Galapagos

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Summary: A New Garden of Eden
Review: Kurt Vonnegut wrote the book Galapagos in the year1986 as a satire of the human race, making many contentions about what is wrong with it and showing some of these effects. He presents a new society of humans which will result from a million years of evolutionary change due to an isolation of our species in the Galapagos islands and a near extinction of all humans. Vonnegut's work is a satire in which he shows what he thinks is wrong with the human race. He is trying to show how many of the actions humans take are unneccesarily created by what he considers our oversized brains. Among Vonnegut's focuses are love, war, murder, death in general, and insanity. He believes that everything about our society has become sick and over-complicated. He tells the reader that "This was a very innocent planet, except for those great big brains." (pp. 9) Throughout the book, he shows how each of the above problems in our world are things that happen to humans only because of ideas that their big brains give them. For instance, he presents a man who has made a career out of making women think they are in love with him, and then running off with their money. If it weren't for love, these women would have never had this problem. Vonnegut contends that love is an illusion created by our big brains, which may be true. However, in Vonnegut's new and improved human race which has much smaller brains, love does not exist, and mating is only for reproductive purposes. He is very wrong in saying that people would be better for this, because although love brings problems, it also brings a lot of good things. Vonnegut's new human race spends all its time fishing for food and basking in the sun. He rids of every problem humans have today through evolution, which makes people almost like fish. They are able to stay underwater for extended periods of time before coming up. He also creates humans who have sense of individuality. All people look alike, and since people have small brains and no need for relationships of any kind, it doesn't matter that people can't even tell each other apart. They have no sense of history, or of who they are. Vonnegut does not seem to think that these are things that humans need. Vonnegut's story is believable, and could very well happen. It involves ten people who are stranded on the island of Santa Rosalia and never found. At the same time, a bacteria on the mainland begins eating human ovaries, so that no more humans are born, and the race as we know it becomes extinct. The ten people on the island begin to reproduce, and evolve through time to eventually become what Vonnegut believes is the ideal society one million years from now. Humans are isolated to islands forever, because their small brains restrict them from building any type of boats, and even if they were able to swim to South America, they would get the bacteria and be unable to reproduce. This book definately helped me to understand man's origins. In a way, it was the opposite of learning history which is supposed to help us understand human nature and to learn from that and not make the same mistakes again. It is taking a story from the future and using it to understand the past. Vonnegut's tales from Santa Rosalia, which are mixed in cleverly throughout his buildup towards the ship's departure, make me wonder if human life began the same way. His story centers around an older man and woman who are on the island along with six young girls. It could be that such a situation happened with Adam and Eve, who could have had six daughters before Eve became unable to reproduce, then when the girls became old enough, Adam inseminated them. I don't know the real history since I've never read the bible, not that I think that would have anything to do with how it really began. Another reason it could be similar to the beginning of humankind is that communication was strained because the older people, who spoke English, could not understand the Kanka-Bono language spoken by the young girls. The first humans on our planet presumably did not yet have a language to speak, and had to develop their own methods of communication. Also, I learned a lot from Vonnegut's narratives about how people's brains shrunk over time so that their heads could be more streamlined and they could swim better. It involved Darwin's Law of Natural Selection, to which Vonnegut often referred. It was interesting to put that law into modern-day terms. It's interesting to hear to what humans may evolve rather than from what we have evolved. The evolutionary ideas put forth by Vonnegut throughout the book are very interesting and informative. However, what I don't agree with is Vonnegut's assertions that these evolutionary changes should happen. It may be that the future human race which Vonnegut puts forth is merely an exaggeration of what he envisions, and that he uses evolution simply as a tool for change so that he does not have to spend too much time talking about how social changes will occur. The point is that Vonnegut seems fed up with every part of human life and yearns for something much simpler. I can agree with him only to the point that war, crime, deceit, and murder are behaviors which humans don't need to have. However, I disagree with everything else. I think that life needs to be complicated, because it gives people options. We are allowed to live our life however we choose, and every person chooses differently. People need to be able to think, to communicate, and to understand different things about themselves, others, and life. We all need to be individuals. Although I did not agree with many of Vonnegut's opinions, I must say that I enjoyed the book. It is an interesting idea to think about, and Vonnegut presents the events in a very creative way. Vonnegut's style of presenting ideas more than one time did get irritating at times. For instance, he told the reader three or four times that in the future, humans will have short life spans due to killer sharks and whales. Also, every time he refers to an action a person performs, he says it is due to their big brains, and states matter-of-factly that people in the future have no need for such a behavior because they are not capable of thinking and therefore performing the action. Despite such annoyances, Vonnegut's style was funny and entertaining. This book should be read as an introduction to any course on Sociology that is taken, and by anyone who is interested in people, society, and psychology. Vonnegut has such intense ideas of what is wrong with humans and society, and these ideas should be given consideration. They may not always be accurate, but they give quite a commentary on what is wrong with humans and what needs to change.

