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Title: Breakfast of Champions |
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Review of Breakfast of Champions
- Breakfast Of Champions is vintage Vonnegut. One of his favorite characters, aging writer Kilgore Trout, finds to his horror that a Midwest car dealer is taking his fiction as truth. The result is murderously funny satire as Vonnegut looks at war, sex, racism, success, politics, and pollution in America and reminds us how to see the truth.
Product Description
- "We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane." So reads the tombstone of downtrodden writer Kilgore Trout, but we have no doubt who's really talking: his alter ego Kurt Vonnegut. Health versus sickness, humanity versus inhumanity--both sets of ideas bounce through this challenging and funny book. As with the rest of Vonnegut's pure fantasy, it lacks the shimmering, fact-fueled rage that illuminates Slaughterhouse-Five. At the same time, that makes this book perhaps more enjoyable to read.
Breakfast of Champions is a slippery, lucid, bleakly humorous jaunt through (sick? inhumane?) America circa 1973, with Vonnegut acting as our Virgil-like companion. The book follows its main character, auto-dealing solid-citizen Dwayne Hoover, down into madness, a condition brought on by the work of the aforementioned Kilgore Trout. As Dwayne cracks, then crumbles, Breakfast of Champions coolly shows the effects his dementia has on the web of characters surrounding him. It's not much of a plot, but it's enough for Vonnegut to air unique opinions on America, sex, war, love, and all of his other pet topics--you know, the only ones that really count.
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Comments for Breakfast of Champions
- Posted on 2008-05-22
Breakfast Of Champions
Breakfast Of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut *****
Breakfast Of Champions is satire at it's all time best, and Breakfast of Champions is Kurt Vonnegut's all time best, the only other novel of his to even come close is Slaughterhouse-Five. Which is a must read. But as I was saying, BoC is a not so subtle comment on the social structure of America in the early 1970's, but what is so amazing, much like with Orwel's Nineteen Eighty Four, and Huxleys Brave New World, is that this is more relevant now then it was thirty-forty years ago. His take on war, racism, and politics strips them of their importance and breaks them to their core and makes you realize how much energy and time we spend on these things. He does the same with Sex, and success, and material goods as well.
As for the story itself, it is a strange one, and one that is at sometimes hard to follow, or it would be at least if it weren't for the excellent drawings depicting what is currently happening in the story. Yes this has pictures but it is in no way a graphic novel in the technical since. As Killgore Trout a novelist makes his way to a arts rally across the country he finds himself face to face with a man named Dwayne who believes his storys are true and has become a psychopath because of it. It only gets weirder from there.
The book is not tired or a strain to read ever, it is one of the most enjoyable reads I have ever had, and I would go so far as to say that Breakfast Of Champions is one of my top five books of all time.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-05-13
You must read this
This is Vonnegut's famous "50th birthday present to himself", and if you ask me, he spoiled himself with it. Out of the few Vonnegut books I've read, this is the funniest, and probably the best. Basically, Kurt here dismisses the entire American nation as racist, materialist, and obsessed with sex, class, alcohol, conformity, and whatever else you could trot out. It would be considered a pessimistic, nihilistic viewpoint if it wasn't a sadly accurate look at the way America worked, and still works today. And for a little note to those who think the book is racist, keep in mind that the black characters are actually portrayed as being, in a way, a lot more intelligent and less misanthropic than the white ones.
This isn't an easy book to describe. There's a plot, but Kurt veers away from it on several occasions, offering a wide variety of satiric tangents that make for some of the most hilarious parts of his writing. There are illustrations, crude, simple, and absolutely hilarious. Kurt even sticks himself in the book, makes himself a character, and has discussions with other characters. Choice segments include the scene at the Holiday Inn cocktail lounge, where Kurt has a discussion with himself; every discussion of Kilgore Trout's misadventures with getting his books published by his sleazy publishing house; the uproarious prologue; every illustration; every tangent; and... well, pretty much everything. It's not a book for everyone, but if you're looking for a whole ton of laughs in one place, and some of the best satire known to mankind... whoa. This is it.
Oh yeah, the book's about what happens when car dealer Wayne Hoover decides everyone on Earth but him is a robot. But, as I said before, the plot is secondary here.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2008-05-11
Excellent Novel!
As an avid fan of Kurt Vonnegut, I love all the novels I have ever read by him. However, Breakfast of Champions stands out above and beyond as my favorite. Complete with Vonnegut's classic, almost childish drawings and an appearance by the author himself, this book is truly amazing. Vonnegut tells it all like it is, from Thomas Jefferson to Christopher Columbus. This book truly is a rare masterpiece from beginning to end, and I would greatly recommend it for anyone who likes to have a good, honest laugh at life and all its ups and downs.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2008-05-06
Vonnegut's Last Great Novel
Breakfast Of Champions is one of the top 5 pieces of satire in American literature. He calls Thomas Jefferson a slave owner who was the country's number one expert on freedom. It's ripe with lines "The whole city was dangerous--because of chemicals and the uneven distribution of wealth and so on."
If you haven't read Vonnegut this is a great place to start. He draws pictures. He satirizes anything from American politics, to the rich, to arts. And his does it his own loving way. Reading it is like listening to a crazy Uncle who has a lifetime of wisdom and undeniable warmth.
Kurt recently left us, but he is one of the more important voices in literature of the last century and if you haven't read this great work do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2008-05-01
amazing
this was my first vonnegut book, but it certainly won't be the last. this was a wonderful book on free will and how we choose to see the world and our ever eternal fight against cynisism. i think that an important point to keep in mind is that there is a reason and purpose behind every passage he has written, they all connect back to one of the larger points he makes. its cynical, but not a depressing cynical, a cynical that makes you take a closer look. i would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. its one of the great reads of our time. philosiphical, satirical, and wonderful. definitely check it out
Score: 5