Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut


Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)
My first exposure to Vonnegut and I liked it!

The premise here is that a group of people get stranded on an island in the Galapagos and end up becoming the sole survivors of the human race, due to war and famine. Their gene pool decides the fate of humanity biologically, which is why it is set in the Galapagos Islands (thank you, Charles Darwin).

I could tell you the plot, but that would just gloss over all of the intentionally contradictory themes of the book (for instance: the importance of the individual is emphasized vis-a-vis evolution, but the individual is also not important because the individual is also swept away in several instances due to his stupidity and/or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time). There is actually some meat on the bones of this book - a nice change of pace when compared to some others I've read lately.

P.S. for those Hoosiers out there - as you may know, Vonnegut is from Indianapolis. One of the characters went to IU (and survives! - probably due to conditioning from the dorm food) and the ships motors were made by a diesel company in Columbus, IN - sound familiar?

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5 stars. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut.

Reviewed in 2004.

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