Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast of Champions is a surreal satire that addresses themes of sex, pollution, racism, mental health, desperation, and hypocrisy complete with crude and often comical illustrations drawn by Vonnegut himself.

What enthralled me most—and set this book apart from many of his other works (and just about anyone else’s)—was his use of third-person omniscient to remind the reader that he is the creator of this story and in complete control of the characters and situations.

I was thoroughly entertained when he veered off on amusing tangents or took pause to explain some of his plot decisions. A refreshing read!

Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions is a masterpiece. But its genius snuck up on me, due to its unconventional form and not-immediately-obvious plot.

The language is deceptively simple, the chapters are short, and it’s filled with hand-drawn illustrations. Also, although it deals with many big themes—including racism, sexism, death, capitalism, and mental illness—it took a while for that to become obvious. What starts out like a collection of unique character studies ends up coming together as a magnum opus about the troubling state of American society in the 1970s.

Note: I had to stop a few times to remember that… show more.