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Summary: Is progress really so fragile?
Review: My first experience with Vonnegut didn't provide an "A ha!" moment. However, he did confirm my occasional, fearful thought that life is impossible to predict and is influenced by all sorts of meaningless, random, seemingly unrelated events that can take us two steps backward for every step forward.

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Summary: great story, annoying writing style
Review: Vonnegut brings us a wonderful tale about the evolution of the human race back to it's origins according to the theory of evolution. A fascnicating, thought provoking book. However, Vonnegut's writing style is quite annoying at times. He doesn't simply make a point and then expound upon it. He beats it into the ground with a figurative hammer. In particular, I found the numerous references to "big brains" quite annoying. Also, the fact that everything happens by chance. While these ideas are thought provoking and worthy, couldn't someone as prolific as Vonnegut have found another way of demonstrating these concepts?

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Summary: A Modern Masterpiece
Review: "Galapagos" has to be one of the most brilliant books of the modern era. It is philosophical and at the same time hilarious, as well as touching and sad. I found myself thinking about this novel long after I had finished it. I recommend it to all who appreciate modern literature, because this is a perfect example of how to write a modern novel.

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Summary: Quoth Mandarax, son of Gokubi:
Review: 'Tis possible to be told a story's end,(in the beginning), and yet not have the story be told, 'til almost the end; thus the story's end is not the end, but the beginning, and the story's story is told at almost the end. The En

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Summary: Vonnegut's world view still cuts, but it's quickly dulling
Review: Celebrated by some, "Galapagos" is in fact one of the most annoying books Vonnegut ever published. Outside of an interesting time with the ghost of Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut bores us with more island revolution, (ala "Cat's Cradle") and a conceited de-evolution theme about humans digressing over a million years into seals. A tremendous letdown which suggests that Vonnegut needs to look for something, ANYTHING that doesn't have to do with "man is bad, andhe'll suffer for it, by God." He's said it all before, and a whole lot better than this

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Summary: Next to SH-5, this is the best Vonnegut
Review: Next to Slaughterhouse-five this is Vonnegut's best. It perfectly blends immense humor with an element of seriousness that only vonnegut could create. The character of Leon Trout is easily one of the best he has created in any of his other novels. This book seems to be a bridge that ties all of vonnegut's books together; from "Player Piano" to "Hocus Pocus." The message that this book leaves you with will not be one soon forgotten. This is also a great one for someone new to Vonnegut

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Summary: Great! Couldn't put it down. Forget how great vonnegut was
Review: The book was recommended by our book club "selector of the month". We all thought why not, we hadn't read Vonnegut since high school. Well what a surprise. I have limited reading time, but for this one I made time. My 13 year old daughter has read some Vonnegut short stories and liked them so I have suggested she reads this one for a book report. I didn't have that kind of a rapport with my mother when I was 23 let alone 13. Thanks Kurt!

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Summary: Incredible Book. READ IT!!!!
Review: I know that it's somewhat cliche to give any book a 10 since if someone wants to rate a book, they most likely have a strong feeling about that book (probably a strong good feeling), but this book was so great it truly does deserve this perfect rating. Unlike the ordinary old Grisham type of book (fun to read, but not really much to think about), this book, an exellent sample of the brilliant Vonnegut, provides a great deal of insight on life as we know it, as well as life as we don't know it. And it's even fun to read; I took it with me everywhere when I was reading it, and couldn't put it down. In my opinion, that's the definition of a great book: fun and easy to read, yet thought provoking and interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: "Galapagos" deals with how the world comes to be virtually destroyed, with only a few survivors. Written in Vonnegut's gripping style, this book is hard to put down. If you've read other books of Vonneguts, such as "Cat's Cradle", you'll enjoy this one. Vonnegut's cynical view of what we, as a race, have done to this world, and how we've been affected in turn make this a wonderful novel. I recommend it to anyone who sees fault in our world, and those who wonder about the future, and the end of t