PLAYER PIANO

I recently embarked on a quest to read or re-read all of Kurt Vonnegut's fiction, in roughly chronological order.
I hit the wall with the second novel. PLAYER PIANO features some interesting 1984-ish concepts and explores questions of personal freedoms. But its pace is just too damned glacial.

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Vonnegut doesn't know when to stop.
But I did. Onto the next novel.

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You could see Vonnegut's genius in his first novel.

On a blog I read, the Devil Vet's been thinking about hope and hopelessness in dystopian fiction. I think Player Piano is good example of how hope plays into dystopian narratives. The Ghost Shirt Society of the book rises in rebellion against the

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soul-numbing mechanized society even though they know they will fail. Why? Simply to show that it can be done. That there can be light at the end of that tunnel, if power is wrested from the managers and engineers who hold it in that society. "Hope in hopelessness" indeed.

But then, that's one of Vonnegut's favorite themes (literally from the beginning, as we see) to kick around. You might have the whole world against you, you might know from the beginning that stretching your wings will just result in being shot out of the sky, but the exercise of whatever freedom you can snatch is worth the fall.

Of course, he didn't rely simply on ideas. The man could spin a yarn. The whole section of the book where Proteus has to go on an annual weekend team-spirit-building retreat had me chuckling through my anger. I hate that kind of workaday pep rally crap, and that particular scenario sounds like my idea of four days of hell. And the chapter in which Proteus buys a small, old school farm - thinking that will calm his need to get out of the "we are all cogs" system - and his wife takes it completely the wrong way sort of broke my heart. Though, I have to admit, I felt some for the wife - it's not like he spent any time communicating his feelings or situation to her.

The running thread of the Shah of Bratpuhr touring the US, with his guide in more and more dire straits, was a nice touch. Sometimes that kind of show-and-tell subplot can feel tacked on or unnecessary, but Vonnegut's storytelling allowed it to weave in and out of the major action.

final thought: No surprise, I agree with him. If you take away a person's chance to do for themselves, you take away a major reason to get out of bed every morning. I'm not saying we all have to work hard or die. I'm just saying, yeah, we all need that feeling of dignity that honest work can provide, whether for decent wages or just for our own benefit.

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Through the perils and necessities of war, America has become a thoroughly automated, thoroughly class-divided society: the high-IQ, PhD carrying managers and engineers run the production lines (that is, they supervise the machinery) while the average citizen (low IQed) lives comfortably in his or

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her prepackaged, government subsidized home. While you might scoff at the idea of your entire life being determined solely on the result of a few test scores (and subject to the rigidity of machine logic), don't fret: everyone gets a television. The American dream.

Paul Proteus, the illustrious manager of the Ilium works and son of a national hero of wartime industry, loses touch with the spirit of the age. He is disillusioned with the idea that machines make life better: that the increasingly mechanized/automated aspects of human life increase the quality thereof. Though he has never known life without machines, he instinctively feels mankind (though, decidedly not womankind, as the novel lacks any strong female character) has lost part of its essence, its definitiveness.

The picture of an entirely automated existence where every citizen's lifestyle is maintained (read: checked) through a complex infrastructure of machinery originally appealed to me. As a blogger/ gmail/ greader/ google doc/ twitter/ facebook/ digsby/ ff3/ google desktop/ obsessively-GTD user, I understandably was drawn to Vonnegut's post-bellum world. But so much potential was lost on me after the first 100 pages. The story develops slowly and only begins to draw momentum toward the final chapters. Although a slow-paced narrative could easily be overcome through complex characterization or philosophical musing, Vonnegut (characteristic of his later style) attempts neither. The figure of Paul, unlike the stably stoic Billy Pilgrim, shimmers hazily just on the edge of the narrative, haphazardly jumping into the spotlight from time to time to assert... well, nothing consistent. At best, he's a Prufrock, and a mildly-placid one at that.

Glancing over the reviews of the work on LibraryThing, many readers think this early work permits glimpses of a future style characteristic of Vonnegut. Indeed. I would go further to say that Player Piano tries to hard to be not-Vonnegut. This resistance to that later style results in a thinly spread novel that tries in spite of its creator to pull back upon itself.

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When considering the "best" dystopian novel, a contest typically pitted between Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World, my vote goes to Player Piano. On one hand, Orwell presents a police state that is too reminiscent of Nazi Germany to seem like a plausible future - the result of a worst case

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scenario, perhaps, but not a viable everyday situation. Huxley presents a much more compelling dystopian society where free will has been sacrificed for a vapid psuedo happiness, an increasingly realistic situation in today's technological world, but the comparative relate-ability of Huxleyan society in juxtaposition with the Christlike savage diminishes the novel's overall effect. Vonnegut's Player Piano, on the other hand, tells the story of a mechanical society in which humanity has become secondary to progress. It has enough of the fear that Orwell evokes in order to seem threatening and enough of Huxley's plausibility to drive the fear home. Every character in Player Piano is relate-able in his or her own way. We can see ourselves on both sides of the river, which makes the dystopia seem all the more real. Early Vonnegut, but I'm impressed!

