I finished Player Piano last night. Not bad for a first novel. It’s not quite the Vonnegut of Slaughterhouse-Five or Cat’s Cradle, but there are glimpses of the author he would become. I found it easy to identify with the main character, a man who was dissatisfied with his life and who yearned for a simpler existence.
One of my favorite passages: “Almost nobody’s competent. . . . It’s enough to make you cry to see how bad most people are at their jobs. If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you’re a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind.”
Next up in the Vonnegut marathon is The Sirens of Titan, published seven years later. It will be interesting to see what those intervening years did for him as an author. There’s still time to catch up if you haven’t read Player Piano yet. I don’t expect to start the new book for at least a week or two.
One down, thirteen to go! We’re off to a good start.