Timequake

Before Timequake, I had never read anything by Kurt Vonnegut! What an introduction! Kurt Vonnegut has a unique and truly moral view of the way the world is and should be. A Timequake occurs in 2001, shooting everyone back to 1991, in the decade of the timequake, people must do exactly as they did the first time through. Back in the year 2001, people find they no longer know how to live and make decisions for themselves anymore, they can't walk, fly planes, drive, etc. Support groups form and people finally have to rely on one another for help, and they succeed!
This book is full of imagery, espousing Vonnegut's unique view of humanity. Come study the true nature of humanity with one of the masters of American English. Learn his view of things, agree, disagree, think, rethink, know. This was truly a great introduction to the literature of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Almost everyone will disagree with me, but I fully believe that "Timequake" is hands down Vonnegut's best work (that I've read so far). The novel is beautiful, heartbreaking, funny, nostalgic, unbelievable, false, true...in other words it is the full array of Vonnegut's talent as he weaves reality, science fiction, humor, drama...ok, here I go listing again. "Timequake" is simply the everything book that cannot be pinned down into a genre because within the pages is a fancy ballroom party where all the genres exist and dance with each other with ease and without any hesitation. His paragraphs do not leap from one genre to another, they seamlessly meld altogether -- the same way we all experience our own lives; there are no divisions.

Reading TIMEQUAKE makes two things eminently clear.
One, Kurt Vonnegut has become a cranky old man. The book is full of diatribes about how newfangled gadgets like TVs and computers have ruined the world. He even occasionally lets slip a wistful cliche like "the lost art of conversation." In contrast to his SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE character Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut himself has become stuck in time, viewing today's world from the distant vantage of the 1930s and 40s, and declaring the modern era postliterate, and therefore fallen. He even lends authority to his viewpoint by finally acknowledging his place in the pantheon of the century's greatest writers, a place which he richly deserves.
And that brings me to the second insight that TIMEQUAKE makes readily apparent: Vonnegut's literary genius is undimmed. The man can put words together like nobody else on earth -- his passages and paragraphs are so mind-altering that they ought to be considered controlled substances. The timequake at the center of this book is a wonderfullly pliable symbol, allowing Vonnegut fresh takes on all his familiar themes: war, suffering, the arts, the human capacity for evil, and the mysterious dynamic of free will versus predetermination. What's more, the book is unfailingly, hysterically funny, resonating with that particular Vonnegutian laugh, a laugh that carries an abyss of blackness within its mirth, but is nonetheless somehow comforting.
Those who complain that the book is rambling or lacks direction are missing the boat entirely. As Vonnegut himself explains midway through the book (perhaps in anticipation of this very criticism), his writing style is that of a "basher." He defines "bashers" as writers who "go one sentence at a time, getting it exactly right before they go on to the next one. When they're done, they're done." Make no mistake, the words in TIMEQUAKE are there for a *reason*. They aren't arbitrary or accidental. Vonnegut didn't just scribble down whatever happened to cross his mind and then try to sell the stack of notes as a book. Or if he did, he should be allowed to, because the result is such an intricate, precise organization of connections that the best metaphor for it is the inner workings of the computer on which I write this review -- an immensely complicated piece of work which accomplishes its function very well indeed.
I wouldn't recommend TIMEQUAKE for somebody who's never read Vonnegut before (and how I envy such people for the newness of the experience that awaits them) -- Vonnegut novices ought to start with brilliant, accessible novels like CAT'S CRADLE or GOD BLESS YOU, MISTER ROSEWATER. But for Vonnegut fans, of which I am definitely one, TIMEQUAKE is an indispensible farewell from the voice of an old friend.

Vonnegut uses several methods in this book. You would think it would work into an unreadable hodgepodge, but quite the opposite is true. He uses references to Timequake I, the first book he supposedly wrote on a "quake" in time that takes everyone back approximately ten years. The fact that the timequake is off by a couple of weeks is, I guess, just another of the vagaries of the universe. Actually, according to the introduction, Timequake I was the first draft of this book.
Therer are also auto-biographical sections. It's hard to tell if he's actually telling stories about his life, or if he's making it up. It doesn't really matter, though. They're all so good.
Another viewpoint is provided by his alter-ego, the science fiction writer.
Chapters are short, some Very Short, and Timequake is altogether very readable and enjoyable.

