Customer Reviews

Player Piano

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This year is the 50th anniversary of this novel. I remember that I was working as an engineer back when I first read it. This was appropriate since most of the main characters are engineers. I remember being struck at how close Vonnegut's predictions about society actually were. Now that I've reexamined them 20 years later, I am even more impressed.

The basic premise of the story is that American industry is run by a tiny group of wealthy and powerful managers and engineers, while the vast majority of the population are stripped of their well-paying industrial jobs and forced to live as poor, powerless menials.

This elite of managers and engineers live in closed, gated Orwellian communities, where they watch each other closely for the slightest hint of nonconformity or disloyalty to the system.

Vonnegut shows how most managers and engineers have always had a contempt for the average American worker and have been looking for a way to replace them even before WW2. He thought that this would primarily be by automation (as opposed to simply shipping the jobs out of the country.)

Vonnegut also assumed that agriculture would be totally mechanised by large corporations and the small farmer made extinct.

There is also the eerie prediction that the President would be a man of low intelligence who would get elected on the basis of a "three hour television show." It would make no difference because there would be no connection between who was elected and who actually ran the country. Remenber, this was in 1952....

Oh yes, he also predicted that no one would be able to get any job worth having without a graduate degree.

I know that some people will say that this novel is dated based simply on the repeated mention of vacuum tubes (transistors were not in commercial use in 1952.) However, if you substiute "integrated circuit" or "computer chip" for every place he uses vacuum tube the obsolescence vanishes. Simularly, a modern reader may laugh at the idea of a computer large enough to fill Carlesbad caverns. Believe me, even today the Cray supercomputers and their support equipment take up quite abit of space.

My only real criticism with Vonnegut's projections is that he thought that engineers would have alot more power and influence than they actually have. From my own experience MBA's, CPA's, and lawyers have much more power.

A lot of people, even Vonnegut fans, probably haven't heard of this book, for whatever reasons. Vonnegut really doesn't discuss it that much, mostly because he dislikes the label of science-fiction, which this book, along with The Sirens of Titan and even Slaughterhouse-Five, clearly is.

Still, this book is a must for Vonnegut fans or even those interested in old science-fiction in the style of Orwell or Huxley. Those looking for Vonnegut's classic deadpan black humorist style won't find it here. The beginnings of it are here, however and Vonnegut's tale of Paul Proteus' rebellion against the oppressive government is still as entertaining and fascinating as it was years ago. Read with the aforementioned 1984 and Brave New World, this book provides a slight contrast by using a different tone and more humor, but the message is still the same, that technology will ruin us all and bring about our ultimate downfall.

Fortunately this book has been reissued so that fans can see how Vonnegut started out, and fortunately, unlike most writers' first novels, Vonnegut's initial effort is just as readable as his later works

I am only 25 and already burnt out and disgusted with the corporate world. This book really hit home with me. Vonnegut mocks and satarizes corporate life, which, after reading this book, obviously hasn't become any less discouraging or frusterating as it was 47 years ago. Player Piano is a must read for anyone who is appauled by the reality that, with few exceptions, one must completely sell out and conform in order to advance in a large corporation. Anyone who is currently mired in corporate America will recognize at least one or two of the characters and/or situations in this book as ones they themselves have had to (or continue to) deal with regularly, and therefore will feel a strong bond with Paul Proteus by book's end.

This was the first Kurt Vonnegut book that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It was also his first book, since I was reading them chronologically. At first, it was a bit slow-going and a little confusing. But after the first 20 pages or so, you're taken into this world that is completely believable and utterly fascinating. This book was ahead of its time; describing the life of one man living in an age of machines. It's funny and poignant and absolutely wonderful. If you've never read anything by Vonnegut, I recommend starting here; it's a great way to see how his writing style has developed over the years. If you have read some of his stuff before and just haven't read this, READ IT. I tell you, it'll suck you in and you won't be able to put it down. I know that's an annoying cliche, but it's true. Kurt knows what he's doing. :)

I think most of the reviewers missed the boat on this one. This is probably one of the most accurate predictions of the future I have read. All it needs is an update in computer nomenclature, and this could have been written yesterday. Think about it: How many craftsmen have been replaced by the kind of machines he describes? How many "engineers" are walking around today, who have never physically built anything? How useless is a high school diploma in today's job market? Planned obslescence, artificial economies-The only thing he got wrong was the world war (at least for now). And yes, I realize the irony of writing this review on a computer.

