SciFi and Fantasy eBook Club discussion

I was given my first Vonnegut book in high school by one of my favorite teachers - Mrs. Gilda Hopkalo. I loved it and went out and started reading everything he wrote. By the start of college, I'd pretty much consumed his entire bibliography. But, Other than one or two here and there, I haven't re-read much of it since then.

The Sirens of Titan is one that I remember vaguely but not strongly. I think I last read it in 1984 so it will be good to go back and re-read it.

I've read a majority of Vonnegut's novels, but this was not one of them. I would not rate it up there with Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse Five; but I found it quite interesting to read in the context of it being the precursor (by 10 years) to Slaughterhouse Five. Many of the themes are similar, and some of the plot issues, too, e.g. the chrono-synclastic infundibulum in "Sirens" versus Billy Pilgrim being "unstuck in time" in "Slaughterhouse".

In many ways I feel that "Sirens" was his first, less-than-successful attempt to address the issues he more adeptly addressed in "Slaughterhouse" concerning the effects World War Two had on his psyche and philosophy.

So, overall, I'm glad I read it, but I would not recommend it as a good entry-point to Vonnegut's works. (My personal entry point was Cat's Cradle, which got me hooked right away.)

Breakfast of Champions was my gateway drug ....

Geoffrey wrote: "Breakfast of Champions was my gateway drug ...."

...and one I'd rate right up there with SH5 and CC. :-)

My copy arrived in the post yesterday. I have started reading it, but have yet to get 'engrossed.' Still early days yet, too little read to really have an honest opinion. I like to finish a story then consider all of it. :)

I'd rank it below Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle, too, but it's up there with Mother Night. (And to be fair, few book by any authors will be as good as SH5 and CC.) SoT was my thirteenth Vonnegut book.

My entry point, oddly enough, was Jailbird for high school. That book was good, but didn't wow me.

I discovered Vonnegut in my mid-20's and quickly read several of his books but certainly not all. I just finished The Sirens of Titan. I'm not sure if I had read it before or not.

I have to say I was not very impressed with the book. It wasn't bad, but I just never cared about any of the characters or what they were doing. (view spoiler)[The whole war with Mars and the new religion just didn't speak to me. (hide spoiler)]

One interesting thing is that when I read about the idea of wearing "handicappers", I was instantly reminded of the short story "Harrison Bergeron", which I have always loved, and I thought how odd, the same idea...duh, I just looked it up and of course the story was written by Vonnegut, published two years after Sirens. While I remember reading that story and being blown away by it, Sirens just never gave me any moments where I wanted to stop and think about what I had read.

My favorite character was Salo. For me, he had more depth to him than any of the other characters and I would have been interested to read more about him.

I'm about half way through SOT right now. It's not an agonizing read, just kind of sterile feeling. As Donna mentioned, the characters really haven't caught my attention. Time will tell.

Working my through the book as well... will reserve my thoughts till it's finished...

Was on Twitter today, just as I am everyday, and I found a blog that references 'The Sirens of Titan' - What are the odds? I say to myself, so here is the link, just scroll down, its only a short way down. http://bofowler.blogspot.com/

I had to literally trudge my way through the ending of this book. In the end I just really didn't give a crap about any of the people in this book. I understand the underlying concepts but there just wasn't any umphf to it. I wouldn't recommend it.