Vonegut's views on life boast pure wholesome goodness all the while filled with unmatched sharp wit. Timequake is an incredible probing of the way human thought has evolved over Vonegut's career; the development of technology, the devistating effects of mind-numbing television. He also explores the importance of family life giving much credit to the richness of the people that he was blessed to have encountered throughout his pwn life. Timequake is also a great credit to the two extraordinary things guides our spiecies: the human spirit and the human mind. No dout when Vonegut's awesome career draws to a close this great man will look back and ask, "how the hell did I do that?" And of course the only appropriate response will be, "ting-a-ling."

Timequake is... different. You won't find another story out there that is constructed like this one. Why do I give it 5 stars? Because that takes guts, but mostly because vonnegut pulls it off. It's a very difficult thing to change the underlying form of storytelling... most readers don't like it. They get caught up in the presentation of the story and forget to pay attention to what's happening.
Well, Timequake is non-linear and wild. It is chaotic, but not in the sense of being poorly written. It's chaotic in the same way that a handful of diamonds thrown into a salad mixer would be chaotic; fascinating, somewhat worrisome, and in an odd way brilliant.
I would recommend Timequake to Vonnegut fans, certainly, but also to any serious reader or writer of fiction. Use it as a lesson in thinking outside of the norm. There's a lot to be learned from Timequake.

Timequake and Vonnegut's wonderful, amusing and unique musings made what would have been an uncomfortable and interminably long flight back from Istanbul into an absolute delight! It brought me back in time to what I enjoyed about his earlier books and made me laugh out loud. Yet, there was a real bittersweet quality to it as well, one could almost say a "downer" aspect to it as he said farewell to friends and family who have gone on to their just rewards...but here is this 70+ year old mad offering an innocent idealism that is so refreshing, and so naive in this cut throat/techy world we dwell in --in any case, I loved it, and wished that it had gone on for the next 2 hours of my 10 hour flight.

Timequake is not quite a "final novel" for Kurt Vonnegut, but rather a final goodbye to his hardcore fans. Though the dust jacket gives a plot outline, there is no real plot to speak of...only the musings of an old man in his final years. And this is why I loved it.
Thought provoking, sad, funny, 'Timequake' is all of these. It's just not a "story." It is Vonnegut musing over his life, sharing his thoughts and experienced for those who wish to look into his mind for a little while.
Facinating to some, incredibly boring to others, 'Timequake' is meant for, by and large, his closest of followers. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing in this mans final thoughts (to us).

I discovered Kurt Vonnegut in 11th grade when we had to do projects on contemporary american literature. I have been hooked on him ever since. I have read about six of his books and make myself like them even though a few have not been that well done. This is one of the latest of his books that I have read and I love it. It is not about anything in particular but instead is a fragmented account of many of his experiences and his life in general. Many believe that this will be his last book and we won't be left with a real autobiography. I recommend this book to all fans of Kurt Vonnegut's work. This book is, at times, hilarious and at others very sad. Beware it might set you close to tears.

Total agreement here with reviewer Caesar, who lucidly outlines how the old curmudgeon salvaged the wreck of a novel and turned it into a bittersweet, semi-autobiographical farewell. No, of course, this is not the place to begin with Vonnegut. But Timequake is a lovely read, amusing and provocative, full of fresh thinking from an elder statesman who still packs a refreshingly left-of-centre punch in his writing. (Seek out his candid, bang-on comments about the Iraq war for evidence that the unrepentent socialist and humanist is alive and still fiesty).
Most interesting to me is that right alongside his famously laconic take on the capricious nature of fate -- summed up in his deathless phrase "so it goes" from Slaughterhouse Five -- are some genuinely hopeful (and sadly fictional) "constitutional amendments" ... "Article XXVIII: Every newborn shall be sincerely welcomed and cared for until maturity" and "Article XXXI: Every effort shall be made to make every person feel that he or she will be sorely missed when he or she is gone."

Vonnegut complains in this novel about how television and movies have drawn away potential readers of novels. Maybe that explains why the book is filled with hackneyed phrases ("Get this...", "The thing is..") and unfunny R rated humor and why phrases like Kilgore Trout's "The squeaky wheel gets the oil" is treated as if it were a clever phrase that he invented. We readers are such dolts after all that we would not appreciate an attempt at anything literary.
In his deconstruction Vonnegut mixes biographical information with a novel within a novel about the timequake in the title, in which everyone is forced to relive the last ten years of their lives. In a monumenally lame attempt to make this interesting people experience the timequake on two levels. They get to do and feel everything that happened previously and they get to watch themselves doing it. For me this requires an impossible act of disbelief suspension. You cannot be a participant and a spectator at the same time.
What keeps this book from being a complete disaster is the biographical information it provides and the skill used in weaving back and forth between fiction and reality. I would recommend this book to diehard Vonnegut fans, but it is not one of his better works.