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I love Vonnegut, but this one was pretty dated. Didn't hold up as well as most of his other stuff.

The race to produce weaponry during WWIII pushed humans out of the manufacturing field - they're too inefficient and unreliable. Machines left engineers the elite of society relegating/separating the rest of the population to mere existence in little boxes, all the same with IQ absolutely

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determining one's fate.

"What have you got against machines?"

"They're slaves."

"Well, what the heck - I mean, they aren't people. They don't suffer. They don't mind working."

"No. But they compete with people."

"That's a pretty good thing, isn't it - considering what a sloppy job most people do of anything?"

"Anybody that competes with slaves becomes a slave."

A promising engineer begins to question the morality of life subservient to the efficiency of programmed machines (the segregation of society into useful and dependents) and ponders pursuing an alternate life trajectory.

"It was an appalling thought, to be so well-integrated into the machinery of society and history as to be able to move in only one plane, and along one line."

Written in 1952, it seems Vonnegut will always be relevant:

"He stared at the President and imagined with horror what the country must have been like when, as today, any damn fool little American boy might grow up to be President, but when the President had had to actually run the country!"

Plus, igniting or enhancing daily questioning of the absurdity of society.

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In this, Vonnegut's first novel, Dr. Paul Proteus lives in a futuristic dystopia in which everything is automated so that humans no longer have to work or even think except for the engineers and managers who have become the second highest class of society second only to the machines themselves.

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Meanwhile, a group of revolutionaries are trying to bring down this system in order to bring back pride and human dignity to those who have been replaced by machines. Despite having been written sixty years ago, I found this book to be very timely in an era in which many Americans have lost jobs to either machines or foreign workers. In many ways, Vonnegut's book is a very prescient look at our world today.

This prescience extends beyond the loss of meaningful work for many Americans. Vonnegut also foresees many of the advancements that have been made in the tools we use in our everyday lives. For example, the non-engineering/managing class has been made content in the novel through having 40 inch TVs in every room, and their lives have been made easier through having "radar ranges," which are basically microwave ovens. In the novel, these things are provided for the populace in order to keep them content in the new role that machines play in society. It brings to mind how many Americans today are more interested in American Idol than in current events.

Despite being his first novel, this book also does not lack any of Vonnegut's trademark wit and satire. There are parts that are laugh out loud funny, and Vonnegut is such a good story teller that I found that I could not put the book down for want of finding out what would happen next. This is typical of a Vonnegut novel for me, and it seems that he possessed this trait way back in 1952. While this novel may not be as famous as later novels such as "Slaughterhouse Five" or "Cat's Cradle," I found this novel to be every bit as engaging as those two.

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Vonnegut's first novel: the introduction to his brilliance as a thinker, writer and comedian.
Player Piano is set in a futuristic America where the world is run by machines and social status/jobs are decided by computer-IQ tests. Main character and protagonist Paul Proteus is a genius whose

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intelligence has brought him to become a wealthy, upper class citizen of society. Proteus grew increasingly dissatisfied with what the world had become - a machine and industrialized center where human action was no longer needed. This life left him feeling unhappy and painfully useless, longing for a more complex lifestyle. Proteus's best friend Finnerty had similar feelings about society and became the radical rebel leader of the "Ghost Shirt Society," an organization who's goal was for humans to re-gain control of this now machine-run world. Because of Finnerty's finagling, Paul found himself the new leader of this Ghost Shirt Society (once again, he was the most intelligent individual involved). The Ghost Shirt Society rebels, attempting to take over the machines that run mankind. They ultimately fail, even having acted upon their beliefs. The leaders of the Ghost Shirt Society realize it is impossible to take over what the world has already become, and finally subject themselves to the authorities of society.
Player Piano is a story of a "techno-utopia" where machines have ultimately replaced the human mind. Vonnegut wrote satirically about a world consumed with technology, everyone in a way predestined to their lives and jobs- every bit of intellect being gauged by an IQ test. It is clear that Vonnegut's view of utopia is the opposite of what this futuristic society represents. He used Paul as the protagonist, attempting to re-create the actual dystopian environment he was living in. Like Huxley, Vonnegut writes to warn the reader that technology, machines, and consumerism are taking over. He satirizes the society, but the daunting elements of reality are what open the eyes of the reader.
I rated this novel a 3.5/5. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy it, though, because I did. I couldn't give it more stars because there are novels that I've become more wrapped up in than this one. I drew a lot of parallels between Huxley's Brave New World and Player Piano, which I read at the same time. This may have been a factor in my partial-dissatisfaction. However, having read three utopian novels in the past few months, I've really grown able to pick out the utopian and dystopian aspects of the story, and I've learned how to realize what message the author is advocating/teaching.
Having read other books of his, Vonnegut truly is a brilliant writer. I recommend this book to someone who will enjoy a futuristic, satirical book that opens your eyes to what the world actually may be becoming... scary!

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My admiration for Vonnegut holds no bounds: how could he write this book in the early 1950's? It is almost 65 years later and the scenario which he paints is just coming to pass. I feel that I am doing well to have a vague grasp on what is happening now!

