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Title: The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut ISBN: 0-385-33349-8 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 08 September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.62 (110 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Remember the Titans
Comment: When I read or reread Vonnegut, I often wish to weep: someone so wise, so funny, so irreverant yet reverant, so eloquent, managed to write fifteen to twenty wonderful works after surviving the bombing of Dresden. Hoorah!
SIRENS OF TITANS is startlingly mature for a novel written in 1959 (...). The insights about life and reality which one finds all the way through TIMEQUAKE already are fully developed here.
What insights? The ones obvious to those with ears to hear: that life is governed by accidents rather than the will of divinity; that the concept of "hell" is hideous and wrong; that humans are capable both of great kindness and great depravity; that irony seems to rule the universe with an iron fist; that despite the pains and hardships of life, there still is an astonishing richness of beauty, of wonder, and much to laugh heartily about. When one finds these last three, one might do best by paraphrasing the words of Vonnegut's dad: "If this isn't nice, what is?"
The novel's plot is, as with all classic Vonnegut novels, remarkably serpentine, ingenious, pyrotechnic, comic, and irrelevant. The core of the book is the worldview--but one cannot understand the worldview without experiencing the plot. Form equals content. A neat trick!
...
As usual, Vonnegut's SIRENS conjures for me the works of Philip K. Dick, Walter Kaufmann, and Tim Miller. I scarcely expect any readers of this review to be so reminded.
And yet I am certain, based upon e-mail responses to my Amazon.com reviews over the years, that there is, in fact, a recognizable thread running through the works of the above authors. In fact, those for whom my words reverberate might do well to trace the thread of my reviews: you will find lots of other fun literary works which most probably will reverberate for you.
For the rest of you, forget it. You either get it or you don't. There just ain't no darn sense in trying to explain.
Rating: 5
Summary: Listen To The "Sirens" And Read This Book
Comment: "Sirens of Titan," by Kurt Vonnegut, is about a man and his life in the future. Malachi Constant is one of the richest men in the world. He is invited to see the materialization of William Niles Rumford and his dog Kazak. This man and his dog flew a space ship into a chrono-synclastic infundibula, scattering him throughout the galaxy. Rumford tells Constant of his future. Constant, not wanting to believe that he has a set future, does everything he can to make it not come true. Despite his efforts he soon finds himself living it out: first by being a part of the Martian army, then by going to Mercury, then coming back to Earth, finally ending on a moon of Saturn called Titan.
"Sirens of Titan's" theme would be that it doesn't matter how much one tries to escape it, there is a set plan for his or her life. Malachi Constant tries as hard as he can to escape his future given to him by William Niles Rumford. In every scene that occurs in the book we see Rumford's prophecy come true. Despite all that Constant does he still ends up doing the exact things that Rumford told him he was going to do. There is also something else in the book that is very significant. We find out that the setting for our whole existence is based around getting massages to an alien which is waiting on Titan for a replacement part for his space ship. Here Vonnegut is trying to say that maybe there is some purpose to life, but when we find out what it is we are not necessarily going to be happy with it.
This is a very great book for someone who likes science fiction. However even people who don't care for science fiction can be greatly pleased by the story line. I would recommend that this be one of those books you just have to read in your lifetime. I also want to say that if you like this book you should read Slaughterhouse Five also by Kurt Vonnegut.
Rating: 5
Summary: To love and to be loved...
Comment: This is Kurt Vonnegut's second novel, and a sign of things yet to come. Upon first reading, The Sirens of Titan appears as pure science fiction, a tale of Martian invasion and inter-planetary missions. But upon closer review and inspection, this piece reveals a deeper and very unique vision of human purpose, life, and thought. This story is told in the form of a flashback to the "Nightmare Ages...between the Second World War and the Third Great Depression", a time when people had yet to explore their own souls. We find the world's richest and most immoral person, Malachi Constant, visiting a man caught in a Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum. This man sends Malachi on a journey that will make of him an example of what human life should not be. Many points are made defining human significance; in fact, the first two pages summate the history of Earth, in terms of exploration for knowledge of a greater purpose, and our subsequent failure to find meaning outside ourselves.
Winston Niles Rumfoord, stuck in Chrono-Synclastic Infidibula, has a great scheme, a plan to aide and enlighten humanity. As he says: "Any man who would change the World in a significant way must have showmanship, a genial willingness to shed other people's blood, and a plausible new religion to introduce during the brief period of repentance and horror that usually follows bloodshed". He trains an army of earthlings on Mars, shaving their heads and implanting radios in their skulls to make them a mindless mass of killers who simply follow orders. Sounds familiar, no? Their attack on Earth is futile, and is made meaningful to Earth's people because "Earth's glorious victory over Mars had been a tawdry butchery of virtually unarmed saints, saints who had waged feeble war on Earth in order to weld the peoples of that planet into a monolithic Brotherhood of Man". During this time of understanding, repentance, and horror, Winston Niles Rumfoord introduces The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. A religion that can be accepted by anyone, it teaches that puny man can do nothing at all to help or please God Almighty, and Luck is not the hand of God. Finally, war, fear, hate, and envy in the name of religion shall die. Because there is truth in your soul, a meaning within yourself, rather than some phenomenal plan uncontrolled by people. There is no Great purpose for human life, and the only thing close to it is the delivery of a missing piece from a Tralfamadorian's ship. So, in light of our virtually meaningless existence, there is but one purpose a human can act upon singularly and individually: to love and to be loved.
If Vonnegut's goal was to answer this question that many are afraid to ask, I feel sure that he achieved it. A philosophy few may agree with, it is plausible nonetheless. This is a powerful novel, pointing out the futility of war, the evil we do to create an army of "one", mankind's dependence upon finding meaning any way he can, be it in religion or space, and that "everything that ever has been always will be, and everything that ever will be always has been". Reading this will make you think, about purpose (or lack thereof), about love, about all the things that define our existence.
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Title: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut ISBN: 038533348X Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 08 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Mother Night by KURT VONNEGUT ISBN: 0385334141 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 11 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut ISBN: 0385334206 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 11 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut ISBN: 0440180295 Publisher: Dell Publishing Pub. Date: 03 November, 1991 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut ISBN: 0385333501 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 08 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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