Vonnegut apologizes in his prologue to "TIMEQUAKE" as the writer of a book which didn't work, had no point and had never wanted to be written. This admission and the temper of the remaining pages are somewhat revealing and depressing. Although he writes well and some of the stories are interesting, even humorous, it has a dark quality. Kurt pleads guilty right from the start to having started a novel, then contracting writer's block. It would have been merciful for his fans if he had also contracted writer's cramp. Perhaps that would have saved readers from paying ransom for his dark ramblings of discontent. Mr. Vonnegut, in this writing, exposes himself as a person at the end of his years who is disappointed about himself and life, not a happy camper.
The author did provide a few quotable sentences, for instance,the line where he states that homo sapiens were put on Earth to just fart around. For me, that's an adoptable, productive philosophy of life.
The usable parts of this book could have been written on less than 10 pages at most. Sorry, Vonnegut lovers, but this time he let us down.
My purchase of this book seems more like a contribution... to the Kurt Vonnegut retirement fund.

I listened to this audiobook on a long drive...and I'm greatful to be alive, but probably not in the sense you'd expect. Between road hypnosis and the drone of this book, I nearly fell asleep more than once. Disjointed, self-indulgent musings about family, life, death, religion and (oh yeah) the self-proclaimed not-good-enough-to-publish Timequake storyline make for a day at the insane asylum. If you into self-flagellation and you enjoy going to visit 80 year-old uncles who are happy to blather on in stream of consciousness while you're bound and gagged and bored silly, then this is the book for you. Attracted by the title, this was my first foray into Vonnegut and I was monumentally disappointed. It will be hard to pick up his other titles without the taste of this one in my mouth. Spit.

This book has moments of utter brilliance, made possible by the accumulation of experiences and life achieved by having spent 8 decades on this planet. I'm not sure that I would have appreciated this book as much when I was younger, and it would not be a good first introduction to the author. This book is full of so many inspiring ideas and thoughts by one of the most brilliant authors of our time to reflect upon and savor.

Ever since I picked up Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle last spring, I have been a fan of Vonnegut. I love his way of meandering through a text. Timequake, more than any other book I have read of his, seems to wander all over the place. As with his other novels, this book is founded upon a bizarre plot, but this time the plot seems to be present only to allow Vonnegut a platform for reminiscing.
I was kind of confused at the beginning of the book; I couldn't quite make out what was going on. When I stopped trying to analyze things and listen to what he was saying, though, I began to enjoy myself. I've found that most of his books start out absurdly funny, but then become quite touching. This book apparently will be his last, and it is fitting that the subject of the text touch on death. His epilogue made me smile sadly ...
Like other reviewers, I would not recommend that this be the first Vonnegut book you read. I've really enjoyed Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, and Hocus Pocus (to name a few). If you are a Vonnegut fan, though, this is a fantastic book! His style is unlike any other. Just sit back and enjoy the ride!

Vonnegut always has a message he wants the reader to come away with after reading his stories. His hard look at time, his past time, his observations on our past time and his looking to future time, make the reader "timequake" his own "time" while reading the novel. Maybe not physically but, as I read, I timequaked often and realized that "yes, Kurt, I also continue to experience the same frustrations, make the same mistakes and, like you, can, at times, only laugh out loud about it. I recommend this "novel" to anyone who wants to get to know Vonnegut and him/herself a little better.

Who knew that after buying Vonnegut's last "novel" (and reading the liner notes) that I would actually have in my hand the most postmodern collection of short stories in years.
While rippling the pages with humorous, Troutism short stories, Vonnegut explains his madness in this turn-(and re-turn) of-the-century neo-novel. Neither Trout nor Vonnegut ride off into the satisfying sunset of Novelland. Instead, both leave readers amusingly bewildered in a classic Vonnegut collection.
Before dropping this book into a metal waste bin outside any academy, jump into the Timequake and give it a second run.

Vonnegut rambles from subject to subject, goes from fiction to non-fiction, personal life stories to stories about his fictional friend and author Kilgore Trout. You never know what he is going to say next. He talks fondly about his old Uncle Alex who would exclaim from time to time, "Isn't this nice? It can't get any better than this!" He talks about how humans are ruining the planet and how the much we need the comforting words of "The Sermon on the Mount." Have some patience and this book will satisfy.

