Player Piano: A Novel
by Kurt Vonnegut
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Book Summary Information
Author: Kurt VonnegutEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-01-12
ISBN: 0385333781
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Book Reviews of Player Piano: A Novel
Book Review: "Out On The Edge You See All Kinds Of Things You Can't See From The Center."
Summary: 5 Stars
Player Piano was the late Kurt Vonnegut's first novel. Published in 1952, the novel is set in an industrial dystopia where the engineers are the top rung of the ladder. In the name of progress, the engineers create machines that can do the work of men. Only the best and brightest are allowed to attend the colleges necessary to secure doctorates. The rest of the population is consigned either to the Army or the Reconstruction and Reclamation Corps (Reeks and Wrecks). The main character is Dr. Paul Proteus, the head of the Ilium Works in Ilium, New York. Proteus is the son of one of the men who led the mechanization of America, thus he is well-respected and expected to rise to the top. But Proteus is decidedly unhappy with the system, particularly the way the common working man has been disenfranchised. The main thread of the novel follows Paul as he attempts to sort out his loyalties, while a side story follows the Shah of Bratpuhr, who's being given a tour of America.
While the technology in the book is quite dated, the story itself still resonates strongly, especially in this age of computers and outsourcing jobs to foreign countries. The people in the story have become enslaved by technology. The people at the top need to be able to create and control the machines in order to maintain their elite status and the people of the bottom have been excluded from making a meaningful contribution to society by being replaced by machines. The people at the bottom are either in the Army, the Reeks and Wrecks, who do very menial tasks, or they just do nothing. They are segregated from the elite managers and engineers. The elite don't seem to have it much better as they spend the majority of the book spouting useless propaganda and jockeying for position. This is the America that causes Proteus to question every value he once held dear.
Despite the somewhat bleak circumstances of the story, Vonnegut tells it with a wry humor and a sharp sense of satire. Player Piano is perhaps the most conventional of his novels and written linearly as opposed to the nonlinear jumping around he would use in later books. This was the first of his novels I ever read, given as a high school assignment back in 1994. I enjoyed it then and I still love it today. I've read some reviews that have said that Player Piano doesn't hold up when compared with his later work. I couldn't disagree more. The story is still relevant to modern times and it's told beautifully.
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