The Sirens of Titan

Vonnegut is not for everybody! There might be enough people that take him literally and might get offended by his remarks on religious zealotry, "righteous wars" and politics in general. But if you have a strong sense of humor and got disappointed at least once in life with the way history gets written by the victors and the truth gets distorted by the people in power, you will be delighted with this!It is the most thought-provoking book, and at any given point it might read as a non sci-fi with its deep observations on human relations: man-woman, rich-poor, religious/non-believer, war.At the same time it is the most satisfying sci-fi book ever, blows the esoteric Strugatsky or Lem away!!! I loved the quirkyness of the Chrono-synchlastic infundibulum concept, the sarcasm on the futility of what we bravely call Space exploration ( frustratingly slow and dangerous so far- with questionable results), humanity's typical behavior once they get there( start a war! ), some fascinatingly strange imaginings of Mercury and Titan...Just about when I thought it can't get any better, it suddenly does: Contact. The cherished Alien contact! There is a lot there and I will leave it to the reader to discover where The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy got its inspiration!I just have to add that the landscapes of Titan ( when the 3 main characters plus the dog finally make it there), are some of the most hauntingly beautiful pages in sci-fi ever written! This book is written in 1959, way before Cassini sent the astounding images from the vicinity of Saturn... Vonnegut did his homework right!And yes, the philosophy that we are at our most happy when we stop worrying and enjoy the simple pleasures in life!This is a book for the eons, it's depths wrapped in humor, slowly, hauntingly sinking in...

TL:DR;Kurt Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan is just outside the fringes of what I normally like to read, and I found myself walking away from the book with a slightly muddled sense of satisfaction. The book left me with plenty of things to think about: human nature and certain philosophies being chief among them. Vonnegut does an excellent job building and shaping his characters. Malachi Constant, Beatrice Rumfoord and Winston Niles Rumfoord all felt very real to me and evoked a wide range of emotions over the course of the book.The story is interesting and compelling as well; however, I did find the beginning of the book to be very bland and a bit off putting (I did later come to see the necessity of the beginning, but that did not make it anymore interesting to read while I was reading it.) Ultimately, I enjoyed the book and I would encourage people to read it, but I would only actively recommend this book to specific readers. If you want to explore human nature, follow one man on his quest for the meaning of life, or experience a small taste of just how indifferent and large the galaxy really is, I would highly recommend this book. If you’re looking for space battles, high action, or physical conflicts, I’d suggest you look elsewhere.The Bad:1. I felt the beginning of the book was weak. Vonnegut's writing struck me as somewhat circular and sometimes a bit wordy (this problem cleared up later. I’m not sure if I just got used to the style, or it slowly evaporated). I also had very little interest in the characters and found the story itself slow. The reasoning for this is revealed later in the book, but that doesn’t excuse having a blunt hook at the start of the story.The Good:1. Once you get past the slow hump in the beginning, the characters become quite interesting and develop real personalities of their own. There are times at which you’ll loathe Constant, pity him, empathize with him, and be happy for him. Vonnegut’s depiction of the sad isolation and creeping depression that Constant deals with really reverberated with me. The same goes for many of the other characters, despite their initial two dimensional presentations they all prove themselves to be multi-faceted gems by the end of the book.2. The story. Again, once you crest the hill that is the beginning of the book, the story really picks up. After the main characters leave Earth and make for Mars (as prophesied by William Niles Rumfoord) things become really interesting, and Vonnegut’s story telling really begins to shine. Vonnegut's thematic elements shine brightly throughout the entire story as well, which gave me a deeper appreciation for the situations that Vonnegut penned.The Meh:1. You’re going to need a little background information to understand this gripe. My editor girlfriend loves, loves, loves semicolons. She loves semicolons an almost inordinate amount. She gets excited when she gets to edit one into something. So I used to love to tease her with this Vonnegut quote.“Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.”Upon reading some of his work, that quote makes Vonnegut seem like a hypocrite to me. I do not recall coming across any semicolons; however, I came across quite a few words that I had to stop and look up.Synopsis:Winston Niles Rumfoord and his dog, Kazak, are chronosynclastically infundibulated, and every fifty nine days he materializes for a period of hours at his home on the planet Earth. The materializations have always been a private event, until one day Malachi Constant is invited to witness and partake in one of Rumfoord’s materializations. Since he is infundibulated, Rumfoord knows many things, specifically he knows that Constant will travel to Mars, then Mercury, back to Earth again, and then finally on to one of Saturn’s Moons, Titan. Of course Constant doesn’t believe him and leaves the materialization shortly after it ends. It doesn’t take long to discover the first of Rumfoord’s predictions to be true. With each new planet, we explore a new side of Malachi Constant and discover just how little the universe really cares.

