Galapagos

Paperback, 240 pages

Published July 24, 1994 by Flamingo.

ISBN:
978-0-586-09045-9
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3 stars (1 review)

"A madcap genealogical adventure . . . Vonnegut is a postmodern Mark Twain."--The New York Times Book Review Galápagos takes the reader back one million years, to A.D. 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Galápagos Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, and totally different human race. In this inimitable novel, America' s master satirist looks at our world and shows us all that is sadly, madly awry-and all that is worth saving.

Praise for Galápagos

"The best Vonnegut novel yet!"--John Irving

"Beautiful . . . provocative, arresting reading."--USA Today

"A satire in the classic tradition . . . a dark vision, a heartfelt warning."--The Detroit Free Press

"Interesting, engaging, sad and yet very funny . . . Vonnegut is still in top form. If he has no prescription for …

11 editions

Good idea but doesn't really go anywhere

3 stars

Though I guess that's what you could say about humanity as a whole, right?

Anyway, this is a story about how the next million years of humanity begin with a shipwreck on one of the Galapagos islands, leading to the few people surviving it becoming the ancestors of the next stages of humanity, all narrated by a ghost. But of course, being Vonnegut, it's not really about that, it's about evolution and the dead end of thinking our "big brains" will solve everything for us. There's some good lines and some interesting thoughts in there - this is Vonnegut, after all - but it's slight and unfocused, unsure of what to focus its attention on.

Subjects

  • Fantasy
  • Science Fiction
  • Short stories