Jeffrey McAndrew

author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

After scanning the list of reviews, I read only those critical of the book. I understood What the positive without reading them. The negative reviews all shared a common theme. They wanted Slaughterhouse Five or Breakfast of Champions. That's not what he wrote. He was saying good bye and doing so on his terms, knowing that he at may have stayed too long at the dance. Accept the book for what it is, a giant leaving his final footprints in the sand. It couldn't have been done better. I laughed loudly and wept quietly and found it all worth saying

Truthfully, I was hoping for a novel, a last hurrah with Vonnegut as one of the characters, ala "Breakfast of Champions." So I was slightly annoyed during the first few chapters, even though I was laughing out loud. But once I got comfortable with the fact that this is more a memoir than a fiction, I couldn't put it down. As Vonnegut says in the book, people like to know who it is that is creating the art they enjoy. That's part of the game. Vonnegut has always let us in, always shared himself almost in equal measure with his creations; his creations are richer for it. This book is a heartfelt letter from an old friend: still making me laugh, still touching in his humanity, still stubbornly trying to be decent in an indecent world. In the first chapter, he says " . . . a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.'" So has Kurt Vonnegut.

Timequake is not one of Kurt Vonnegut's better books.
For serious fans of Mr. Vonnegut's work, the book's publication in 1997 felt like discovering a bit more of a great meal left in the kitchen after you thought it was all gone, a final taste of something wonderful. But upon a recent re-reading Timequake, I have realized that, objectively speaking, this is the product of a great writer in possession of declining powers, a volume that is predictable while puzzlingly swinging between memoir and fiction.
On the surface, the storyline is classic Vonnegut: there's a "time quake" that means that everyone in the world is forced to relive every second of every day between 1991 and 2001, but they are unable to change a moment of that unfortunate decade. Of course, he introduces himself and his alter ego Kilgore Trout into the story, and unusual situations abound.
There is nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it doesn't come off nearly as cleanly as similarly unusual storylines in Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, and The Sirens of Titan do. In the end, when Timequake doesn't feel forced -- not a word I would use for any of Mr. Vonnegut's other novels -- it feels like the author is simply going through the motions.
There are bits and pieces of the story that revive the nostalgia that readers of Mr. Vonnegut's better books may be looking for. But for the uninitiated, there are better places to start.

Timequake is a book which ostensibly concerns a rerun in time between 1991 and 2001. Like other reviewers have observed, there's not a whole lot about the timequake in the book. Except for the recurrent theme of the clambake/cast party in 2001, there is hardly any plot, and except for the repeated commentaries of Kilgore Trout, we don't learn much about what happened during those ten years on automatic pilot. What we do learn an awful lot about is Vonnegut himself. We learn how he became a professional writer in the 1950s, we learn about his contemporary life as a famous writer in the Upper East Side of Manhattan circa 1996, and we get a fair amount of insight into the inner workings of Vonnegut's creative mind, through the narrative of his lecture at Butler University, his views on the writing process, and many of his other insights and beliefs. In the end, you're left with a book far better than anything my cat has ever drug in.

Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut is a book placed in the years 2001 to 19991 and back to 2001 again, this will become clearer later on in the review. The world is about to suffer a timequake, the universe has not decided whether or not it wants to keep on expanding or shrivel up and die. The universe is zapped back ten years and then it decides to continue expanding, however it must go over the ten years that it zapped itself back from all over again. During the rerun as it is called in the book, everyone is forced to do everything all over again exactly as the did it before the rerun. The story follows Kurt Vonnegut's alter ego, author Kilgore Trout through his journey through the timequake.
Timequake is filled with the sarcastic humor that Kurt Vonnegut is known and loved for. Almost every chapter contains some sort of analogy or joke that will make you chuckle as you read across the page. Vonnegut's unconventional style of writing keeps you immensely interested in the book. He skips from subject to subject in every chapter, also every chapter seems to have its own moral and lesson as opposed to there being only one or two morals in the entire novel. His style of writing could even be described as him telling the reader of some of his and his characters past experiences, with no sort of chronological order, most of his thoughts are completely random, yet incredibly funny. One funny thing in the novel is how Vonnegut refers to World War One and World War Two as "humanities unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide." The rest of the book is packed with things as funny and even funnier from page one.
This novel is much more than the simple fiction story, as Vonnegut fans have learned to expect, but more of a journey through which you grow more and more thoughtful with every turn of the page. He sways your opinions and makes you consider sides of the story you never knew existed on subjects such as society, war, poverty, life, and love. He truly bedazzles readers time and time again. He introduces crazy theories, as he has done in many of his other novels, and thus keeps you thinking and interested. You can always discover something new or go into an idea even further every time you read the novel.
This novel is a gift to everyone who reads, it packs everything that you want from a book, humor, an deep thesis, drama, and is even more. It truly is a book that gets you thinking about things you never even thought you would think about and leaves you pondering his theories even after you have finished the text. This unfortunately is Kurt Vonnegut's final book, however even if this is true he has certainly gone out with a bang. I highly recommend this novel.

