Of all the books I've read for this challenge, "Player Piano" took me the longest. Nearly 3 months.
I returned it to the library twice after several extensions, never finishing it, not until this morning.
The story did not even begin until around page 200 of the 295-page book. Everything before that was backstory, setting the stage.
It's a great stage, at least. The book is set in a future society which is divided into two groups: the professionals (engineers and managers), and the powerless lower classes. Machines have taken over the world, taking jobs with them and leaving all those people whose work and skills can now be performed perfectly by technology, in the streets.
Our hero is Dr. Paul Proteus, manager of the Ilium Works plant, whose conscience troubles him about how much his position has interrupted and unfairly taken privileges from the disadvantaged poor.
It's a dystopia from a white-collar perspective, and it's interesting for that.
However, this book was published in 1952. The technology is based on tapes (remember those?) and ginormous computing machines that take up lots and lots of space. It is quite outdated. I was jarred from the story every time someone untwisted a phone cord or filed a computer punch card.
The conclusion was such a departure from the rest of the story that I had a hard time believing it at first, but Vonnegut can write a freaking ending. I am deeply impressed by anyone who can end a story in the manner he did. Realistic, with just enough of both despair and hope to make it sting.
No comments:
Post a Comment