Breakfast of Champions
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Vonnegut
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Meg
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 10:58AM)
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Apr 09, 2007 12:26PM

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When my dad didn't have much money--supporting two kids, a wife, a mortgage ... working full-time as a lineman in the day, going to UCLA law school at night--he spent his hard-earned money to buy this in hardback when it came out. He was pissed off. It's a tossed-together collection, and he swore off Vonnegut for years because it was half-assed, in his opinion.
Thus, I have a sort of inherited anger toward Vonnegut's half-assed stuff, like I do with some fo Stephen King's work. Some is so fun, and other stuff is flat like a squashed dog turd.
Thus, I have a sort of inherited anger toward Vonnegut's half-assed stuff, like I do with some fo Stephen King's work. Some is so fun, and other stuff is flat like a squashed dog turd.

I am convinced that Mr. Vonnegut would enjoy people humorously mocking his lesser works. He himself wasn't too full of himself when it came to his writing.

I love the fact that readers can feel liberated to mock the artists who didn't take themselves too seriously. Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, and, yeah, Thompson. These guys' attitudes rocked. What the heck did they care WHAT we had to say? When he lived OR died, he didn't care. Sweet!

Just because someone's pop didn't like it, how does that factor in? Geez Louize

Just because someone's pop didn't like it, how does that factor in? Geez Louize"
Lawl, agreed.
Anyway, I loved the humor, and I found myself super into Breakfast of Champions right away. This differs from Slaughterhouse Five, which I think I liked better but do feel it had a slower start. The ending was just a little abrupt for me- I really enjoyed it, but felt a little like I had been involved in a hit and run. What did the rest of you that liked the book think?

I loved the humor and of course the way he described humans behavior as if he was trying to explain it to aliens. This way he showed the irrationality of the individuals and society without sounding judgmental.
I love those moments when I read what seems to be blabbering and all of the sudden I realize that he said something really smart and insightful.
I regret a bit that I read it in Polish, I intend to read it in English someday.





"Breakfast of Champions" & "A Man without a Country" are secular bibles.
This quote always makes me giggle in that way only Vonnegut can:
“Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country


To me, it seems he had such a great love of mankind and such a hatred of humans. Every day he saw the potential for good, for brilliance, for altruism, for actual advancement in science, health, humanitarianism, what-have-you.
And every day, the human race persisted in being the human race.
And just for the record, my all-time fave is Cat's Cradle. Brilliant.

I think it would have been a lot harder waking up every day as Samuel Johnson or Jonathan Swift!

That's exactly what I meant: "weary". Johnson and Swift would have had the power of their vitriol to keep them going. They were, if not straight-out misanthropes, at least a ways down that path.
Vonnegut, on the other hand, seems as if he just couldn't figure out why a species with so much potential was so adamant in not fulfilling it. I often feel this way, and it makes me--above all--tired.

Then came Slaughterhouse Five and Breakfast of Champions. My parents read them and liked them (or at least my mom did, she was always a little hipper than my dad). And that was the end. It that was demoralizing. Vonnegut had become mainstream. The 60s were officially over. I have not enjoyed reading Vonnegut since though I have very pleasant memories of his early stuff.


So does mine. It's no big deal, kiddo."
My publisher said I was the greatest writer of all time and it is a big deal, Kiddo.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAO4YJgUk...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAO4YJgUk..."
Thanks for that. Looks like I have two more "A" books to read. :-D
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