Breakfast of Champions

Books | Fiction / General

4.2

(2.3K)

Kurt Vonnegut

Kilgore Trout is a widely published, but unknown writer who is invited to deliver a keynote address at a local arts festival in distant Midland City. Dwayne Hoover is a wealthy businessman who owns much of Midland City. Unfortunately Dwayne is mentally unstable and is undergoing a gradual mental collapse. Kilgore arrives in Midland City and, by happenstance, piques the interest of Dwayne. A confused Dwayne demands a message from Kilgore, who hands over a copy of his novel. Dwayne reads the novel, which purports to be a message from the Creator of the Universe explaining that the reader - in this case Dwayne - is the only individual in the universe with free will. Everyone else is a robot. Dwayne believes the novel to be factual and immediately goes on a violent rampage, severely beating ...

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Author

Kurt Vonnegut

Pages

295

Publisher

Delacorte Press

Published Date

1973

ISBN

0440131480 9780440131489

Community ReviewsSee all

""They were doing their best to live like people invented in story books. This was the reason Americans shot each other so often: It was a convenient literary device for ending short stories and books." Took me a bit to get into but the second half was well worth it. "

Ross Sauby

"December read…not a fan altogether there were a few place that were interesting. Read it as it was mentioned in a book I read"

Erika Lynne

"Funny but sharp and biting satire of modern American society"

R T

Rebekah Travis

"I thought Vonnegut was quite cool before reading this book. Some racial slurs were said, which I understand because that's how they described such people at the time. You even see racial slurs in period pieces that were anti-racism. I think Vonnegut was going for the same effect. What really threw me off however was when he created a new derogatory way to describe a race! He described, to whichever extraterrestial reading this book, Vietnamese people as, "Yellow robots which live off of rice," this was meant to be comedic. Yes, Vonnegut is a philosophical guy but if be had any knowledge of ethics, he'd know that introducing a new, horrible perspective on a minority damages their quality of life and uplifts his own. Yes we're all hunks of meat on a rock but can we have the option of not living in agony?"

Fiona McGrath

"Vonnegut is a very special author, with a very special outlook. Satire, humor, compassion, and dealing with life. Start with this title, or start with Slaughterhouse-5, or really any Vonnegut. If one of them speaks to you, read another, and another, and so on. My favorite is Cat's Cradle."

B S

Bonnie Skoryanc

"No I didn’t like it"

Kingston

"Kurt Vonnegut has a whimsical, dark, humoristic style that i enjoy very very much. It's a good read, but it does use racial slurs so beware if that kind of thing upsets you."

Real Savage

"Very easy to read and funny! Enjoyable for sure and refreshing. A story only Kurt Vonnegut could come up with and it’s so crazy you can’t help but be entertained and hooked. Highly recommend for someone trying to spice up their reading list "

Rodger

"A tad bit outdated, though it doesn’t take away from Vonnegut’s dark style of writing. "