So I recently completed Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut. At the time, I failed to realize that Timequake was one of the last books he completed. In the book, time repeats it self and all humans are forced to relive the last 10 years of their life. Though seemingly harmless, this caused worldwide confusion as the rerun ended. It focuses on Kurt Vonnegut's relationship with his fictitious alter-ego, Kilgore Trout. Trout releases several science fiction stories he writes to a security guard through a trashcan way- the-hell-and-gone up on West 155th Street in Manhattan. The end of the story is the death of Trout at Xanadu, as apposed to his several other deaths in Vonnegut's books.
This story is quite odd. It's full of little nuggets of humor, with a senseless story line. I think that Vonnegut's humor-science fiction-non fiction-fiction frankenstein's monster esk genre, keeps me intrigued. I would read a two page chapter about his family, and have to ask my self if that was actually his family, or just fiction of his writings. This made Wikipedia my source which ended up spoiling some excellent moments that were cooking for 60 pages. I am excited to begin reading Breakfast of Champions which is a earlier Vonnegut book, about Kilgore Trout. I will compare the two books in a blogpost later.
I do however have some questions about the book. If during the Timequake, people basically watched their lives, why didn't they remember when they last had control. Also, If the universe just decided to stop growing, why did it go back and start over for ten years and then continue growing again. Though it shouldn't matter because the storyline doesn't matter in anyway. It could be about a piece of toast named Kurt Vonnegut who is friends with the hermit Kilgore Trout. Story doesn't matter so what does? The real or fictitious side stories. They make it different from the other sci-fi type stories I've read.
This was a great comedic story, and I will understand more and more as I read the previous books.
Thanks For Reading
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