Breakfast of Champions

Rating:
Summary: The man says it like it is!
Review: I will now use this "inkless printing press" to recommend this book to you. I first read Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" because it's a classic. After reading "Breakfast of Champions," however, this is now my favorite Vonnegut book, and I am hooked. I am mesmerized by his autobiographical style of interjecting himself into the book, and I appreciate his blunt style of "saying it like it is," and it's captivating the way all of his ideas are interconnected throughout the entire novel. The seemingly random digression of useless facts makes it all the more interesting. This book gets better with every page, and his numerous drawings are entertaining. To find out why I'm not just a meat machine typing this review but instead a band of unwavering light, read this book! I liked it so much I bought another copy and gave it to one of my close friends. And so on. Etc.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most perfect books I've ever read
Review: BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS is a book that is so full of strange ideas, altered realities, and different perceptions that it's a little like reading a nervous breakdown at times. There is so much going on, that you may find yourself going back and reading a page three or four times just to pull everything that you can out of it. And just when you think it can't get any more insane, Kurt Vonnegut places the author of the book into the story-line itself as the Creator Of The Universe, but goes out of his way to give this author a name different to his own. Confusing? Yes. Enjoyable? Absolutely.

This book covers a wide range of topics. Racism, sexism, mental imbalance, chemistry, life, death, and literally hundreds of other subjects are discussed. The plot is set out in a very simple way so that Vonnegut has room to let his characters and himself entertain a variety of thoughts. The prose of the book is very detailed about the most mundane of material. Vonnegut can cleverly point to the absurdity of everyday things, merely by describing them in minute terms without resorting to overbearing judgments. By just reducing everything to its most basic components, he can show the flaws present in the most basic of fundamentals.

This minutiae even extends to the basics of story telling. By placing "the author" inside the fictional narrative, Vonnegut can point out some of the fundamentals of writing. Since no detail about a person is inherently more important than any other, there are times were we get an information dump of seemingly random information about the characters in the story. The question that comes to mind: is all of this information really irrelevant? If the author saw fit to include it, does it matter that the data doesn't relate to the narrative?

In summary, it's almost impossible to summarize most, or even much, of what Kurt Vonnegut has written about here. This is such a very densely written book that it would take twice the length of BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS in order to talk about it properly. And even with all of the ideas and thoughts contained within, the book never feels bloated or incoherent. It's philosophical, entertaining, bizarre, thought-provoking and hilarious.

It's good. Highly recommended. Rush out and read it now.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Reading experience.
Review: Of all the Kurt Vonnegut books I have read, Breakfast of Champions is probably the wackiest. It depicts modern life from a distance, as if explaining it to an extraterrestrial. Through this viewpoint, the reader can realize how ridiculous much of what people do is! The book combines satire, insanity, chaos and literature into an amazingly fast-moving book that is hilarious, disturbing, wild and undeniably true.

The focus of the novel is the important meeting between two men: a Midwestern car dealer named Dwayne Hoover and a prolific yet unknown science fiction writer named Kilgore Trout. What happens during this critical encounter is that Dwayne reads a book by Trout about how there is only one real human on Earth and everyone else is just a robot put there so the Creator of the Universe can observe his reactions. Unfortunately, Dwayne interprets this as the truth and goes crazy, believing himself totally surrounded by robots.

Like some other Vonnegut books I have read, the outcome of the book - Dwayne's insanity due to Trout's book - is told from the very beginning and is mentioned throughout the novel as the date for their fateful meeting nears. Does knowing what will happen from the start ruin the enjoyment of the book? Not at all! In Breakfast of Champions , it is not the main event which is so funny, but everything leading up to it. As Trout journeys to meet Dwayne, we are introduced to some very funny and some very sad characters. It is these side characters, many playing a stereotypical role in society that form the backbone of Vonnegut's harsh commentary on American life. The writing style is sleek, quick and sarcastic. The book is divided up into rather short paragraphs, allowing for fast reading. It also features amusing illustrations by Vonnegut.

A downside to Breakfast of Champions is that some might find it offensive. It is constantly raunchy. It also frankly mentions the (often offensive) views of some main characters on race. Of course, this must accepted in its context; it is a satirical work poking fun at America's preoccupation with sex and race. Still, a basic level of tolerance and a sense of humor is required.

Finishing Breakfast of Champions left me with a smile on my face and very little idea of what had happened. I felt really confused at first; the quick moving book does seem chaotic and messy immediately after reading. It takes some time afterwards to absorb and to think about the book's meaning. There is clearly a message, but the exact message is not clear; it's definitely open to interpretation. There is so much to think about - an author's role as a Creator of the Universe, the lack of desire for free will, and the extent to which all people are like robots programmed to act a certain way. There is so much here to consider and keep your brain busy with! Much in the same vein as Breakfast of Champions, I like to recommend another satiric novel called [e-mail] by Tom Grimes, also hilarious.