Instead of writing, in TimeQuake, Kurt Vonnegut is more like murmuring out his whims and stories and experiences, with a sense of craziness and intimacy, the degree of which he has already mastered through decades of being a writer. After all, this is the last novel of Kurt Vonnegut, the last chance for him to play with his unique black humor and sarcasm with pithy language. The half- imagination-half-reality mixture of Timequake presents the readers with Vonnegut's honest bantering of his own life and the surroundings. Due to an artificial timequake that "[makes] ten years of our pasts ten years of our futures," the world under Vonnegutian irony begins to undergo a chaotic rerun of ten years, "for good or for ill."

Timequake clearly wasn't Kurt Vonnegut's best work but it was a chance to spend some quality time with an old friend and I treasured that. I'm more likely to take this one out for a re-read that some of my earlier favorites such as God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, Player Piano, Cat's Cradle, Mother Night or Siren's of Titan.

I'd still put Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions at the top of my favorites for this author but if you're a longtime fan, don't miss this one.

I've reviewed this masterwork by one of America's greatest authors before. I just wanted to see how one of his later classics stacked up against one of his earlier classics. They're both fantastic. In his later career, he started recycling ideas, and nobody cared because they're such excellent ideas. But if you compare this to SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE, there's not much repetition at all. I bet you can find this one in your library as well, and that you'll thank me again.

Don't be fooled by the title, "Timequake". At the most only one-forth of the book talks about the timequake that was "a cosmic charley horse in the sinews of Destiny." "Timequake" does not follow a plot that many readers are accustomed to. The book flips from subject to subject. In one chapter Vonnegut may be reflecting on his life and in the next chapter a story by Kilgore Trout may have Hitler yelling "Bingo" in his bombproof bunker near the end of WWII. The reoccurring theme of this book is the great writers' clambake of 2001 at the writers' retreat at Xanadu, to which the whole book leads up to. Here Kilgore Trout is celebrated not only for his works as science fiction writer, but also for his initiative of helping people overcome post-timequake apathy by spreading his creed: "You were sick, but now you're well again, and there's work to do." Vonnegut tells a compelling story about a bum that awakes the world from their "ten years on automatic pilot." Vonnegut ended his career just as he had begun it, by using nothing but "idiosyncratic arrangements in horizontal lines of twenty-six phonetic symbols, ten numbers, and maybe eight punctuation marks" to create a truly unique and unforgettable book. He shrugs off the idea that a book should have a plot, and responds "ting-a-ling."

The book is really more of Vonneguts memoirs than a story, but he gives his thoughts and opinions on life, tells a little about his family and past, while story telling about a time quake in the life of Kilgore Trout.
What is a time quake you ask. Its a phenomenon (in Vonnegut's mind), whereby there is a quake in fabric of time and we jump back 10 years. The irony of it is that we must live through the past 10 years just as we did the first time with the joys and tragedies.
Also, it is easy to attain atrophy since your future for the next several years is set in concrete. However, once out of the time quake period, its hard to get back in motion (lots of accidents and all).
It's very interesting to learn about Vonnegut's past life (did you know he was once a Saab dealer) and family (older brother Bernard and older sister Ally both now deceased).
Another interesting point in relation to when I read(heard) this story is that the time quake begins(or ends) on Feb 13, 2001, just 2 days before I listened to the story. Keep in mind, Vonnegut wrote this story in 1996 or so. This was cool since it was Feb 11, 2001!
Anyhow, while I wouldn't consider this a good story like his other books (Sirens of Titan, Slaughter House 5, etc), for those Vonnegut fans out there, this is a good book to get insight into his life.

It reads like abstract art without a guide. A collection of mostly unrelated paragraphs with no sense of cohesion. I feel like the "timequake," which did not enter significantly into the book (I can't truly call it a story), was an ad hoc gimic for the purpose of allowing the author to publish his late-night musings under the guise of "fiction." Granted, it was amusing and occassionally moving, even thought-provoking, but it was like looking at a photo album which had been accidentally dropped and the pictures badly shuffled.

Reviews should be short! and to the point. this is a fun book to read.I think some of the other reviewers have missed some of the humor of the author. having met Kurt in my youth I guess im kind of biased. He had a hard time relating with real people. Kurt and Jim would take my brothers and I fishing. He never talked much yet I can see my mother, Jim and us kids in the characters he has created.

