Galapagos

Rating:
Summary: Will read Vonnegut again
Review: This is my first Vonnegut novel. After getting tired of the "mainstream" science fiction genre, I decided to give the much acclaimed Vonnegut a try.

First, I must warn that I found some aspects of the book quite depressing. The characters lead unfufilling, sad lives. The narrator often cynically dwelled on the mundane. Suicide was a recurring theme.

The good aspects:

The narration on the mundane was interesting and gave the kinds of perspectives (albeit cynical and erratic) not shared in most other sci-fi novels.

The novel did not progress in the standard linear fashion, with the narration frequently relating events to ones that had yet to take place. This made the novel's parts fit together quite well.

The novel had some extra randomness. Not all events are conveniently constructed to aid the story. Some things don't happen "for a reason", they just happen. That's life.

There is nothing cliche in the novel. Vonnegut has created something original.

I plan to read another of Vonnegut's novels soon.

Rating:
Summary: Untypically boring of Vonnegut
Review: Compared to the other 10 Vonnegut novels I've read, I found this one to be rather slow-moving. To further make it uninteresting, he repeatedly tells you what's going to happen looong before it does, which leaves you with "well it's about time that happened. no big surprise." The characters never get fully developed either, which leaves you not really caring what happens to them. This is the lowest rating I've ever given Vonnegut.

Rating:
Summary: Super Fantastic
Review: This book is very entertaining and completely different from anything I've ever read. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: And bestiality too... Arr matey
Review: This is one of the best Vonnegut novels, so shut up. A great look at how intelligent Vonnegut is. Much like Cat's Cradle and the whole Ice-9 dilly. A ghost pirate watching a million years of evoution, brilliant. Creationists need not apply.

Rating:
Summary: The lighter side of Vonnegut
Review: This one is often not a favorite among KV fans, but I certanly think it has its place in the bunch, and is well worth reading. Vonnegut often gives us simplistic, childlike, and shockingly truthful observations about human beings, but in "Galapagos," he celebrates humanity in all its idiosyncratic glory. Certainly the often crude and seemingly purposeless lives we lead are punctuated by experiences of joy and beauty, which is far superior to the condition of the de-evolved humans of one million years in the future. Vonnegut wants us to know that even at our worst, there is nothing wrong with us! How's that for a writer often labeled a "pessimist" or "cynic"?

Rating:
Summary: Another Winner From Kurt
Review: Galapagos strikes me as one of Kurt Vonnegut's funniest and most well-written novels. The writing is, of course, quit witty, but even moreso here than usual. This book also contains what is a semi-rarity for Vonnegut: a coherent plot. True, it's still not told in linear fashion (this is Vonnegut, after all), and few Vonnegut fans would want it that way, anyhow. The book is a page turner because of the way it is written... like in several of his other books, Kurt mentions events that happen later in the narrarative early on, and uses this as a fairly enticing suspense maneuver. The story and theme elements themselves are interesting: de-evolution (plus such related things as genetics, and all things Darwin), the environment, and more. Although this is not his best book (I still refer to Cat's Cradle as that), this book is well-written, coherent, funny, witty, and less fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants than most of Vonnegut's oeuvre, and thus, in fact a pretty good place for newbies to the author to start.

Rating:
Summary: Vonnegut at His "5 Star" Best
Review: This is my favorite of the ten or so Vonnegut books that I've read. It is one of his funniest books and probably one of the best beginning-to-end story lines. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get their first taste of Kurt Vonnegut's writing style at its best.

Rating:
Summary: Galapagos aint half bad!
Review: I'm really surprised to see so many people who consider Galapagos to be one of Vonnegut's worst novels. I love his work and I've read many others... I have to say Galapagos is one of my favorites. On the surface, the unconventional style is great. It's told from a million years in the future, with events revealed in non-cronological order. This nonlinear storytelling really drives home Vonnegut's philosophies about the meaninglessness of time (as in Slaughterhouse Five and Sirens of Titan, for example). Also, the grandiose nature of his plot is great. The end of the world and the human race as we know it... typical Vonnegut, but still good stuff. Above all, this book is very funny. As in his other books, he treats such serious matters as war and death lightly. This underlying irony is very present in Galapagos. However, Galapagos is by no means a "light" book. The subtlest twinge of sadness peeks through all of the humor -- just enough sadness to leave an impact. On another level, Galapagos is great for its concept. The human race is only screwing itself over, and it's about time it starts going backwards again. The pessimism of it all is delightful, yet rings true. My one gripe with Galapagos is its weak character development. In a way this is OK, as it reinforces the message of the human race as a lost cause. However, it would have been nice to have someone, anyone, to sympathize with. But in the end Galapagos is interesting, funny, unconventional, and just a great read.

Rating:
Summary: A "Typical" Vonnegut Experience
Review: I don't mean that in a bad way. This book is very typical of Kurt and his craft. It is very similar to the 12 other books by him that I have read in pace and patterns. But like Slapstick, his look at the future did not enthrall me. Also I am not an environmentalist so the overall theme of the book "Humans will destroy the Earth if we don't do something" didn't touch me. The only character in the book who is compelling is the headless son of Kilgore Trout. His roll is the events is so passive that you can't "root" for him. And there was no one else in the book to grab my attention. All in all it was written well and read quick, like all his previous books, but there was nothing in it that jumped out and begged for attention. Thanx for your time: T

Rating:
Summary: Is this the real Vonnegut I keep hearing about?
Review: As a first time Vonnegut reader, I've got to say that I'm deeply disappointed. Mind you, I do intend to read more of his working, having received a more specific list of his better works from my dad.

The idea of this novel, I suppose, is interesting, but it's neither compelling enough to fill the reader's imagination for 300 pages as a story or a concept. The chronology is completely abstract. There is no protagonist, or antagonist. No relatable characters at all, now that I look back. Vonnegut even admits that the only enemy in the novel is humankind's big brains, but this isn't embodied at any point in the novel. There is no Hitler-esque type 'big-brained' person with which to drive this farcical point home, just broad speculation about the harm lies and such have done the human race. It reads like a mock textbook. There isn't any great personal experience to drive this point home, no face-off between big-brained and small-brained, just little tidbits here and there about man's actions in contrast to evolutionary theory. Very abstract, and as a result, impersonal.

The biggest disappointment here is how poorly I feel this story is told. It's abstract when it doesn't even need to be. Vonnegut adds asteriks before the names of the next person to die, which is both unnecessary and distracting. He even made me so detached from the characters of the story, citing their big brains as huge evolutionary mistakes over and over again, that I didn't care at all about them, even in a superficial sense, when they died or mated.

Perhaps this was the intent -- to distract the reader from the more sentimental, emotional and real ideals of man in place of strictly evolutionary ones -- but in that case he should have re-enforced man's need for sentiment even more, as to draw some sort of contrast. As it is, it's just a meaningless read.

However, as I've said, I do intent to read more Vonnegut. Bring on "Sirens of Titan".

Matty J