- Paperback: 341 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group (1 Mar 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385333781
- ISBN-13: 978-0385333788
- Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 1.9 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 190,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Player Piano (Kurt Vonnegut Series)
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Product Description
Product Description
Vonnegut's first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a super computer and run completely by machines. His rebellion is a wildly funny, darkly satirical look at modern society.
From the Back Cover
World War Three is over, and llium, New York, is divided into three parts. In the north-west are the scientists, engineers and technocrats who struggle to run society, victims of an insane system of bureaucratised tyranny; in the north-east are the machines and computers which perform all routine manufacturing tasks; and in the south is the area known locally as Homestead, where almost all of the people live. Those with redundant or non-existent skills are forced into the Army or the Reconstruction and Reclamation Corps – known bitterly as the ‘Reeks and Wrecks’. Robbed of their work, they are deprived of everything that makes them dignified and human. But, underneath the surface, the impulse to rebellion seethes…
‘One of the best living American writers.’
GRAHAM GREENE
‘George Orwell, Dr Caligari and Flash Gordon compounded into one writer.’
TIME
‘One of the master alchemists of modern American fiction.’
SUNDAY TIMES
‘Kurt Vonnegut is the most unusual and attractive of contemporary satirists.’
FINANCIAL TIMES
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ILIUM, NEW YORK, is divided into three parts. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
ILIUM, NEW YORK, is divided into three parts. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Player Piano is in my opinion Kurt Vonnegut's finest novel and it beggars belief that it has been out of print for such a considerable length of time. I was lucky enough to find a second hand copy of it on Amazon and breezed through it in a couple of sittings; I hope you too can find a copy available.
Set in the aftermath of World War Three it depicts brilliantly a world in which men are becoming obsolete, replaced by the machines they themselves have built, hence the title. The story follows Dr Paul Proteus, one of the scientific elite, as he becomes increasingly disillusioned with his life in a society which robs men of their dignity and any pride previously enjoyed by work.
Despite enjoying the luxuries that come with being a member of the scientific elite, Proteus finds himself growing sympathetic towards the un-skilled and redundant masses that are forced into either military service or soul destroying works of reconstruction. This sympathy, along with the frustration he experiences as part of the corporate system which leads contradictorily to competition amongst its workers whilst attempting to foster a false co-operative spirit causes him to rebel against the system. Anyone who has been subjected to ‘team-building’ exercises in the work place will cringe at the horrors of ‘the Meadows’, a kind of corporate summer camp that Proteus has to endure, as well as many other episodes that remind one constantly of the situation many currently face in the workplace.
Written in 1952, I find this to be one of the most prophetic novels I have come across. Do whatever you have to do to get a hold of a copy of Player Piano.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Kurt Vonnegut's first novel is set in a dystopian America of the future, where technology has made manual work obsolete. This society divides into the few technocrats and managers who devise and control the machines, and the masses. A semi-utopian ideal removes the need for work and provides the masses with all they physically need, but provides no hope - what service can they provide? For those outside the elite, their only work is the army or the "Reeks and Wrecks" (Reconstruction & Reclamation Corps), and even the army is not trusted with guns in an age where wars are fought by machines in foreign lands. Even the legal system has been automated, with machines that analyse data and precedent to pronounce judgement.
The book is centred on one character's struggle to find meaning within this society. Dr Paul Proteus is one of the elite, an engineer who manages one of the vast automated factories. But his state-controlled life provides material wealth and little satisfaction. The book follows his journey from elite to subversive in his search for meaning.
Written around the same time as 1984, the book offers a similar view of the future with total state control of society, work and media. While lighter in tone than 1984, the messages are strikingly similar and the outcome similar. This book ends pessimistically, challenging the goals of constant development but highlighting the needs that drive them.
The book is centred on one character's struggle to find meaning within this society. Dr Paul Proteus is one of the elite, an engineer who manages one of the vast automated factories. But his state-controlled life provides material wealth and little satisfaction. The book follows his journey from elite to subversive in his search for meaning.
Written around the same time as 1984, the book offers a similar view of the future with total state control of society, work and media. While lighter in tone than 1984, the messages are strikingly similar and the outcome similar. This book ends pessimistically, challenging the goals of constant development but highlighting the needs that drive them.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is Kurt Vonnegut's first novel which was largely ignored when published in the early Fifties and remains out of print in the UK and hard to find. In it he explores the world that he sees on the horizon when most of the work is mechanised and the population is split between the highly paid technicians and the welfare supported masses who while away their lives with trivial pleasures. As always Vonnegut is prescient, warning of the follies of humankind, but this is a regular novel in terms of style, not exhibiting the trademark snappy prose and insightful asides of his later works. Thankfully his career was rescued from the doldrums in the Sixties and he went on to write some of the best modern American fiction. It's a very interesting book and a good read and fits right alongside such post-war classics as Brave New World and 1984.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
At least an equal to 1984 and Brave New World
Vonnegut's first novel introduces themes that appear in his later work. The book is short, fast-paced, very readable, but also unusual in style. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Tom Page
Underestimated book
I searched for this book for years, ever since reading it in the 80s. Never got on well with other Vonnegut books but the story of this one showed quite clearly how our society... Read more
Published on 5 Dec 2005 by Marion Catlin
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