Galapagos: A Novel (Delta Fiction)
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: 0385333870
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780385333870
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Galapagos: A Novel (Delta Fiction)
Book Review: I wish someone had handed this book to me when I was 17...
Summary: 4 Stars
Having a biology background and an innate admiration for the blue-footed booby, Galapagos seemed like the perfect choice for my first Vonnegut novel. I've come off of some very different reading experiences, and Vonnegut threw me for a bit of a loop for several reasons. He's incredibly fast-paced compared to my recent reads. His habit of using frequent paragraph breaks gives his writing style a lilting, punctuated quality that was a bit awkward at first (after the prosaic Irving, for example), but I quickly adjusted. His story-telling style is quite circular, with key events being revealed before they occur, and most of the action being referenced rather than experienced by the reader. There is no central character (or characters) to carry the narrative, but rather a somewhat vague narrator whose purpose in the tale initially seems a bit gratuitous.
So, literary conventions aside, what is the strength and appeal of this unusual narrative? Galapagos is a tale about evolution in the truest sense; not the struggle for survival of the fittest, but rather the random events that shape our world as life is either able to adapt or not based on more chance than true cleverness or ability. It is about how small actions may have large consequences, and even the most isolated incident has some measurable impact on the world. It's about how even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the simplest of life's needs (shelter, nourishment and reproduction) are met. Vonnegut has much to say on the peculiarities of the human race, which he contextualizes with the seemingly strange mating rituals of the blue-footed booby and the other ecological peculiarities of the Galapagos islands. The excesses of our own elaborate culture, as the unfortunate result of our "big brains" as the narrator aptly puts it, seem even more absurd and contrived in contrast.
The omniscient narrator speaks from 'a million years in the future,' where humanity has survived in a barely recognizable form and lost most of the advanced abilities of its more complicated heyday, reverting to a more primitive state. There is a certain amount of preachiness at work here, as it seems that the author has quite a bit to say about humanity's state of affairs. There is, however, a certain wistful sadness in the narrator's reminisces, as though this return to simplicity isn't a prescription for mankind's woes but rather an inevitable ends to the course of ecological destruction and cultural hubris Vonnegut saw us set upon in the 20th century.
As such, I perhaps would have enjoyed this novel more in my high school days, whereas at a jaded twenty-five I feel like he's preaching to the choir to an extent (granted, the novel was written during the Reagan era and certainly the audience would have been more in need of its message then). As an ecologist, I didn't feel as though the biological metaphors made as strong an impression on me as they would on someone who didn't already think in those terms on a regular basis. I felt the book to be a bit underdeveloped for my taste, and found myself wishing the author's ideas were more fully flushed out. With that in mind, I still found Galapagos to be an enjoyable and though-provoking read, even if it did reach me about eight years too late.
~Jacquelyn Gill
Summary of Galapagos: A Novel (Delta Fiction)
Galápagos takes the reader back one million years, to A.D. 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Galápagos Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, and totally different human race. In this inimitable novel, America?s master satirist looks at our world and shows us all that is sadly, madly awry?and all that is worth saving.Classics Books
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