books_n_bananas's review against another edition
2.0
After reading this book, I don't think I am at all surprised that this is one of the least talked about Vonnegut novels out there. Does it reflect Vonnegut's writing style? Yes, but sloppily.
Galapagos reads like Kurt was having a bad few days and just wanted to write a bizarre story just to put on paper and then it just happened to get published.
Is it meaningful? Yes, of course, but it is nowhere near as impactful as the majority of his other novels.
Galapagos--to me, at least-- is about human growth and development. It's about the efforts we spend our whole lives to learn, grow, and evolve into something better or new. He seems to address the magnitude of some of these developments, but more prominently, the overall futility. In a future where humans are more dolphin-like than human, and live until their 30's with unintelligent brains, what does it matter if you worry about learning languages, or teaching children, or drop a bomb on a city? At the same time, he displays that it's random traits and things we learn or develop that make us evolve into something new and stick with further generations.
Just as Darwin's explanation of the Galapagos islands displays the timeline of evolution, the development of new species, etc., humans are going through the same changes, or at least, theoretically, could be. And yet, there will always still be weird cultural meaningless romantic trends that will always exist, such as the blue-footed boobies' mating dance and lack of fear of anything that could kill them. Mind-bogglingly unexplainable.
At the end of the day, I don't think this novel displays Vonnegut's brilliance. It just didn't. I think it's thought-provoking (of course, it's still Vonnegut...) But it just doesn't live up to his prior works.
A good read for anyone completely boggled by the thought of evolution and how it sits in with modern day humanity..
Galapagos reads like Kurt was having a bad few days and just wanted to write a bizarre story just to put on paper and then it just happened to get published.
Is it meaningful? Yes, of course, but it is nowhere near as impactful as the majority of his other novels.
Galapagos--to me, at least-- is about human growth and development. It's about the efforts we spend our whole lives to learn, grow, and evolve into something better or new. He seems to address the magnitude of some of these developments, but more prominently, the overall futility. In a future where humans are more dolphin-like than human, and live until their 30's with unintelligent brains, what does it matter if you worry about learning languages, or teaching children, or drop a bomb on a city? At the same time, he displays that it's random traits and things we learn or develop that make us evolve into something new and stick with further generations.
Just as Darwin's explanation of the Galapagos islands displays the timeline of evolution, the development of new species, etc., humans are going through the same changes, or at least, theoretically, could be. And yet, there will always still be weird cultural meaningless romantic trends that will always exist, such as the blue-footed boobies' mating dance and lack of fear of anything that could kill them. Mind-bogglingly unexplainable.
At the end of the day, I don't think this novel displays Vonnegut's brilliance. It just didn't. I think it's thought-provoking (of course, it's still Vonnegut...) But it just doesn't live up to his prior works.
A good read for anyone completely boggled by the thought of evolution and how it sits in with modern day humanity..
awilderm23's review against another edition
3.0
'I was there, too, but perfectly invisible.'
'There are no tombs on the Galapagos Islands. The ocean gets all the bodies to use as it will.'
'Many events which would have repercussions a million years later were taking place in a small space on the planet in a very short time.'
'There are no tombs on the Galapagos Islands. The ocean gets all the bodies to use as it will.'
'Many events which would have repercussions a million years later were taking place in a small space on the planet in a very short time.'
halftimelord's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I read this when I was in uni and really enjoyed it. Not so much this time around... Many funny and poignant moments but I really didn't enjoy the cynicical tone throughout. Maybe that's just my big brain talking though.
"A million years later, I feel like apologising for the human race. That's all I can say."
"A million years later, I feel like apologising for the human race. That's all I can say."
jakensubi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
lugalante's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I love everything this man has ever written but even I can admit this one was a little repetitive.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, War, and Suicide
emmaccate's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bamairi's review against another edition
challenging
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
brettpet's review against another edition
3.0
Galapagos is probably my least favorite of the four Vonnegut novels I've read so far, but it's not a bad experience by any means. It's full of humor, environmental and societal commentary, and plenty of unique narrative decisions (such as setting the narration one million years in the future compared to the plot). The cyclical nature of the story was my biggest issue, as Vonnegut lays out pretty much every major event in the book before it happens. This is ideally to drill into the reader how small human errors can have massive butterfly effects later on, but some of the events are incredibly anticlimactic because they've been teased for hundreds of pages (like a certain shark attack). Other Vonnegut novels like Slaughterhouse and Cats Cradle do this as well but to a lesser extent. I'm not calling this book predictable by any means, but it's less unpredictable than any other novel in his bibliography.
Some of my favorite parts that I couldn't help bookmarking:
The Ecuadorian Navy exchange (115)
The poignant commentary related to current world events of: "This new explosive was regarded as a great boon to big-brained military scientists. As long as they killed people with conventional rather than nuclear weapons, they were praised as humanitarian statesmen." (146)
"...a living museum, a patch of what the area used to be before Europeans decreed that no plant or animal would be tolerated which was not tamed and edible by humankind." (222)
"Oh, well—he wasn't going to write Beethoven's Ninth Symphony anyway." (244)
On the life sustaining water spring on Santa Rosalia: "If the Captain had had any decent tools, crowbars and picks and shovels and so on, he surely would have found a way, in the name of science and progress, to clog the spring, or cause it to vomit the entire contents of the crater in only a week or two." (271)
Some of my favorite parts that I couldn't help bookmarking:
The Ecuadorian Navy exchange (115)
The poignant commentary related to current world events of: "This new explosive was regarded as a great boon to big-brained military scientists. As long as they killed people with conventional rather than nuclear weapons, they were praised as humanitarian statesmen." (146)
"...a living museum, a patch of what the area used to be before Europeans decreed that no plant or animal would be tolerated which was not tamed and edible by humankind." (222)
"Oh, well—he wasn't going to write Beethoven's Ninth Symphony anyway." (244)
On the life sustaining water spring on Santa Rosalia: "If the Captain had had any decent tools, crowbars and picks and shovels and so on, he surely would have found a way, in the name of science and progress, to clog the spring, or cause it to vomit the entire contents of the crater in only a week or two." (271)