Malachi Constant has it all, the richest man in the world and he is blessed with good luck. Unfortunately many things are about to change. His selfish and indulgent lifestyle suddenly pales in comparison to his now traveling to Mars to see the preparations for a war with Earth.His travels take him to Mercury then back to Earth and finally to the moon of Saturn named Titan. There Malachi meets Winston Niles Rumford who is a lost earthling space traveler who has caused much of the turmoil in Malachi's life including the Martian war....Kurt Vonnegut was born and lived in the same city I was born in and this leads me to read his books. I am an avid reader and lover of the Sci-Fi genre and Kurt was well known for his work as a Sci-Fi author. His style is more imagination and anything is possible if you believe in it versus the hard science of other famous Sci-Fi authors of that time period. Basically if you want to do something, just make it up!His stories are more about the characters and their interaction and his focus sometimes seems to belittle the existence of mankind and the futility of war. This story for example is about mankind and civilization being created to make a part that probably cost a dollar for a crashed flying saucer on Titan. (The part is the size of an Earthling beer-can opener)The story shows Kurt Vonnegut's sense of humor and the satire that motivated him to write his books. It is a classic but if you are looking for hard Sci-Fi this book is probably not for you. This is a story that was written by one of the best "word smiths" of the 20th century that is certainly worth reading!

Sirens of Titan was my second Vonnegut book and while I didn't think that it was quite on par with Slaughter House 5, I did think it was very good book that I enjoyed quite a bit. The book largely follows Malachi Constant as he's placed in various situations and examines the meaning of life utilizing a worldview that takes an existential slant that borders on nihilism in places. The difference between where Vonnegut concludes and where other's view the world through takes them, is that Vonnegut chooses to end up in a warmer, fuzzier, somewhat optimistic place rather than the cold, dark place that others often get to when beginning with the worldview Vonnegut espouses. While I won't spoil the end or the twists that happen along the way the message in the end is largely one of live in the moment you're in, love those around you and no matter who's pulling the strings, do the best to make the world a better place however you can. Sort of a 60's flower power anthem, which, isn't such a bad anthem to be singing.In any case, philosophy aside, the story itself was a pretty fun, quick ride that made me think in a few places, had some good wisdom that most would agree with and even had a few twists along the way that kept the story interesting and moving along nicely. The pieces come together nicely towards the very end to shed light on the earlier events in a satisfying way and while I wouldn't consider this a "classic" or "must read", it is very good and definitely not Sci-Fi enough to turn off anyone who's not a fan of the genre. In fact, while the story happens to unfold on several planets (mostly in our solar system), it's really just a story about man's place in the universe and really can be enjoyed by just about anyone. So, all things considered, another great book by Vonnegut that has me looking forward to whatever next Vonnegut book I'll eventually read next.

This is definitely an interesting book and the first I've read from Kurt Vonnegut. I heard so much about the author and I was excited to read one of his books.However, I was not a fan of his writing style (personal preference), and I didn't find the story to be really compelling. It started off interesting and the characters were alright. The plot was ambiguous at best but that didn't bother me, as I hoped it would thicken as the book went on.It did thicken, but in a very odd and dark way. Halfway through the book, the characters seemed to be running around mindlessly and hopelessly for no apparent reason, until the final reveal at the end. Well, what you hoped would be a tidying up of the story, was just a way for the author to say, "there was no real reason for the running around."I thought it was a clever reveal, that not only were all the charters spending their lives doing meaningless work, but that humanity as a whole was wasting its time as well. The redeeming factor of the book, but not redeeming enough, was the main characters ending thoughts; there is no real meaning in what we do, but love is still worth pursing.Worth the read? Maybe. Would read again? No.

Around the last fourth part my connection started to fade away. The style and imagination that fully sustained my interest until then became somewhat repetitive and predictable. I found myself skipping paragraphs and even full pages.

