Steve let me know the other day that there have been 17 Kurt Vonnegut books posted on the blog! Wowzers! I thought I would jump on the bandwagon, so I read Slaughterhouse. And I did not enjoy it nearly as much as everyone else did. I couldn’t get into the style of writing, and the story jumped around so much, I found myself having to reread passages. Breakfast of Champions was a Kindle daily deal a while back, and I couldn’t help purchasing this book for $1.99. I may as well give Vonnegut another shot.
I didn’t love it, but I did like it more than Slaughterhouse (which seems surprising to some). This book is disjointed in its own way. It follows two characters Kilgore Trout (of Slaughterhouse and other Vonnegut book fame) and Dwayne Hoover. The book jumps back and forth between these two seemingly unrelated stories for 50% of the book, but the stories then begin to converge. For me, this book was easier to follow this because first and foremost, it was on chronological order! +1 for Breakfast of Champions.
I thought the story was interesting. Right in the beginning you learn that seemingly normal Dwayne Hoover will go crazy because of Kilgore Trout, but it’s not until the last 25% that you find out why. This gives me something to look forward to. I appreciate that in a book. Slaughterhouse to me lacked payoff. (The bombing of Dresden scene did not stand out at all to me for some reason.)
Pseudo Spoilers to Follow: When I read the Dark Tower, you may remember me getting a little angry with Stephen King for writing himself into the book. Well Kurt Vonnegut does the same in this book. But I think it worked in this book. He is an observer of a book he wrote. He acknowledges how he wrote all the characters. He references how it has related to his own life and problems. He even addresses the characters and shows them he has control over their life. It is an interesting way to incorporate yourself into the book, and I enjoyed it.
So good for you Breakfast of Champions. I may just read another Vonnegut book now.
Glad you liked it. I'm struggling to come up with a good Vonnegut recommendation for someone who disliked Slaughterhouse but enjoyed Breakfast of Champions. You like chronology and payoff... perhaps Cat's Cradle? The Sirens of Titan? But see now I'm just recommending my own favorites again. Maybe Sweeney can help me out here.
ReplyDeleteYeah I've got no idea what to tell ya because I also liked Slaughterhouse much more than Breakfast. But if you're interested in Kilgore Trout, he figures heavily into Vonnegut's last book, Timequake. As you may have guessed from the title it's also not quite chronological though.
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