Sam's review
Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut
Sam's review
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Sam's review
rating:
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 no stranger to speaking as himself in his work, and here he pretty much flat out says that he's purging himself of ideas, that he's tired of novels that are so clearly about something, and he's looking to write in a more realist/humanist way -- he wants his characters to relate tangentially and nautrally, and not have such obvious reasons for being there. Which he just about does, which makes this book feel experimental. I'm just not sure it works.
Do I look at this as a not-so-successful...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 no stranger to speaking as himself in his work, and here he pretty much flat out says that he's purging himself of ideas, that he's tired of novels that are so clearly about something, and he's looking to write in a more realist/humanist way -- he wants his characters to relate tangentially and nautrally, and not have such obvious reasons for being there. Which he just about does, which makes this book feel experimental. I'm just not sure it works.
Do I look at this as a not-so-successful...more