I am frankly surprised at the negative reviews of this book. Admittedly, I am a fan of Vonnegut's work. In fact, I like even the books of his that *he* himself wasn't particularly fond of (i.e. Slapstick). Admittedly, the bulk of this book is, to use one of Vonnegut's own popular sentiments, "pessimistic". Perhaps 200+ pages out of the book are a bit of a downer in that it presents an incredibly fatalistic and even cynical view of humanity and life in general. But hey, it's Vonnegut. He's asking you to think a little. He's challenging you to question your beliefs. And, I'm not sure that he's presenting conclusions or answers. I think he's just asking the questions.*Spoilers ahead*Sure, the Tralmafadorians have manipulated life on Earth for nothing more than to deliver a small, perfectly machined piece of metal to Titan. But so what? Vonnegut paints a complicated picture. He doesn't spell it out. He's not stating that it's all fatalistic. I don't think *he* had drawn the conclusions. I think he was asking the questions for himself.I think it is a brilliant and challenging novel. 5 stars. And, I'm surprised at the complexity and the breadth that he weaves so artfully in this, which I believe is only his second novel.With all that said, I wouldn't recommend it to any but the heartiest souls as an introduction to Vonnegut's work since it is, perhaps, one of the most challenging, in my view. Not that most of Vonnegut's writing is exactly *easy*. I mean, it would be a mistake to read Vonnegut expecting, say, Harry Potter. But all the same, I'd probably start with other Vonnegut books to get an introduction to his style and his personality and his voice before reading The Siren's of Titan. To be honest, it's been over a decade since I've read most of his work, so I'm not sure what I would recommend, but from memory, most would be easier starting points.

Kurt Vonnegut has a distinctive style of storytelling that is childish, wacky, and obscure while also exceedingly profound and unnerving. Vonnegut is the master of fabricating novels that have meaning far beyond their surface. He is able to continue this fashion of writing in his 1959 novel, Sirens of Titan. Like his other novels, he pulls heavily from his own life experiences to fabricate his works, alluding to Indiana (his birth state) in some fashion in almost every one of his works. In this novel, Vonnegut is able to commentate on controversial topics such as war, religion, and the meaning of life, while also fabricating a story that will make you laugh out loud at times and make your stomach churn during others. Vonnegut consistently uses made-up jargon to facilitate his storytelling. For example, the Tralfomadorians are an alien species within this novel, that are also present in Vonnegut’s Slaughter House 5, and he uses them to essentially facilitate the entire plotline and existence of humanity. While his imaginative use of made-up language allows him to get at controversial topics through a comical lense, they also provide the reader with an insight into his imaginative capabilities. Reading one of Vonnegut’s novels is almost analogous to looking at a Picasso painting in the sense that they are both abstract works with a clearly deeper meaning. While they may appear in a way childish upon first glance, they both entail great depth into their work. If you have not yet read any of Vonnegut’s work, I highly suggest beginning with his memoir, A Man Without a Country, to get a feel for the scope of his writing.

Late Vonnegut. Excellent.

Arrived in great quality, pages and print quality is A!

Woww, parfait ! Quel suspens et quelles réflexions !!!!! Je le conseille à tous, marrant ET intellectuel :) merci au podcast Cracked.com de me l'avoir fait découvrir :)

From an overall humanist standpoint, through a stoic acceptance of fate and the possible meaninglessness of our existence, passing through social comments on inequality to pointing out the absurdity of much human effort, this novel brings to light themes which Vonnegut would develop in at least half of the books he would later write. Indeed, the "universe" he writes of in his major works are nearly all firmly within the one he creates here.If you are unfamiliar with his work, this is the one to start with. If you haven't caught up with this one and have read others, this one is the wellspring of them all.I read it when I was 18 and have just read it now 50 years later and I still find in it that mix of humour, sadness and wisdom that got me hooked on KV back then.No spoilers - read this book!

I must confess up front that this is my favourite book & so was always going to receive 5 stars. I first read 'The Sirens of Titan' when I was sixteen (in 1976) & it has remained as my first choice ever since. I have read other Vonnegut books but this is the clear front runner for me. A science fiction book that reads like a fairy story, it concerns the roller-coaster life of one Malachi Constant, born the richest man on Earth. Through his adventures we learn the 'true' history of mankind both past and near future. This book is rare in that it is word perfect - not one sentence has been added as padding, every character, every verbal exchange, every description adds to the story. It has the barbs of irony that Vonnegut is famouse for but is counterpoised by moments of immense beauty. Plenty happens in this book & it has so much drama that by the end you feel you've been on a long journey. I still feel strong emotions when I read this book & I'm happy that this audio version is now available. The narrator does a good job (of course it can't match the voices I've had for it in my head for several decades) & this makes a big difference.