Having never read a Kurt Vonnegut book before, I decided to pick up the highly acclaimed "Timequake". At first I was a bit surprised by his unusual writing style and tone, but I soon grew used to it and began to love it.

Timequake features a captivating theme and plot that will fascinate you and still leave room for Vonnegut's witty and satirical comments. This book is full of hilarity and I enjoyed reading it, and wouldn't mind reading it again. It's a short read of about 288 pages, and quite enjoyable. Vonnegut's tone isn't completely serious and is more laid back which allows this book to be very funny and sarcastic. I highly recommend this book to anyone slightly interested. Also check out Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five, two other legendary Vonnegut novels.

Vonnegut seems to have lost the ability to juggle multiple narratives the way he once did so masterfully (see "The Sirens of Titan"). The result is a mishmash.
He mourns the death of the short story as a literary form and gives that as his justification for the device of inserting his ideas for short stories into his novels. I've always enjoyed that device.
But this is what happens when you take a short story (or more accurately, the bits and pieces of a short story) and mix it in a salad bowl with other ideas for a short story, along with some family reminiscences and your general cranky views of life. It starts nowhere, goes nowhere, and although I gave up on it about 3/4 of the way through, I'll bet my next paycheck that it arrives nowhere.
If you decide to read this mess anyway, ask yourself what would have happened to the manuscript if it had originally arrived on a publisher's desk with your name on it instead of Vonnegut's.

Vonnegut is back! Timequake reflects the wacky, whimsical improbabilities of Cat's Cradle and the temporal vertigo of Slaughterhouse Five. Put another way.....some of the mud sits up, and then it has to sit up again!! Jimmy Buffet sings,"...if we couldn't laugh, we'd all go insane." Mr. Vonnegut portrays the ludicrous aspects of our existence by randomly rambling through a series of personal recollections, old jokes, apocryphal vignettes, and trashed (literally) short stories from Kilgore Trout - all the while protecting our sanity with droll, incisive humor. The author states in the beginning of the book that "a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit." Mr. Vonnegut makes us appreciate being alive while his literary darts consistently hit the bullseye of life's incongruities? Why? Call it `misery loves company'; we realize we're not alone in recognizing the lunacy, and this gives us hope. Read this book and live. Read it slowly and carefully. Then, when the real timequake hits, you'll have the unique pleasure of experiencing the whole thing a second time.

Understand, I'm a big Vonnegut fan with no paticular axe to grind. I've read all of Vonnegut's published novels.
I'm here to tell you, he's said everything he ever needed to say in previous novels, with the exception of the lament for the American ficition publishing industry. I don't think of Kurt as moneygrubbing - maybe it was contractual obligation - but Timequake feels like it was written "for the money."

While I was reading it, I was annoyed with pointless excursions of Kurt talking about friends or family - he's written about those little "karass" vs. "granfalloon" relationships in many other books, but what may have served ironic purpose before seems just like filler here.
Kurt's been feeling old since "Breakfast of Champions" - his first of his "last" novels. His alter ego, Kilgore Trout, still has interesting story ideas, writes compulsively, and throws them away without a second thought, because he makes no money off of them and couldn't imagine doing so. Vonnegut seems jealous of Trout, for it seems he can conceive of good story ideas but does not have the gumption anymore to craft them into finished pieces.
And Vonnegut's metafictional presence in Timequake doesn't have that fresh, unbalanced and demented feel that it did in "Breakfast..." - this time around, it's like he's typing just to hear himself type.

If his intention was to "cut the meat from the fish" and keep the remnants of a good novel, as in his Hemingway analogy, he didn't succeed.
INSTEAD of Timequake, I would recommend a few of his lesser known novels: _Hocus Pocus_ is EXCELLENT as prescient social critique, _Bluebeard_ is a funny and sadly overlooked artistic statement, _Mother Night_ is wrenchingly dramatic, and (I know I'm in the minority here) I LIKED _Slapstick_, Vonnegut's most grotesque and surreal and hilarious book.
That's about it.

No other American author has so continuously introduced new ideas on how one should view the crazy happenings on this planet Earth or the planet Booboo for that matter. In a new form of "novel" incorporating direct autobiography, indirect personal observations through his alter ego, Kilgore Trout, and a series of storylines scattered with typical Vonnegut characters, the author looks at life from angles most of us have never reposed. The underlying tale of a ten-year repeat of the universe's history via a timequake forces the readers to think about all the little timequakes in our lives and the moments we would like to relive. A timequake requires one to relive it all with no changes. The author's reflections on his own family in small timequakes present a very human and appealing side of this important contibutor to our understanding of what life is all about. This was a very satisfying read for Vonnegut regulars. This should not be the first Vonnegut book for a new reader. Let us hope this is not Kurt Vonnegut's last novel as he proclaims. What a writer. Ting-a-ling!

