Timequake

Kurt Vonnegut's farewell to the world in the only way he can do it - ripping apart nearly every field in the process. Great read.

It is hard not to enjoy Vonnegut's humour and dark satirical analysis of the world, but this rambling exploration of well worn Vonnegut themes such as determinism and our perception of time is like reading two books (an autobiography and a novel) that have been broken into parts and randomly reassembled and intermingled. While always approaching the human species in all its frailty and weirdness...more

It is hard not to enjoy Vonnegut's humour and dark satirical analysis of the world, but this rambling exploration of well worn Vonnegut themes such as determinism and our perception of time is like reading two books (an autobiography and a novel) that have been broken into parts and randomly reassembled and intermingled. While always approaching the human species in all its frailty and weirdness with the utmost empathy, I can't help thinking that wrapped in his wit and wisdom is a dark and dangerous philosophy of despair.   hide

I loved it...

I feel cheated. The concept of a Timequake is great -- time goes backwards, and everyone is forced to live through everything again without the ability to change anything. Then when time starts again, chaos esues because people are used to being quaked around. It also stars our favorite Sci-Fi writer, Kilgore Trout. Too bad that storyline probably only makes up around 20% of the book. The rest...more

I feel cheated. The concept of a Timequake is great -- time goes backwards, and everyone is forced to live through everything again without the ability to change anything. Then when time starts again, chaos esues because people are used to being quaked around. It also stars our favorite Sci-Fi writer, Kilgore Trout. Too bad that storyline probably only makes up around 20% of the book. The rest is Vonnegut randomly mentioning writer friends he has or family members' stories; many of which have already been covered in previous novels. I suppose you could say that this is Vonnegut himsmelf going through a timequake -- except, well, I think a biography would have been much preferred. Either that or the novel about Trout saving the world form Post-quake Apatathy. It's too bad -- I thought Hocus Pocus was an amazing novel; one of his best. I figured his last novel would easily be a great one. Ah well. And so on.   hide

“That there are such devices as firearms, as easy to operate as cigarette lighters and as cheap as toasters, capable at anybody’s whim of killing Father or Fats or Abraham Lincoln or John Lennon or Martin Luther King, Jr., or a woman pushing a baby carriage, should be proof enough for anybody that, to quote the old science fiction writer Kilgore Trout, “Being alive is a crock of...more

“That there are such devices as firearms, as easy to operate as cigarette lighters and as cheap as toasters, capable at anybody’s whim of killing Father or Fats or Abraham Lincoln or John Lennon or Martin Luther King, Jr., or a woman pushing a baby carriage, should be proof enough for anybody that, to quote the old science fiction writer Kilgore Trout, “Being alive is a crock of shit”” What life is more than a rerun? We come to this world although we never asked to be born in the first place. And most of us just repeat what our parents did before and look at it as what we have to do and there is no will power. Our life is like a rerun after a TIMEQUAKE and we are repeating our selves in the most ridiculous and nonsense way. “Old beer in new bottle, old jokes in new people” Timequake is a really clever fictional autobiography in which Kurt Vonnegut shows us who he thinks about people and life in really cynical way but I found it honest and even beautifully lively when I read this in it: “I got a sappy letter from a woman a while back. She knew I was sappy, too, which is to say a northern Democrat. She was pregnant, and she wanted to know if it was a mistake to bring an innocent little baby into a world this bad. I replied that what made being alive almost worthwhile for me was the saints I met, people behaving unselfishly and capably. They turned up in the most unexpected places. Perhaps you, dear reader, are or can become a saint for her sweet child to meet.”   hide

This fascinating, quirky and, at times, touching autobiography of Vonnegut has prompted me to want to read more of his works. I read somewhere that this isn't a book to read if you aren't already a huge fan: I disagree. Reading Timequake has turned me into a Vonnegut fan and now I'm hungry for more.

You would never in a million years guess who recommended this book to me. I loved it. You will too. Told partly by the Author and his close friend (and alter ego) Kilgore Trout, the story revolves around the entire world having to re-live ten years as a "re-run." Living our lives once again in automatic pilot with no freewill whatsoever. Vonnegut's humor is insightful and witty; leaving the...more

You would never in a million years guess who recommended this book to me. I loved it. You will too. Told partly by the Author and his close friend (and alter ego) Kilgore Trout, the story revolves around the entire world having to re-live ten years as a "re-run." Living our lives once again in automatic pilot with no freewill whatsoever. Vonnegut's humor is insightful and witty; leaving the question -with our lives becoming so routine and mundane, if we really were living a "re-run," would we notice when it ended and freewill kicked in? Made me contemplate my own "re-run" just as much as it made me laugh. Love that.   hide

very funny!

I'm kind of disappointed with this one. It's kind of hard to keep up with. Kurt Vonnegut usually hits the spot for me, but not this time. I'm not sure if I'll finish this one--it's kind of... pretty bad...