ruse for social commentary. And so, there are quite a few conveniences and mishaps along the way. I have a few funny/apt quotes below:

"It isn't knowledge that's making trouble, but the uses it's put to."

"'I'm going to get myself a uniform, so I'll know what I think and stand for.' 'Or two--like Luke Lubbock'"

"IQ isn't everything. Some of the unhappiest people in this world are the smartest ones."

"Men, by their nature, seemingly, cannot be happy unless engaged in enterprises that make them feel useful."

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Jun 08, 2011 Marshall rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, satire, nongenre

An interesting novel. Vonnegut's first, and it shows, but many of the trademark Vonnegut elements are already there. Much more straight "science fiction" than most of his works, but pure social SF despite a few (often hilariously out-dated) technological trappings.

The central theme is a questioning of the purpose of technology. In the world of Player Piano most human labor has been entirely replaced by machines, leaving the majority of the population with little to do. The humans and machines ar...more An interesting novel. Vonnegut's first, and it shows, but many of the trademark Vonnegut elements are already there. Much more straight "science fiction" than most of his works, but pure social SF despite a few (often hilariously out-dated) technological trappings.

The central theme is a questioning of the purpose of technology. In the world of Player Piano most human labor has been entirely replaced by machines, leaving the majority of the population with little to do. The humans and machines are in competition for what work there is, but the machines are slaves, and "anybody that competes with a slave becomes a slave."

I found many aspects of the novel thought-provoking, but as a whole it didn't really work for me. The plot plodded, many of the vignettes were repetitive, and the setting depended on too many disjoint elements. For example: the machines replaced existing workers, but why didn't the workers find/create new things to do? "The System" managed all manufacturing production and mass culture, but there was no mention of restricting individual expression (beyond censoring anti-machine sentiments), and I have a hard time believing people wouldn't find new outlets. I got the feeling that Vonnegut (at least at the time) had a relatively poor assessment of "the common man," or maybe I'm just reading too much into things like the man selected by EPICAC as "entirely average" having an IQ of 87.

Many of the out-dated elements provided moments of unintentional humor. The implicit sexism of the society, the building-sized computers, the simplistic "recording" of people's actions in order to replace them with a machine. But some of them aren't as funny -- I think the risk of a cultural system which produces only works fore-known to be popular enough to be profitable increased after Player Piano was written, but hopefully is beginning to pass.

The friend who recommended Player Piano to me said she sees it as reminder to be mindful of what we're trying to achieve as (software) engineers. There's some deep ideas there (purpose of technology etc), but I think also a relatively simple parable -- make sure you're fulfilling the requirements people have, not the ones you think they have.
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Oct 17, 2009 Leif Schenstead-Harris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Let's see, well, I love Player Piano because it's sheer, beautiful Vonnegut.

I have trouble with Player Piano because it's so obviously Vonnegut.

Obviously an explanation is in order. It's hard not to like V's incisive satires; his wry explanations; his brilliant, almost timeless, analyses. Player Piano is no exception, and despite being his first (and in my opinion most true to traditional novelistic style) and his longest (I don't really know if it is or not, I haven't counted pages, it just fee...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Jen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Kurt Vonnegut

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

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