Review: 'Player Piano' by Kurt Vonnegut

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

'Player Piano' by Kurt Vonnegut, 341 pages - Instagram @c_reads_books

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Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut, the author's first novel, details the life of Paul Proteus. Partly inspired by Vonnegut's time working for General Electric, Paul is an engineer at Ilium Works. Living in a dystopian world entirely automated and controlled by machines, Paul struggles to find his place. He sees the flaws in life being run by supercomputers and machines, unlike almost everyone around him. Seeing the negative impact technology can have on quality of life, he wants more than anything to revert back to the quaint way of life before technology took over the world, and tries to do just that.

I absolutely loved this book. This is the 18th book of Vonnegut’s that I’ve read so far, and I have yet to be disappointed, or come across a book that ceases to be interesting and different. Part of what I love about Vonnegut is that, no matter the storyline, his style and uniquely funny yet serious way of telling a story is ever present. I also loved getting to read his first novel and seeing how his writing started, and eventually developed with his other novels. I utterly loved Player Piano’s storyline and really sympathized with and related to Paul and his opinions on automation. I also really liked the ending and how Vonnegut chose to leave readers with hope for the future and something to deeply think about. I honestly couldn’t think of a single thing I did not like about this book, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a comical yet serious book that leaves you with something to think about!