It's unfortunate that grumpy old men are unaware of their grumpiness. I read and loved the three Vonnegut novels I read up until this point; Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions. But when you become a cynic without a story, it's best you leave your complaining to the grandchildren. This self indulgent novel which ostensibly asks, is anything really important, just rambles on like the years that have passed throughout this aging author's life. Die-hard Vonnegut fans will likely point out to the five or six witty paragraphs and urge prospective buyers to purchase. I had this novel in my house for a long time, however, I did not read it because I heard rumors that it was a capper novel, desert for the fan the wasn't full after reading his other works. This is desert for the man that doesn't stop eating, regardless of how junky the food is. Read his other stuff because it's great literature and there is copious amounts to scurrage through.

My introduction to Kurt Vonnegut was through a well-worn copy of "Breakfast of Champions", picked up for 15 cents at the Vincent de Paul Store. What a terrific web-of-life type story. As I read "Timequake", I realized immediately that most of the pro reviewers didn't read the book--"Timequake" is simply not the book described on the back of its cover. If you want to read a Vonnegut novel, read "Breakfast of Champions". If you want to find out more about Vonnegut the man, read "Timequake". If "Timequake" is the first Vonnegut book you read, you'll be sorely disappointed.

I am in such admiration of Kurt Vonnegut with the publication of this book. I have never heard any artist, writer, or musician acknowledge that they knew full well they were out of their prime, until reading Timequake. Surely the only way to avoid drying up and being pigeonholed as a an old washed up fart is to write a book like this: to break up what certainly would have made a bad novel into a part essay, part memoir, part jokebook. Simply to write what he wanted to. If he had written the novel, it would have sucked, we know it and he does too. What we have instead is something much more rewarding and much more relevant to Vonnegut's lifework. Very well done, very hilarious, and very brave. I know very well that the worst art in the world is done by artists out of their heyday, but Vonnegut has somehow sidestepped this scar. Wow? Yes.

In his own distinct way, Kurt Vonnegut has written the definitive work on the joys of child-like innocence and taking delight in being in the world. Without being at all saccharin or preaching, the combination of stream of consciousness and vignettes attributed to the redoubtable Kilgore Trout reach a critical mass of bemusement and wonder. One of the recurring themes is that the hallmark of a great accomplishment (and a great spirit) is that, having completed the work (whatever it is), the doer stands back and exclaims in wonder, "How the hell did I do that?" Surely, Mr. Vonnegut, at the age of 74, is entitled to peruse the body of his work and ask the same question. After raising our collective consciousness in the 60's, he now raises our spirits - and just in the nick of time. Another useful and pertinent quote, "If this isn't nice, what is?"

Kurt Vonnegut's Timequake is an odd, mixed up story which has very little plot, jumps around randomly, and is a big jumble of random thoughts all strung together in the order the author thought of them and not according to when they happened. In short, I loved it! In Timequake, Vonnegut pieces together his life's story, along with quite a few satirical comments. My only regret about reading this book is reading it before I read the rest of his books, because this book gives some closure to the ideas set forth by Vonnegut in his other books. In Timequake, Vonnegut has the world do a rerun of it's past ten years. The world is taken back ten years, while the present population is forced to watch what it did from ten years ago to the present. Kilgore Trout, the fictional science fiction writer, is the main character and eventual hero of the book. I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading the rest of Kurt Vonnegut's books.

Good novel, well put together, but why end like this? With the greatness that Vonnegut had this novel is not up to par. The work he did in The Sirens of Titan was amazing, but he is not going to end like this, is he? Timequake was good. It had a good autobiographical nature to it, parts were excelent, but the old man trying to give something else to the publisher came out too much. This is a book to read while you concentrate on another, not one to put too much time, or thought, into. Fun in places but not top quality Vonnegut.

I know and respect the legacy that Kurt Vonnegut has left with novels such as "Slaughterhouse-Five." Unfortunately, this is not a novel in the same class. "Timequake" is a piece that had a very intriguing intention, but became something completely different and far worse.

The given plot of the novel was set in 2001 and how a time quake would set time back to 1991. Then, you would have to relive the last ten years of your life, unable to fix any mistake or action you may have made and just continue to go through the choices you made and the occurrences of what happened during this time period.