Rating:
Summary: Trix are for kids
Review: Reading the average review of Breakfast of Champions, one gets the impression that this book must be at once uproariously funny, incisive in its social critism, and deeply philosophical. In truth, none of the above are even remotely applicable.

Like Mark Twain, whom Vonnegut has often been likened to, Vonnegut's humor is largely based on tongue-in-cheek irreverence of the "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" variety. The idea is to write a social critique from the perspective of a naive or unbiased outsider who is supposedly able to see things more clearly than everybody else. The outsider goes around pretending 'unwittingly' to expose absurdities, prejudices, and hypocrisy underlying various social conventions.

The outsider in Breakfast of Champions is a narrator who writes about Earthlings as if he were an intergalactic traveller. The irreverent statements he makes are supposed to shock hypocrites, while those who are in-the-know titter away at the spectacle. Concerning power politics, for instance, Vonnegut writes: "[America] disciplined other countries by threatening to shoot big rockets at them or to drop things on them from airplanes." About racism he declares: "A Nigger was a human being who was black."

Are you tittering?

The 'philosophical' content of Breakfast of Champions, like the social commentary, is shallow and presented with a singular lack of eloquence; unlike the social commentary, it is incoherent rather than simplistic. The narrator is mainly concerned with the principle of determinism and how it relates to mental health, and the main characters in the novel serve as personifications of different aspects of this dilemma. Dwayne Hoover, a car dealer from the midwest, goes crazy after reading a novel by Kilgore Trout, a pessimistic science fiction writer. The novel is in the form of a letter from the Creator to the only person on the planet with free will. Hoover, already losing his marbles at the time of reading the story, takes it literally, and ends up injuring some of the other characters whom, in his orgy of solipsism, he has dismissed as "machines".

The 'clever' reader is supposed to notice that the relationship between the Creator and the man with free will in Trout's novel is, on one level, an allegory of the relationship between a writer and the characters he creates. This is alluded to with increasing frequency until Vonnegut himself jumps into the novel to wreak havoc with the allegorical 'levels'. After being 'enlightened' via a speech by one of his characters about "awareness", Vonnegut tells the rest of the story about the Trout/Hoover encounter which personifies the author's personal triumph over madness.

Vonnegut's intent seems to have been to show that though "awareness" is not a sufficient premise for free will, it nevertheless distances us from the spectre of determinism by implying that we are more than simply biological machinery. The concept is not tremendously profound, and that is probably why Vonnegut goes to such lengths to obfuscate the issue with ambiguous and/or conflicting statements throughout the novel. Of course he might be just writing carelessly.

I have heard it proposed that the apparent incoherence of the novel is intentional in order to forestall any global interpretation of the book. People who support this view gleefully maintain that the point IS that there is NO point. This type of person will generally follow these remarks with something about how literature is written to evoke, not to explain; how the person searching for a 'purpose' in literature shows a fundamental lack of comprehension of what literature is.... And so on.

Breakfast of Champions is tasteless "trash" (I am quoting Vonnegut's own appraisal of the book on p.6 - for once his bluntness is entirely apt), fortified with heaps of smug pretentiousness. If you can stomach this sort of junk, have it your way; for a real literary meal, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: funny social satire
Review: This book really isn't about the story so much as it is about criticizing society. The satire is way more important than the story. In fact, there isn't much of a plot here. He often totally leaves it to be satirical, creating a very minor character or the plot of a book written by Kilgore Trout to do this. He does it very well, but is not one for subtlety; in most isntances it is very obvious what he is trying to say. However, I dare you not to laugh at some of the shots he takes at society.

I found his writing style annoying as the novel began, though I adapted. He is too cynical at some points, and too condesceding in others. I did laugh a lot, though.

A mistake I made was that this was the first novel I read by Vonnegut. I should have read Slaughterhouse-Five first (it is better and a good introduction to him). I did read it after, and am planning on reading Cat's Cradle soon enough.

I definitely would recommend this novel, but you may want to introduce yourself to Vonnegut before you do.

Rating:
Summary: Weird and wonderful: pure Vonnegut
Review: Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Breakfast of Champions" follows the odyssey of oddball science fiction writer Kilgore Trout from his melancholy childhood in Bermuda, to the sleazy underside of New York City, and eventually to a fateful encounter with car dealer Wayne Hoover, a man "on the brink of going insane." Within this framework Vonnegut weaves an amazing satiric tapestry that looks at racism, mental illness, environmental crises, the nature and function of art, and many other issues. The book is filled with Vonnegut's own quirky illustrations.

"Breakfast" is harsh, even cruel, but also tender and compassionate; it's laugh-out-loud funny, yet haunting and tragic. It's also a reality-warping metaphysical triumph; Vonnegut breaks down the barriers between reality and fiction, and invites the reader into the very process of the novel's creation. He creates a more intimate bond between author, reader, and fictional character than any other writer I can think of.

