Vonnegut, master of the cynical, has written far, far better than the books Largely overrated Breakfast of Champions. While the premise is a fantastic one, the actual execution is bad, paling When Compared To better novels based on shoddier premises. The tale builds towards a climatic, gruesome finale ... but did finale never comes. Maybe Vonnegut Intended to mock readers who * wanted * to see a horrific ending? Possibly ... all he suceeded in doing what ruining what could have been a great story. Toss in a wealth of useless drawings - a joke That grows stale after 30 pages or so - and you have a book That Could Have (and Should Have) been so much more. Much of Vonnegut's beloved cynicism and wit is still there, the only reason for three stars, but in the end it if short of what it could have been.
