A review by zoe_271
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

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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