Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut

Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
⭐⭐⭐

In Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut imagines a society that is completely controlled by machines, and the average man seems to have lost his place and sense of purpose in the world. After several devastating wars take place, the need for Army recruits and devoted soldiers becomes terrifyingly dire. To satiate this necessity, two Industrial Revolutions take place, where machines are developed to replace humans in almost every way. Society becomes broken into a hierarchy of two classes, the elite and the lower class. Due to the lack of jobs, the lower class (who are uneducated, unskilled, poor, and belonging to average families) are forced to choose one of two careers: become a Reeks and Wrecks worker (basically a repairman/garbageman/mechanic) or join the Army. Our main character Paul is the son of one of the founding engineers of this new society, but he doesn't feel satisfied following in his father's footsteps. Player Piano is Vonnegut's attempt to describe a civilian uprising and whether or not it would be successful. 

Player Piano is Vonnegut's first book, and being fully transparent, he is one of my favorite authors so I knew I would enjoy this story. What I didn't expect was how progressive some of the ideologies Vonnegut highlights throughout the book would be. This is a story about capitalism, humanism, class war, rebellion, privilege, and how the democracy our country is built on is not quite the democracy that we are being sold. There are a lot of examples of these themes, but I am specifically impressed with how Vonnegut dealt with the ideas of needing to dismantle a society/government in order to build a new one, and false saviorism. Actually - one of my favorite parts of this story is that Paul decides that he is the Messiah that the lower class is needing, and so essentially, he is moving from a position of power to ANOTHER position of power (which directly sheds light on the regularity of nefarious intentions, even if someone's heart is in the right place). 

I rated this three stars only because you can tell it's his first book! There were some moments that could have been edited out. You can tell that Vonnegut wanted to include every idea and criticism he had and at times, the story kind of jumped all over the place. I also wasn't a fan of the ending. I felt that it kind of defeated the purpose of the whole book, but you would have to judge for yourself! I also would have enjoyed a more thorough ending, something that we could have experienced just as we experienced the rest of the novel, but unfortunately, we only see the results of what takes place, not the actual events. 

All in all, this is classic Vonnegut! He's funny, witty, and his politics are mostly always on point. I enjoyed Player Piano a lot - it just wasn't my favorite book of his that I've read. I would definitely recommend reading it if you enjoy politics or satire or are looking for an introduction to more classic literature. Kurt Vonnegut writes Science Fiction like no other!