This is one of Kurt Vonnegut's most ambitious and most convoluted books. It is essentially a social and political satire dressed up in a guise of science fiction book. It contains some of his favorite fantastical themes that have been recurring in many of his other works, such as pliability of time and malleability of personal identity. Most of the characters are over-the-top caricatures, and for the most part they don't seem to be individuals in their own right, or serving the purpose of plot development. The plot, on the other hand, is very convoluted and rather hard to follow. The book feels like a hodge-podge of different ideas and narratives, and it's oftentimes hard to follow. The writing style and themes have echoes of Ray Bradbury, Phillip K. Dick and several other sci-fi writers. However, it retains many of Vonnegut's own stylistic features and regardless of all the criticism it is one of the more original books that I have ever read. I would certainly recommend it to all Vonnegut fans (and I consider myself to be one of them), but I don't think it's one of his better works.

Sirens of Titan (Coronet Books) PDF

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