An unconventionally styled assessment of our culture

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	• Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut Dial Press Trade Paperback, 1999 - 303 pages average customer review:based on 251 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wallowing in cellophane

Though it is praised as the somewhat practical definition of Vonnegut's style, Breakfast Of Champions comes across as being paralyzed in a kind of literary perceptional transition between vaguely conventional notions of plot and character development and a complete neglect thereunto--the cataclysmically beautiful result being this novel as we know it. But this is pedantic.

I'm pretty sure you're cognizant already of what has been given to you as a plot (but what is really treated like a vague frame device), so I won't reiterate it for you--the plot is kind of like watching an asteriod spontaneously combust. What I will say is that realitively profound metaphors and mind-expanding propositions are set forth in the perceptve of America, ranging from an old man walking across a polluted river to deliver a message to society to a bastardly, over-indulgent support of contemporary art, complete with its own fundamental contradiction and pretentious, inert interpretation as to the state of things. The latter nearly (or should I say partially) disgsuted me on such a level as to want to abandon the book altogether, which had nothing more to teach me in general perceptional philosophy than how not to appreciate poetry, which I will never appreciate. Really, if Mr. Vonnegut applies his consciousness and ability to the analyzation of the state of things, why does it seem all so dead? Perhaps he's being half-sarcastic, though, trying to indirectly weed out the impressionable...but considering his common perspective on things, this is wishful thinking upon a piece of work I had really hoped had been a lot more in every sense.

Another thing: This book reads astoundingly fast, leaving you little time to dwell on context. Vonnegut's fluidity implies a sense of motion that is highly distinctive in its elementary outward status but portrays all-too-expected human functions that come standard in establishment and reiterization of character presence--all of which substantiates the general philosophy I have come to despise. The reason I give four stars instead of three (and this is really not to be applied to this prvilege alone) is in reverence of Vonnegut's ability to make his reader simultaneously adore and pity the human race--we delight in watching and hearing these page-bound animals create things and yet we are disgusted by the use and meaning of such things.

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Breaks the rules, gets away with it ... sometimes

I got hold of 'Breakfast' after reading 'Slaughterhouse', which impressed me, though I've found the prose style is not something a person can subject himself to at any great length without looking at his watch and wondering when the book will end. I was less impressed with Breakfast, though it was quite entertaining in parts. Some of the never-ending offshoots Vonnegut indulges in are interesting enough, but I believe he overdoes it. I also didn't like the way Vonnegut injects himself into the novel, more overtly as it progresses. I'm not sufficiently interested in Vonnegut as a person to be impressed - there was no real indication he is so remarkable a thinker that his presence was warranted. Some people seem to regard him as a genius, however, so if you're of that opinion you'd no doubt enjoy the glimpse into his background.

I also found the outsider's persective quite annoying at times, and condescending. For instance, we're told that Communism is the idea that people should share, which us silly humans (Americans in particular) naively rejected. Any elementary school student doing history could tell you Communism has created more death and pain than any other ideology. Was the purpose to shock us with such glibness? I don't know, but whatever it was, it backfired. At other times Vonnegut's musings from this simplistic outsider perspective were funny and interesting, if occasionally peurile. There was nothing astonishingly original or inventive about it, as I saw it, but I was entertained enough to keep going to the end.

I agree with reviewers who say there is not much literary substance to this book. It's light entertainment, and if you approach it that way, you're likely to enjoy it.

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A Most Formidable Author

"Celia had committed suicide, for instance, - by eating Drano - a mixture of sodium hydroxide, Celia became a small volcano." The essence of Vonnegut's style is in that line. He's blunt yet rather casual. If you can get past this voice devoid of classical description you will thoroughly enjoy his themes and storytelling....well...as long as you can get past his story telling style. There's really no structure (at least for what most teachers consider to be structure) and the lines are scattered. But once delved into his stories, just like his style, are very original. Breakfast of Champions centers around Vonnegut, the narrator, going insane at 50, a car salesman, Dwayne Hoover also going crazy and Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut's brainchild, at the whim of the delirious men who's chemicals are self destructing. The themes are pretty typical for Vonnegut ..... technology = bad, dehumanization and ..... and his newest of looking back on society with a babies eye and realizing how ludicrous everything is. As in "Sometimes people would put holes in famous people so they could be at least fairly famous, too. Sometimes people would get on airplanes that were supposed to fly to someplace, and they would offer to put holes in the pilot and co-pilot unless they flew the airplane, to someplace else." No matter how "modern" But, if one thing truly stands out in Vonnegut (which I'm sure has been said a million times before) is that he's a satirical genius. Who isn't up for a bit of flag-bashing anyways? (Flag in the sense of everything that we stand for and squander)

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An unconventionally styled assessment of our culture

I had to read this book for a college English course, and I finished it within days of the initial assignment. It's a really fabulous novel.

It's clear that some reviewers missed the point of this novel. Yes, most definitely an easy and entertaining read, there are many, many layers. It also has a great meta-narrative. What some consider "condescending" is really a play on the plot itself. It's written in the guise of a sci-fi novel Kilgore might write. Basically, it's written so that someone (either a child or someone not from Earth) can understand the things that we seemingly take for granted.

Vonnegut also alludes to the idea that we've lost touch with our past and what was once important to us through different annecdotes and stories. He has a really great argument about naming and how the importance of such names are either lost or ignored. It's a great commentary on our lives as Americans especially.

I absolutely recommend this book. It's a great, fast read.

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Wow. What more is there to say?

This book is quite possibly the best Vonnegut has ever written. He is already my favorite author, but this is simply stunning. However, this book is not a good first if you are just getting into Vonnegut. The style that makes it as good as it is can be hard to digest for people not used to Vonnegut.

This novel, in more ways than one, is a work of art. Vonnegut's novels are like a giant collage. He takes a bunch of meaningless junk, adds some humor, and puts it together to build a coherent picture that tells a powerful story. (Anyone who thinks penis sizes isn't meaningless junk cannot appreciate this book).

All in all, an excellent story, full of witty drawings by Vonnegut himself, that is well worth the time and money.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, page 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

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