This is the first Kurt Vonnegut book I have read and I definitely enjoyed it. This story effectively tells how man is becoming more and more reliant on machines to perform work, and as a result most people are left only the most menial jobs such as painting the little used roads that run from the wealthy neighborhoods to the poor. This book parallels the American society in which the educated tend to get the $57,000 a year jobs which call for the employee to put other people out of work by creating new machines. The poor, unfortunate people are allowed to live a life in which everything is provided for them but they lack pride because there are no meaningful jobs for them. I also found Vonnegut's comments on how testing people for intelligence can be misused to be rather interesting. A variety of tests are given to the characters in PLAYER PIANO to determine their worthiness in the business world. Hmmm, kind of reminds me of the SAT, ACT, GRE, LSAT, and the wide va! riety of state tests. The title is also very fitting. A piano used to require a person to push the keys in order to work. Then came the automatic player piano and people were no longer needed. Those who comment that Vonnegut's book about the future is unbelievable, apparantly fail to see that Vonnegut wasn't really talking about the future, but was really talking about the present, albeit a rather exaggerated present.

Some books I can plow through in an afternoon, regardless of the number of pages. However, every time I read something by Vonnegut, it becomes so deeply philosophical and thought-provoking that I can only take it in small bites.
It's about the future of America. It was written in 1952, as his first novel. In the book, a computer takes over the U.S. and most of mans' work has been taken by machines. Citizens are split into two groups: the ones who have high IQs and the ones who don't. In an almost communist society (where the government takes certain steps to ensure a person's well-being through provisions), a few people decide to call for a revolution against the machines, with surprising twists and an ironic ending.
It made me consider how much of my life seems automated--wake up, go to work, go home, repeat--and how much more I need to be less mechanized and more human.
This is a book that I think I'll buy so I can re-read it.

Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut, is an interesting novel, especially considering it was published in 1952. The basic plot centering around Dr. Paul Proteus, the flawed City of Illium and his struggles with the dominant machine-centered lifestyle is solid enough to hold someone's attention, and the humor peppered through the dialogue is a welcome compliment to the traditional science fiction theme. Paul's casual "To hell with you" remark to his colleague Doctor Kroner showed his cynicism but was still humorous nonetheless. There's some interesting exchanges as well, notably the encounter between the Shar of Bratpuhr and the super-machine EPICAC XIV. One of the reviews I read mentioned loneliness as the central theme of the book and that the science fiction surrounding played a secondary role. I wouldn't go that far, but there is a certain amount of validity in that theory. Vonnegut himself, being so anti-technological, might agree with this as well. Obviously, he wanted to show the destructive and negative affect mechanization will have on society as a whole. But the ill effects of a machine-dominated society come at a personal level just as much as they do on a grand scale. Toward the end of the novel, Proteus comes to the conclusion that he is alone in his grasp of reality (the true evils of Illium) as the revolution ends. From his hatred and struggle against the machine-dominated society to his "automatic" relationship with his wife, Doctor Proteus was emotionally isolated. He doesn't want people to perceive him as a "stuffed shirt", and he struggles with this throughout the book. Vonnegut wants people to see how excess technology can harm and potentially destroy both the fabric of society and the inner-person as well.

"Player Piano" is Kurt Vonnegut's first novel. It was published in 1952, and was nominated for the International Fantasy Award in 1953. It was republished under the title "Utopia-14" in 1954. The story seems to hold up fairly well after 50 years, although there are a few aspects that are a bit dated. Overall I highly recommend it, as an excellent satire of our society. In discussing the book further, there are some spoilers, so only read on if you don't mind.

It would be easy to categorize this book as simply one of many science fiction novels where machines threaten to destroy man's way of life, but there is much more here. This is a satire of American society. The story is set in the future, where only a few men have decent jobs, with most of the rest of the work being done by more efficient machines. There are shades of "1984" and "Brave New World" in this book, but there is more as well.

Most of the book concentrates on the harm that the machines are doing to man's spirit. We have a highly polarized society, where those who have been judged to have high potential get the good jobs live in entirely different areas than the rest of the people, and they consider the ordinary people ungrateful for the good things that are being given to the common man. The hero, Paul Proteus, is pulled away from the upper society by a friend, Ed Finnerty, who also was once part of the intellectual elite, and away from the wishes of his wife and his boss.

He eventually decides to quit his job, and buys an old farm where he can live simply by doing honest hard work, but before he can quit, he is setup to spy on his revolutionary friend by being fired. Once he is brought into the revolutionaries' meeting, he becomes convinced that their cause is the right one, and decides to commit to their cause. The revolution results in the destruction of almost all the machines, even those that are beneficial to man. Ultimately, we see that society will start to rebuild and use machines again, and so in many ways we are in a vicious circle.

This is one of my two favorite Vonnegut books (along with Galapagos), but I disagree with those who have posted the opinion that the true value of the book is Vonnegut's earily prophetic vision of social dinamics in post-industrial America. I believe that Vonnegut's intent was to convey his opinion of what constitutes fundamental human dignity (usefullness to others, in Vonnegut's opinion). Read in such a way, this book flawlesly illuminates the indignity of social welfare and mechanization.