Galapagos, by Kurt Vonnegut **5/8

My first go at Vonnegut, Galapagos proved to be an easier entry into his writing than I thought it would be. I picked up and put down this book several times over the past few years, each time not quite getting into the first couple of pages. So I thought it was going to be somewhat tough to get through. Instead, it was a couple of mellow days, casually reading in the margins of life - before bed, with early morning coffee, on the can, etc. I've since read that this might be Vonnegut's easiest novel to read, so unfortunately I don't think I can use this as a barometer for his work, but since it seems all his writing deals with satire, I think I at least have a better idea about the focus and his specific satiric style.

When I think of the Galapagos Islands, I immediately think of Darwin and evolution, and this book makes use of that cultural understanding, in extremely clever fashion. The book jacket reads "Kurt Vonnegut takes you back one million years, to A.D. 1986-and the beginning of the human race." As that teaser implies, something strange is happening to humanity (since we don't think of ourselves in 1986 as being at the beginning of our existence), and he uses the notion of the Galapagos islands and this 'evolution' as a forum for satire, pointing out myriad ways in which the human race is in need of evolution, why it is that we are not the perfectly evolved beings that we perceive ourselves to be. It is clever, it is funny, and it is perceptive.

There is much to applaud about the manner of the storytelling, with an interesting choice of narrator and some bizarre little twists that add to the humor of the story. As I wrote up above, the writing is clear and the story is easy to follow. I have two major complaints: the characters are a little limp and not very enchanting; the story feels like it is also completed halfway through the book. I actually debated whether or not I even wanted to continue, because it felt like I had already learned everything that Vonnegut had to say by page 150 (of a 300-page book). Because it was such an easy read, I figured that I might as well continue, and it was ultimately worth it, as the story got a little better in the last section. All in all an enjoyable book that I'm glad to have read.
(Spring 2004)

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