Unfortunately, there is only mention to this concept. A mention here and a mention there. Much of the novel is an autobiography about events in Kurt Vonnegut's own life and how an alter ego of his wrote about such a concept. Other topics discussed in this book are detail about the color of bird feces.

This novel misled me more than any other novel I have read, ever! I don't mind an autobiography, just call it something else and provide the notion that it will be about that. The initial concept of this novel (the time quake) makes up 5% of the novel at the very most, so it's really not going to intrigue you, unless you want to know random things about Kurt Vonnegut.

This is one of those novels that makes me wish the store had a zero-star option.

As an aspiring writer I often wonder what my niche in the writing world will be. As I read this book, I found that Vonnegut has created and put an end to all his niches. He is a master, and the author of all my favorite books. This book was his good bye to the insanity of this world. As Trout did he will move on to better times and immortalization.

There were maybe a dozen moments when I was laughing out loud with this book. Vonnegut has some fantastic criticisms of our society. However, I didn't enjoy the rambling, almost thought-flow style of the book. It's also extremely repetitive which was a conscious device, I'm certain, but for me it didn't add anything. I enjoyed Slaughterhouse Five, so I'm going to try another Vonnegut book before I decide if I love him or just respect him.

Timequake's a book that's probably only for Vonnegut enthusiasts. Others may appreciate it, but few would pick it up unfamiliar with the author. It's not one of his most famous but still a good read.

Vonnegut speaks in the first person mixing in both fact and fiction, playing alongside Kilgore Trout. Timequake's a message book, as are most of Vonnegut's work. He lays out his views on war, particularly nuclear war and his continued desire for extended families. It's easy to follow and contains many of famous quotes. Myriad references to his life and previous works would be lost on those unacquainted with Kurt.

Vonnegut is sardonic in a way that's touching because I can't disagree with it. This novel is a hodgepodge of autobiographical detail and story fragments from Kilgore Trout's My Ten Years on Automatic Pilot. I learned some new idioms: when someone beats you in competitive play in a game you've never lost before, that person can be said to have "ripped (you) a new a--hole"; when you want to hear someone theorize about art, simply ask "Art or not?"; and, when you can't think of anything to say, are in pain, or just want to say hi, simply utter "Ting-a-ling".

Fifteen years ago my life was changed by this man. He is my unmet mentor, my nongenetic grand-father, a kinsman of deeper connective tissue at the furthest cosmic reaches. From him came my dire hatred of hypocrisy in myself, but my compassion for the hypocrisy in individuals. From him came my protective shell of pessimism with the soft, mushy center. From him came my higgledy-piggledy recursiveness, essence-saving perseverence and cynical sensitivity. Or maybe he just made it seem possible and okay to be those things ... ? Whatever the case, I'm more than grateful -- I'm, unashamedly and doggedly, me. Otherwise I can't begin to measure my gratitude; there are no modifiers of quality which could sufficiently express the depth of thanks I owe. God bless his lovely soul.

For those unfamiliar with Vonnegut's work, Timequake is a perfect place to start. Less a novel, more a guidebook written by a wise and geniable host. Here Kurt explains his views on Art, Politics, Religion, the Internet and love all with an intelligance and understanding that can only come from experience and learning. Buy the book...... keep it close by. A modern classic

I loved this final effort. My favorite line was, "If brains were made of dynamite, he wouldn't have enough to blow his hat off." Ting-a-ling. I will miss Vonnegut's work so much. For those trying to find a plot, a plot is not always the point. Vonnegut is not for everyone. But, he is for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Although not a traditional structured book, who cares. There are nuggets of wisdom from an accomplished writer and a person who has lived life. May not be for everyone though. If you are unfamiliar with Vonnegut perhaps you should read one of his other stories first.

I admit that I was a little disappointed with Timequake. I was thrilled about reading a novel dealing with Kilgore Trout. I quickly learned that the book had very little to do with Trout. Instead I got a novel about an even more exciting character, that being Vonnegut himself. I have read now ten of Kurt's novels and while I wouldn't consider Timequake to be in the league of Slaughter House or Hocus Pocus it is still a very worthy effort. True fans of Vonnegut the writer and Vonnegut the man will like Timequake. I'll really miss counting down the days until Kurt's next novel.

In this book, Vonnegut explores free will in a dark and humorous way that only he can. This may be a difficult read for many people, but it is well worth the effort. In fact, make sure you have a highlighter on hand as your read it, so you can go back later and find those wonderful nuggets of insight sprinkled throughout. As far as I am concerned, this is Vonnegut's best book.