Vonnegut presents some of American literature's most memorable characters in "Breakfast." But my favorite is undoubtedly Trout. Throughout the book we also get glimpses of Trout's own voluminous body of work, and meet some of his bizarre sci-fi characters. The book as a whole is also enriched by Vonnegut's unique style; he writes as if for an extraterrestrial audience to whom humanity is utterly alien.

"Breakfast" is a profane, naughty, yet profoundly spiritual book. Filled with strange and vivid details, it's an oddly comforting modern-day testament for our fractured world. Thanks, Kurt.

Rating:
Summary: "I can't tell if you're serious or not."
Review: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is probably my very favorite author, and "BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS" is among my top 3 favorite books of all time. What can I say about it, other than it is truly a work of genius. (And it's funny too!)

America needs more Humanists like Vonnegut. From his ink doodling to his witty remarks about society, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. never fails to deliver. He's a man loaded with incredible insight.

TRULY AMAZING!! This book is a MUST for any serious home library.

Rating:
Summary: Not exactly politically correct?
Review: Well, with 187 reviews to date, just about every angle has already been touched upon by previous reviewers on this site.

I'll only add one more possible angle: reflect on yourself by using this book. Some others have hinted at this also.

Example: Many reviewers who disliked the book, or liked it only tepidly, felt it was "racist." Well, in PC terms, of course, it is just that.

But that's not the point. The point is, "You" feel that way. Or you don't. This is how Vonnegut's use of the "n" word and the stereotypes affected you: you got a little hot about it, or you didn't appreciate it, or you did appreciate it, or you thought it was funny. How did you react to that?

And how did you react to the author as character in a novel? It rarely happens, but Vonnegut did it well, I think. It never gets phony, but it points to phoniness, as a potential, in us and in our love of fiction.

That's how I felt. How did you feel? Diximus.

Rating:
Summary: A "Fabulously Well-To-Do" Book!
Review: You know that anything goes once you pick up a work by the zany and terrific Kurt Vonnegut. The man knows how to dish up satire like none other. He'll spew out his complaints about the government, the world, people, etc., and instead of making it sound like a bunch of inane ranting he uses all of that to create a crazy world filled with outrageous characters and situations. "Breakfast of Champions" is an off-the-wall novel that is about 300 pages of pure hilarity and comedic chaos. Some of the most outrageous characters lie within this masterpiece.

Listen: This story revolves mainly around two characters. There's Kilgore Trout who is an aging and bitter sci-fi writer that nobody has ever heard of (except for one person). His stories have only appeared in very adult magazines. So naturally, he has "doodley-squat" to show for it. The other person that this story is about is a car dealer by the name of Dwayne Hoover, a man that everyone in town considers a "fabulously well-to-do" person. Dwayne is losing his mind and is ever so gracefully slipping into the cozy and wonderful world of insanity. What pushes him over the edge will take place when the two meet and Hoover takes one of Trout's literary works as reality. The results are unforgettable and hilariously disturbing in this dark and offbeat tale of the flawed human beings who are destroying Mother Earth.

This amazingly written book is completely ADDICTING. I easily finished it within a week. Once you start you do not want to stop reading until you have finished. Very rarely does a book have the power to make me laugh aloud so frequently and carelessly. People must've thought I was on something when they saw me laugh so uncontrollably while reading this in public. Vonnegut's commentary as the overall storyteller provides us with such an enriching voice that really is the star of the story. He has also created some of the most memorable and certifiably insane characters ever to be witnessed by the world of fiction. Vonnegut cleverly attacks everything that is wrong in society and he does it in such a funny and witty way. His illustrations also add a lot to the story as well.

Reading a book like "Breakfast of Champions" reminds me why I want to be a writer. It also reminds me why we read in the first place. It is definitely a classic that stands on its own and will never EVER be duplicated. If you're looking for a "fabulously well-to-do" satirist that will never conform to the norm, Kurt Vonnegut is your man. If you have not read this book yet, I highly encourage you to check it out a.s.a.p.! It may not be your ordinary novel, but that's more the reason to read it, now isn't it? A definite new favorite that I will read again and again. -Michael Crane

Rating:
Summary: serve me another bowl...
Review: well I must say that Mr Vonnegut, really out did himself with this book. It was a very awesome book. As always he has a way to bring you into his mind and into the story. I began to wonder if he was a character in the story as well, maybe Dwayne or Trout.
I never read a book where the writer confronts the main character in the book Kilgore Trout as he is writing it. It made me laugh really, if Trout was indeed Mr Vonnegut looking though a leak(mirror);lost in an endless pursuit or quest on the meaning of life. He puts alot of himself into the novel. A wonderful story and very funny, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did..