Winston has flown his craft into a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, and been converted into pure energy. Materializing only when his waveforms intercept a planet, he only gets home once every 59 days. But at least it's some consolation that he knows all that ever has been and all that ever will be.
--This text refers to the
Perfect Paperback
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Kurt Vonnegut's second SF novel was published way back in 1959 but remains horribly timeless. For all the book's wild inventiveness, it's one of the most blackly nihilistic comedies ever published in the genre. The tragicomic godgame is presided over by Winston Niles Rumfoord, who has accidentally become a standing wave in space/time and knows the past and the future. Since the future is fixed, he can't change it even though it involves him arranging nasty fates for many people--in particular Malachi Constant, richest man in the world since his father's career of interpreting the Bible as a coded guide to the stockmarket. Despite his struggles, Constant is destined for a grimly comic pilgrimage around the Solar System to Titan, home since 203,117 BC of the visiting alien Salo whose presence has warped the whole of human history. Salo's far-off people manipulated us into building Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China and other vast constructions as reassuring signals to their stranded emissary--who himself is carrying a message of truly cosmic unimportance. Small wonder that Rumfoord tries to cheer up humanity by founding the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. Vonnegut scatters crazed ideas in all directions, forcing you into painful laughter at the grandiose futility of his cosmos. Another worthy Millennium SF Masterworks classic. --David Langford
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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One of the very best must-read SF novels of all time
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Blackhorse47
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Winston Rumfoord visits the planets. He sees plenty, but is powerless to change anything. Although he understands the past and the future, he can affect no change. But he has a destiny and it's on the moons of Saturn where he'll discover the meaning of life and the ultimate destiny of mankind.
This is a pleasant read. Although nihilistic, the story is presented in a whimsical and ironic manner. This is a warm up for Vonnegut's later more profound works. The principles of pre-determined fate and the futility of existence are presented here but for pure comic effect rather than the cutting serious approach used later in Slaughterhouse 5. The invented religion of God the Utterly Indifferent is a great phrase but doesn't have much substance behind it and isn't as well applied as the ludicrous religion in Cat's Cradle. That is not a major concern. This is probably the author's most easily enjoyable novel with more fun asides and great lines than any novel has a right to have.
There's a serious message all right, but it's buried beneath the gags rather than presented up front as in the later books. Throwaway ideas here are developed further later on, but in many ways I think Vonnegut may have been better served staying with this whimisical but no less biting style.
Most memorable is the ending which provides the genesis of Douglas Adams's 42 as the meaning of life gag along with several other of Adams' classic ideas, except they are done a lot better here and a lot earlier. This is a very funny novel and probably the best one to start with if you want to try his books.
This is a pleasant read. Although nihilistic, the story is presented in a whimsical and ironic manner. This is a warm up for Vonnegut's later more profound works. The principles of pre-determined fate and the futility of existence are presented here but for pure comic effect rather than the cutting serious approach used later in Slaughterhouse 5. The invented religion of God the Utterly Indifferent is a great phrase but doesn't have much substance behind it and isn't as well applied as the ludicrous religion in Cat's Cradle. That is not a major concern. This is probably the author's most easily enjoyable novel with more fun asides and great lines than any novel has a right to have.
There's a serious message all right, but it's buried beneath the gags rather than presented up front as in the later books. Throwaway ideas here are developed further later on, but in many ways I think Vonnegut may have been better served staying with this whimisical but no less biting style.
Most memorable is the ending which provides the genesis of Douglas Adams's 42 as the meaning of life gag along with several other of Adams' classic ideas, except they are done a lot better here and a lot earlier. This is a very funny novel and probably the best one to start with if you want to try his books.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book may not be for everyone, but it is one of my all time favourites and I think I have read it twenty or more times over the years. I read it 2 times just last years!
I can see that it may be a bit hard getting into at the beginning, but if you just persist, you will not regret it. The book flips back and forth between time and space and planets. It is not as spacey as you might think. Vonnegut was a humanist. This book is a play on politics and religion. It is satirical and funny, serious and beautiful. You feel so very much for the characters as they lead you through a long chain of events from a hermit stock broker hiding in a hotel room, using the bible as code for the market...through a phony war from Mars.. to a religion made to save the world.
