Roof Beam Reader
Adam Burgess
Review: Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
Summary
Kurt Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan: A Novel
The Good
The cynicism and dark humor are superbly written – just over the top enough to remain non-offensive, but certainly damning. The description of the army of neurologically controlled Martians (who are actually displaced humans) and their equally radio controlled commanders is brilliant; that Rumfoord takes the time to kidnap these Earthlings in order to build up a Martian army, which is then sent on a suicide mission to invade and destroy Earth, all to bring Earth together as one “planet” as opposed to separate, self-interested nations is just genius. It also must be partially what inspired the Hegemony of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game (Ender, Book 1)
The Bad
One plot device which was used excessively, I feel, was the “memory wipe.” There were moments where it seemed that part of the journey for the main characters: Unk (Malachi Constant) and Bee (Rumfoord’s wife & Malachi’s mate). There are moments where it seems that these two characters will begin to remember things from their past lives, on Earth and on Mars, but these movements fall flat and, ultimately, it does not seem to matter whether or not they do remember anything at all. This is probably the point (What good is memory?) but I did find it a negative in terms of plot device, as it became distracting and did very little for the storyline. The back-history between Malachi Constant and his father, also, seemed unnecessary, since Malachi never knew his father, was dropped his father’s fortune in his lap, only to lose it, and then never remembered his father or the fortune thereafter, which left him with nothing to learn. Again, this could be the point – since Malachi ends on a new world, with new purpose (sort of) but, aside from allowing the reader to see that there really is no point in anything, what does it do for the story? These were very small objections, however, and in the end there is little to put in the “nay” column.
The Final Verdict: 4.0 out of 5.0
It may be telling that Vonnegut sold his rights to the film adaptation to none other than The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia. Unfortunately, Garcia passed away prior to finishing the screen play, but one can only imagine what this book in Garcia’s hands could have been in film form. Also a hint as to the purpose of the novel is to look at the character, Chrono, a young, restless, almost wild boy throughout – who answers only to his mother, and even then with some resistance. In the end, Chrono becomes one of the native majestics of Titan, an honorary blue Titan bird. He completely abandons his humanity and, instead, takes on the traits and characteristics of an animal which, while noble and beautiful, is also without conscience, without morality, and without any conception of “self” – all of which would seem to be what makes humans so proud to be human. Vonnegut would assert, then, that it is much greater, much freer, to be a Titanian bird than a human being? The novel left me, overall, feeling that the purpose of life is no real purpose at all, it just to exist and “to love whoever is around to be loved.”
Published by Dial Press, 1998
ISBN-10: 0-385-33349-8
Challenges: “TBR 2010”
Source: Owned Copy
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Roof Beam Reader 