Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

36 reviews

themdash's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Classism

zoe_271's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Breakfast of Champions was an interesting read. The novel is non-sequential and throws the reader right into the deep end, and while you might feel that you're understanding what's going on as you progress, Vonnegut will have you treading water again whenever he chooses. The novel mainly follows Dwayne Hoover and Kilgore Trout, Trout being a recurring Vonnegut character, though this was my first introduction to him. Hoover progressively loses his mind throughout the novel, something Vonnegut alludes to right from the start, allowing the reader to track his downfall, which is largely presented comedically though the occasional line will have you sit and starkly realise that oh, he's hurting people. Trout spends much of the novel on an ill-fated journey and having conversations about the nature of people, but the descriptions of his science fiction novels and his short stories that only manage to get published in adult magazines are where the nature of people is truly considered and scrutinised. Vonnegut's writing style serves the plot as much as any of the outlandish characters - dotting from idea to idea, deviating from the story to explore the backstory of a turn of phrase, never mind the self-insert! The novel is also dotted with Vonnegut's illustrations, though I listened to the audiobook where John Malkovich described each image - I almost think his dry descriptions surely added more to the novel than the pictures themselves would. I'd recommend this book to anybody who likes blunt satire, etc.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Rape

sam_fielder_137's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I get it, I guess. I just think it was boring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Violence

bugaboobear's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I've read this twice now and it's such a wild ride. Very enjoyable and interesting. 

Note that there are quite a few racial slurs in this book, so if that is upsetting to you you may want to pass on it. I will say, it does make sense for the time period and characters that are using them though. The narrative is not racist in my opinion but some of the characters are. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, and Terminal illness

thesvnthsense's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, Suicide, and Violence

kayrae_42's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence

pralanda'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Suicide and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Slavery

hexcellent's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

kierank's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Reading this after “the bluest eye” was an interesting experience. Both books had sprawling narration of minor characters and delved into psyches of people who won’t be seen after the next chapter. I think morrisons use of racial slurs and epithets was more impactful that Vonnegut’s since her black characters are front and center, not the racism they experience, if that makes sense. I was p frustrated by vonneguts professed objective narration even though he had obvious biases. Idk. I struggled at parts but I did like the ending, and I’m always a sucker for a meta narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, and Car accident

Moderate: Death and Suicide

kolbyfeesh's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book dragged on and on for the first couple hundred pages. I nearly didn’t finish it a few times over; Vonnegut was determined to write a story that focused on life, with every character and fact having equal importance. (pg215)
Since he was actively shunning storytelling, the story was difficult to engage with- the satirical framing of the issues of america was interesting, but nothing much *happened*. I will say that Trout’s short stories were an excellent plot device. 

The ending absolutely blew me away. I was enthralled, through and through, and couldn’t put it down.

The fourth wall break, along with the idea of philosophical zombies “thinking machines” driving Dwayne crazy hit home in a big way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Violence