Player Piano: A Novel
by Kurt Vonnegut

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Book Reviews of Player Piano: A Novel

Book Review: The Player Piano
Summary: 5 Stars

Vonnegut's irony runs throughout, one incident involving Paul when his old beat up Plymouth 'dies' on him while visiting Homestead. Though a renowned manager, he couldn't fix it. Along came a rough laborer who not only found the trouble, but also made a new gasket for the car, and instead of putt putting after that, the car purred smoothly.

The husband-wife relationship is another irony where romance is a matter of mechanics: "I love you, Paul!" "I love you, too, Anita!" Their contrasting characters are very interesting; Paul, desperate to get back to his roots and to nature, buys an old rundown farm where he hopes to work with his hands. Anita, on seeing it, arranges for all of its old tools and old-fashioned articles to become electronic. Paul's depth and integrity are contrasted with her shallowness throughout the book, like two antagonists purging with swords.

Vonnegut's supreme irony has to be when Paul is ready to quit, even turning down a Pittsburgh promotion, and is requested by the big boss to infiltrate The Ghost Shirt Society (really the Worker's Union), a cause to which Paul has already (unbeknown to all the upper crust managers) committed himself. So the `used' becomes the `user' unbeknown to them all. Thrust into the honor of the title, Deliverer of The Ghost Shirts, he joins the rebels to overthrow management and machines. Build up and climax are great. Though Finnerty, Hasher, and Neumann seemed content with results, despite the fact that they did lose, Paul stood apart thoughtfully and sadly. As he gazed at twisted wires and wrecked machines that were once man-made invention, he pondered that one day, disregarding thee emotionless egg-heads of evolution future inventors and programmers would be born to create stronger, more challenging and, though emotionless, mind-controlling machines.

The one distraction is the Shah visiting American technology. But it is so hilarious that it's an asset especially when he meets Epic Ac XIV, the machine wiser than the wisest man. The Shah, though we laugh at him, is the wise one. He thinks American citizens and army soldiers as slaves because only slaves would do as they're told.

I found this book to be uncannily accurate, especially since it was written in 1952. As an aspiring engineer, it made me think of how advanced technology will be by the time I have reached my goal. I can't even imagine what it will be like in two or three years, while Vonnegut, somehow, knew what life might be like 50 years later. It's a must read!

Summary of Player Piano: A Novel

Kurt Vonnegut?s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines. Paul?s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut?wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality.

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