So up first:
Kurt Vonnegut- Breakfast of Champions
I love Vonneugt. I have a section on my book shelf that's entirely Vonnegut books.
See?
This seems to be considered by most people to be the best Vonnegut book that I haven't read. Plus, it features kilgore trout. Who doesn't love kilgore trout?
From a summary of this book, it seems like this is going to cover something that I haven't seen that much in most Vonnegut books: the influence of media on behaviors. This is very personal, which is in contrast to most of the vonngut books that I've read, which deal with larger and more fantastic ideas such as
SPOILERS
All of humanity's existence being a method of an alien race to communicate with a lost member of their race, humanity driving themselves extinct, and humanity evolving into small-brained animals that are more similar to seals.
END SPOILERS
The fact that he's focusing on a person going insane because of someone else's clearly fictional writings seems much more realistic: it could very likely happen, and pretty much already has (Manson, anyone?). This gives the book a different edge now, with an increase in school shootings, with the media blaming things such as video games (instead of themselves).
However, this is still a Vonnegut book, and it shows. This starts right from page one, where he explains the united states of america from an alien's perspective ("The teachers told the children that this is when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which the sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them.") This shows that vonnegut still has a much larger satiric goal in mind when it comes to this book. Overall, I am really looking forward to reading this book.
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Hi John,
ReplyDeleteYour book sounds very interesting! I have read some Kurt Vonnegut works before, and I have to admit, they are excellently written and very interesting. I also took a look at your order of books for this project, and I was intrigued by the John Kennedy Toole book. Hopefully you can immerse yourself in that was well as you immerse yourself in Kurt Vonnegut. I look forward to hearing about your books. Good luck!
First and foremost, your style is fantastic! The sarcasm, casualness, and confidence you have in just speaking your mind made this a really enjoyable post to read. As for the book itself, I would love to know what you think of it, especially after watching Vonnegut talk about the shapes of stories; he sounds like a truly gifted storyteller. I look forward to hearing about the book, and reading your posts!
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