Breakfast of Champions in Reading 1001

Aug 12, 2017 Kristel rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, science-fiction, 1001-challenge, humor, social-commentary, satire

Breakfast of Champions is my second, the first being Slaughter-House Five. I own the kindle and audio version of this one and while the audio was well done, there are a lot of drawings that are referenced in the story and these can be seen in the book/kindle version but the narrator tells you about the drawings so it works as an audio as well. There is a whole lot going on. The main story is about Kilgore Trout, a science fiction author, who is invited to give a speech at the arts festival in Mi Breakfast of Champions is my second, the first being Slaughter-House Five. I own the kindle and audio version of this one and while the audio was well done, there are a lot of drawings that are referenced in the story and these can be seen in the book/kindle version but the narrator tells you about the drawings so it works as an audio as well. There is a whole lot going on. The main story is about Kilgore Trout, a science fiction author, who is invited to give a speech at the arts festival in Midland City. There are actually several characters in this book (which I am under the impression as unusual in Vonnegut books) and the Vonnegut actually appears in the story as well. There are so many themes going on here but in among the social commentary is also dialogue about the experience of being an author and creator of characters and books. Here's some of the themes: Suicide, free will, mental illness, and social and economic status are dealt with throughout the novel.

Alienation: reference to being the only human being on earth (the rest are robots). The characters lack connections to others.

Mental Illness: reference to "bad chemicals"

Free Will: reference to man as a machine

Social/economic status: there is a lot of reference to racism. Also the damage to the environment. The use of humans as 'machinery'.

"Group mentality:
"They trained themselves to be agreeing machines instead of thinking machines. All their minds had to do was to discover what other people were thinking, and then they thought that, too.”

Pornography: there is a lot of that in this book. Kilgore Trout is only able to publish his science fiction in pornography magazines. So the reader bets a lot of information about Beavers and also there is a whole lot of gathering of statistics on the sizes of penises.

I have to add that one of my favorite parts in this book is the explanation of the flight or fight response through the process of the various chemicals and body parts; hypothalamus. The initial reaction is followed by activation of the pituitary gland and secretion of the hormone ACTH. The adrenal gland is activated almost simultaneously and releases the hormone epinephrine. The release of chemical messengers results in the production of the hormone cortisol, which increases blood pressure. It was great.

This is a post modern book published in 1973. Some consider it his best work and others dislike this one. I liked it better than Slaughterhouse-Five. Rating 3.29 ...more

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Jun 13, 2016 Tim Hickman rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned, 1001-books-read

Bizarre, wildly creative and hilarious, Breakfast of Champions is Vonnegut at his flippant, disrespectful and insightful best. Tons of fun. It has a very contemporary meta-novel feel although published 33 years ago.

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Sep 27, 2013 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books

Kilgore Trout is an aging unknown science fiction writer whose work has only been "published" as filler in pornographic magazines and other assorted publications. When an obscure arts festival in the Midwestern town of Midland City offers him an honorarium for appearing he hitch hikes cross country from Manhattan to attend. Dwayne Hoover, one of the most prominent citizens of Midland City, is having an odd day which winds to a close with him drinking in a hotel cocktail lounge when Trout arrives ...more

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Apr 10, 2015 Ashley Husemoller rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-before-dying, year-you-were-born-books

Oh my goodness. This book changed me. I don't know if I've ever read a book where I laughed so loud I woke up my husband! I did with BoC. If you don't have Vonnegut in your life, you're doing it wrong! 67/1,001 ...more

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