>
VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, [10] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 14:35:31 12/05/01 Wed
Author: Mt. Healthy Mountaineer
Subject: ANHOW Review of Books: "Galapagos" by Kurt Vonnegut

Length: 295 pages, hardback
Published: 1985 by Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence
Genre: Science Fiction

So, this is my first shot at reviewing a book by a famous, well-known, legendary author, an author with a real literary reputation. It was also my first Vonnegut book.

The premise here is that a group of people get stranded on an island in the Galapagos and end up becoming the sole survivors of the human race, due to war and famine. Their gene pool decides the fate of humanity biologically, which is why it is set in the Galapagos Islands (thank you, Charles Darwin).

I could tell you the plot, but that would just gloss over all of the intentionally contradictory themes of the book (for instance: the importance of the individual is emphasized vis-a-vis evolution, but the individual is also not important because the individual is also swept away in several instances due to his stupidity and/or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time). There is actually some meat on the bones of this book - a nice change of pace when compared to the Herman Wouk book I reviewed just before this one.

This would be a great book for discussion amongst a group of literate people due to the themes. Deep, but easy to read, I give this book an "A"

P.S. for those Hoosiers out there - as you may know, Vonnegut is from Indianapolis. One of the characters went to IU (and survives! - probably due to conditioning from the dorm food) and the ships motors were made by a diesel company in Columbus, IN - sound familiar?

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Post a message:
This forum requires an account to post.
[ Create Account ]
[ Login ]
Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.