I will not spoil the story by explaining it

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in detail, suffice to say that Kurt Vonnegut uses his tale to look at the way in which machines, far from bringing a halcyon future of happiness and egalitarianism for all, lead to a two state society between those people that have a function and those that are merely tolerated.

It is always interesting in these futuristic pieces to see what has been predicted and what missed. Vonnegut's future has missed the explosion of media devices that keep us informed of the prescribed view and tracks our every movement, but does understand that the poor will not be eradicated, either by raising their living standards, or by social engineering as many have proposed. He also has the understanding of human nature to grasp that many of the oppressed will cling to the safe world that they know, rather than risking a 'brave new world', even though the new one offers them so much more.

We have seen Vonnegut's prophesy come true and the really big question now, is the next stage: artificial intelligence is almost ready to take, not just the labouring jobs, but now, the intellectual careers away from humans...

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This was my first Kurt Vonnegut book (other than Man Without a Country) and I was as happy with the book as I thought I would be. His witting style was very easy for me to read. I literally couldn't put this one down. I like the idea of technology causing problems. Even as technology friendly as I

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am I can see that someday there could be a meltdown and technology will be at the center of it.

Mr. Vonnegut's look into the future, from the past, was very interesting. More so to see what his idea of technology in the future would be like, and to compare it to what really exists today.

Being that this was my first Kurt Vonnegut book I am looking forward to reading even more.

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Vonnegut's first novel is my personal favorite. Delicious satire of machine dominated, practical America, over-education, the lust for titles, false hopes, failed rebellion and living up to your family's expectations. This former "underground" classic has become more relevant with the advent of

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cell phone drivers and the internet obsessed.

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2.5/5

Trovo che Vonnegutt abbia scritto dei romanzi fantastici, questo suo primo lavoro, però, non raggiunge le vette toccate da Cat's Cradle etc..
L'idea: in una America del dopo guerra la società è retta dagli ingegneri che, ideando macchine di ogni genere, hanno reso facile la vita dell'uomo

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medio. Talmente facile che l'uomo medio non fa nulla, ci pensano le macchine. Vonnegut affronta l'aspetto sociologico di questo possibile futuro seguendo diverse figure: quella ricorrente di Paul, ingegnere senza attaccamento per il proprio lavoro, e altre, alcune sovversive, altre conservative.
L'idea è buona, però rispetto a altri romanzi dello scrittore la narrazione è sotto tono: manca l'enfatizzazione delle assurdità umane.

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I think that Vonnegut wrote amazing novels, however this one is not good as Cat's Cradle etc..
The idea is that in a post-war America society is ruled by engineers who, creating every kind of machines, allowed an easy life to the whole population. In fact people do nothing at all since the machines provide to every need. Vonnegut analyses the sociologic point of view of this setting following various characters: Paul, an engineer who does not love his work anymore, and others, some subversive, some conservative.
The idea is good, but the narration could be much better: it lacks the emphasis on human absurd behavior.

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A very compelling read. Both sides of this conflict between "man" and "machine" are granted time represented in prose, situation, and character. I know many people consider this novel to be about dystopia resulting from the rise of machines (and that may have been the intent) but I think it is much

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more complicated than that. This book gives someone a lot to ponder beyond the advertised conflict; the mark of a good piece of fiction.

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This might be my favorite Vonnegut novel, although it loses something for the author's masculine posturing and the negative caricatures of female characters throughout the book.

I read this when I was 14 but the only thing I remember was this one scene where he talks about looking at a white barn when the sun was out and bright and it was written so vividly that I remember my pupils dilating.

Pretty cool.

The most realistic vision of the future i've read so far.

One of his earlier books. a 50's dystopia. Quite prophetic in some ways

One of Vonnegut's early works. You can see where he is heading, and you can see how good a writer he really will turn out to be, but you can also he that he ain't there yet.

This is my favorite Vonnegut book. I think it was his first? The book is about a world in which most of the labor done in the world is done by machines. (think factory machines, not computers) There are class divisions between those who are smart and control the machines, and those who are out of

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work, because there is no work to do. Then, all hell breaks loose. MWA HA HA.

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This book took me a while to get into. I do like that Vonnegut never follows a traditional storyline, you never know what to expect. That being said, I have a hard time getting through his longer works. I really liked Welcome to the Monkey House, his short story collection. I might try and read

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more of those.

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Not quite vintage Vonnegut but a great novel nonetheless. As an earlier work you can see that his genious hasn't quite fully come together but is nearly there. In our modern age it is a little dated, with computers using punch cards and vacuum tubes, but the message is not lost

Vonnegut's first novel. Doesn't have the brilliance of his later work, but this is still a great, though-provoking satire about extreme bureaucracies.

A very compelling read. Both sides of this conflict between "man" and "machine" are granted time represented in prose, situation, and character. I know many people consider this novel to be about dystopia resulting from the rise of machines (and that may have been the intent) but I think it is much

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more complicated than that. This book gives someone a lot to ponder beyond the advertised conflict; the mark of a good piece of fiction.

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Solid, and very smart, but also very clunky and nowhere near as concise as the later books. Well worth reading.