I love it, love it, love it!
I can see that it may be a bit hard getting into at the beginning, but if you just persist, you will not regret it. The book flips back and forth between time and space and planets. It is not as spacey as you might think. Vonnegut was a humanist. This book is a play on politics and religion. It is satirical and funny, serious and beautiful. You feel so very much for the characters as they lead you through a long chain of events from a hermit stock broker hiding in a hotel room, using the bible as code for the market...through a phony war from Mars.. to a religion made to save the world.
I love it, love it, love it!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Kurt Vonnegut careens from crazed premise to crazed premise like a narrative pinball. A TARDIS in book form, the novel contains more ideas than it seems possible to cram into its 224 pages, with Vonnegut's imagination almost being a chronosynclastic infundibulum of its own, "a place where all truths fit together". And holding it all together is the idea that there is nothing or nobody holding it all together.
Like most of Vonnegut's novels, the humour is fast, sharp and pitch black. In many ways, the story is similar to Voltaire's "Candide", although perhaps more sympathetic. In "Candide", Voltaire's characters are little more than archetypes off which to bounce ideas off, or even collide them headfirst into them. Vonnegut clearly invites us to feel for his characters, despite how repellent and awful they may at first appear.
The new Gollancz edition has much to recommend for itself, being published in a knowingly pulpy format, complete with eyecatching book design and a cheerfully informative foreword by Jasper Fforde.
Like most of Vonnegut's novels, the humour is fast, sharp and pitch black. In many ways, the story is similar to Voltaire's "Candide", although perhaps more sympathetic. In "Candide", Voltaire's characters are little more than archetypes off which to bounce ideas off, or even collide them headfirst into them. Vonnegut clearly invites us to feel for his characters, despite how repellent and awful they may at first appear.
The new Gollancz edition has much to recommend for itself, being published in a knowingly pulpy format, complete with eyecatching book design and a cheerfully informative foreword by Jasper Fforde.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can't Go Wrong with Vonnegut
Great book - love getting my books from Kindle. I love finding great books on sale for 99p, too. Kindle is cheap and dependable - at the rate I read books this is just what I need. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. Little
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sirens of Titan
It is over twenty years since I last read this book, I knew I liked it but had forgotten most of the story. It was well worth rereading.
Published 2 months ago by Mr K S Elliott
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ridiculous. a masterpiece.
A subtle, intriguing novel. Very easy to read with a sprinkling of humor. The sort of humor that rings true and makes you think. Read more
Published 3 months ago by John Starr
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating
How on earth did he weave this story together and make it so readable and relevant to modern day times? Excellent on all levels and paced well.
Dianneroden@hotmail.com
Dianneroden@hotmail.com
Published 3 months ago by Frances Dianne Roden
2.0 out of 5 stars
Miserable
Just miserable, and a little pointless, did not have the style or quality of writing of Slauhter House 5 and really no joy anywhere.
Published 5 months ago by Mr Michael J Oates
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved this and have recommended it to anyone who will listen
I agree with previous comments, this is a great place to start if you have never read a Vonnegut book. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Melanie Dale
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vonnegut hitting his stride
Kurt Vonnegut is one of those science fiction writers who has been fortunate enough to be read and respected outside his own genre. Read more
Published 8 months ago by James Adamson
5.0 out of 5 stars
A new look on the purpose of Earth
Whilst this is a brilliant book by Vonnegut and deserves 5*, I have previously read Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse 5 - in my opinion, they are much more accessible and... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Craig Hall
5.0 out of 5 stars
Titan
One of my favourite novels.
It explains the reasons for everything that happens to the human race.
Still reads well after all these years
It explains the reasons for everything that happens to the human race.
Still reads well after all these years
Published 10 months ago by ReaderX
1.0 out of 5 stars
Padded boredom
Phil Davis recommended this on Anne Robison's recent book programme, so I thought it sounded good the way he described it, BUT I struggled to get to the end - have just finished... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. J. R. Sparks
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