In a frolic of cartoon and comic outbursts against rule and reason, a miraculous weaving of science fiction, memoir, parable, fairy tale and farce, Kurt Vonnegut attacks the whole spectrum of American society, releasing some of his best-loved literary creations on the scene.
Breakfast of Champions (Kurt Vonnegut Series)
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Review
"Vonnegut performs considerable complex magic... Fresh, funny, outrageous...he very nearly levitates" (New York Times)
"A great deal of wit and playfulness...an entire universe of disorder is distilled" (Guardian)
"Outrageous, witty, thought-provoking, unputdownable, scintillating, invigorating, ennobling, enlightening and masterly" (Spectator)
"Brilliant... It seems, at times, as if Voltaire has returned to satirise the horrors of plastic, disposable America" (Sunday Times)
"A great deal of wit and playfulness...an entire universe of disorder is distilled" (Guardian)
"Outrageous, witty, thought-provoking, unputdownable, scintillating, invigorating, ennobling, enlightening and masterly" (Spectator)
"Brilliant... It seems, at times, as if Voltaire has returned to satirise the horrors of plastic, disposable America" (Sunday Times)
Book Description
'After Vonnegut, everything else seems a bit tame' Spectator
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By "woody5131"
Format:Paperback
I'm not entirely sure how or why I came across this delightful book, but I am thankful that I did. The illustrations really do help to elevate this book into utter hillarity, as do the insane characters, which upon first impression don't seem central to the plot at all. Eventually though, everything comes together in what has to be one of the most bizarre endings I have ever read. Things that happen in this book just dont occur in other books. One of these things for example, is Vonneguts actual omnipotent presence in the book, he places himself in the story (with all the characters he has created at his mercy) to describe it like this in an amzon review does not do it justice.
Alltogether a briliant read, Happy 50th Kurt.
And so on.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is it, this is the book that proves that literature still has something to offer. Vonnegut's style easily peaks in Breakfast of Champions, with the most humorous pathos known to man, making even satiric masters like Swift green with envy. Through his almost child like perception of modernity, Vonnegut strips down life to its bare essentials, and shows humanity for the inhumane thing it is. Vonnegut is the only man who can make me laugh whilst depressing me at the same.
42 of 47 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
... Read more ›3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Ryan R. Ashe
Format:Paperback
Reading some of the blandly negative reviews on the site, I felt I should say something about the book - which is a great one, from what I can tell. One especially zealous reviewer suggested that Vonnegut inserts himself in the book to add an autobiographical element to the proceedings - but this is really not the case. I don't want to go on, suffice to say that the overarching theme of the novel is that of free will, and specifically how much of this is actually desirable. The narrator is an example of absolute free will. Vonnegut (not necessarily the same person as the narrator) allows his narrator tell the story in as ridiculous, digressive, anarchic a style as possible. This perhaps illustrates the idea that total free will is not necessary or indeed beneficial to rational happiness. This sort of thing is evident throughout the novel, with the story of the robot pimp etc. To be honest, 'Breakfast...' is just a totally interestng, thoughtful and lovely book. Everyone should at least give it a try. Just look closely, that's all.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This story is the closest we will get to an explanation of the author's deceptively simple fiction. A riot of jokes and prophecy, cartoons and pathos, the book is an antidote to a world which has convinced us of the possibility of a beginning, a middle and an end.
Every detail is equally trivial and equally certain; each action is described with balanced judgement and unquenchable humanity.
The book's character is neatly underscored by a startlingly simple defence of modern art which refuses to take the easy route of condemnation and surprises even its author. All human life is here: kindness, stupidity, pain, smut, boredom and laughter - it's a hugely enjoyable read - but the final words will leave you with an ache in side and a terrible sense of loss.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A hillarious account of the American dream and reality but Vonnegut is not pulling any punches
3 Nov 2009
By AK
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Meine Schweiz.: Ein Lesebuch for the USA. It's surreal, it's short, and it's a thoroughly enjoyable account of Americana from a true master. I can still see Vonnegut's books being publicly burned in many a place in the US, not for being wrong or for their sarcasm, the vivd imagination and the outlandish ideas, but about being so right and the truth being, well, so unpleasant.
In my opinion a literary masterpiece and the drawings inside are priceless too :)
In my opinion a literary masterpiece and the drawings inside are priceless too :)
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unbeatable.
A great quirky book. Everyone I've lent this to has not returned it, so I usually end up buying three or four copies per year.
Published 3 days ago by Lucy Dorman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
What can I say - I love Vonnegut's work and always have done. This particular novel is a must for those who loved Slaughterhouse 5 as it's pretty much a stylistic run-on from that... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Fute
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful stuff
I first read this novel 30 years ago. It is undiminished by the passage of time and remains a sharp, true lens through which Vonnegut examines and dissects the inhuman condition. Read more
Published 3 months ago by G. Robinson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flipping great.
Upon reading page 202 I laughed for three full minutes.
For such an effect it would be recommended to read the preceding pages first. Read more
For such an effect it would be recommended to read the preceding pages first. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Uncle Henry
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's a book, Jim
So, I'm not quite sure what I made of this book.
I read it a while ago now and it stayed with me for a while. Read more
I read it a while ago now and it stayed with me for a while. Read more
Published 6 months ago by DingleBurger
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Very Very Funny!
This book is very very very funny. It is written to explain America to someone who has no knowledge of it, illustrated as needed. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Craig Hall
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kurtz So Good
Possibly Vonnegut's masterpiece, no one can write of the human race with such affection and at the same time, antipathy. Beautifully profound, but beware of the bad chemicals!
Published 12 months ago by Mr. William R. Parkes
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dog's dinner
Part memoir, part novel, part experimental meta-narrative, "Breakfast of Champions" is a jumbled assortment of literary devices and imagination rolled into a book peppered with... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Noel
2.0 out of 5 stars
Despairingly bleak
I'd always heard Vonnegut had an ability to 'create' a new type of book but this new genre leaves me with a bitter taste in a my mouth. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Joseph Cantillon
4.0 out of 5 stars
fun
Breakfast of Champions perfectly balances cynicism, the deconstruction of fiction and comedy. His cynicism is never self-righteous 'cause he turns it into a joke. Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2011 by Max Coombes
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