Ben's review
Player Piano
by Kurt Vonnegut
Ben's review
Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
Ben's review
rating:
bookshelves:
brave_new_world,
humor
recommended for: people knitting sweaters for the revolution
Vonnegut recasts in his own style a fable all too familiar to the Anglophone palette: the horrors of a fully-automated society made slave by its precious technology. The allusions to Orwell's "1984" are obvious, to the point that Vonnegut's novel may have been more aptly titled "1985: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Works." Indeed, Vonnegut's attempt to inject smarm and self-inflated wit into a story about the quest for human dignity seems to strike a disappointingly dull note. Plot twists are "too clever," the humor seems quite contrived, and the main characters come off as self-absorbed morons with little depth. One wonders if Vonnegut wrote this piece with expectation of it being adapted into a screenplay later on.
Because of this, "Player Piano" will always be overshadowed by its neighbors "1984" and "Brazil."
Because of this, "Player Piano" will always be overshadowed by its neighbors "1984" and "Brazil."
