The Sirens of Titan: A Novel

By Kurt Vonnegut

“[Kurt Vonnegut’s] best book . . . He dares not only ask the ultimate question about the meaning of life, but to answer it.”—Esquire

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

The Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course there’ s a catch to the invitation–and a prophetic vision about the purpose of human life that only Vonnegut has the courage to tell.

“Reading Vonnegut is addictive!”—Commonweal

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 18, 2007
• ISBN: 9780307423375

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut was a master of contemporary American Literature. His black humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America's attention in The Siren's of Titan in 1959 and established him as ""a true artist"" with Cat's Cradle in 1963. He was, as Graham Greene has declared, ""one of the best living American writers.""

Reviews for The Sirens of Titan

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Unpopular opinion, but this is not my favorite Vonnegut. Not even in my top five. But before you start throwing stones at me, I still enjoyed it. A lot. I can't pinpoint exactly why I didn't like this as much as his others, but it was still a good read. It's zany, filled with classic Vonnegut-isms, zany characters, tributes to Indianapolis, weird space opera vibes, and jabs about human faith, politics, and economy. The Sirens of Titan tell the story of the space wanderer. Once, the richest playboy on earth, now a man lost in the cosmos forgetful of his past. It's a story about the wonders of space, the folly of organized religion, and morality. It's over the top as always and filled with characters only Vonnegut could create. Even though it's not my favorite, I want to come back to this one and read it in a few years instead of listening to the audio.

[delta351 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this intending to donate the book when I was done. Just can't do that yet. There is a lot of things I don't understand about this book, such as what is the significance of the sirens?

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this book was all over the place and not in a bad way. I am amzed how well it holds up after all these years. I will say this book is not going to be fro everyone but it completely hit in the pocket of my views on freedom and religion. Vonnegut's brain does not work like the rest of us. I think this is a book I will be rereading in a few years. I have a feeling it will bring something new to each reading. Not my favorite by him but up there.

[m8a8harding · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

great satire

[bness2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading this story reminded me a little of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The same warped sense of deadpan humor is found throughout this book. If you like a story where you are never completely sure what you are supposed to believe or not, this one will keep you going.

[fuzzy_patters · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read a ton of Vonnegut. In fact, there isn't much of his that I haven't read. I'm not sure why I was so late reading this one, but it immediately became one of my favorites. It has all of the whimsy and satire of Vonnegut along with the biting social commentary that makes him great. It even includes a Tralfamadorian, which harkens to Slaughterhouse Five, perhaps his best work. Unfortunately, Kilgore Trout doesn't make an appearance, but I can forgive Vonnegut for that. Overall, I loved it.

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyable read. My understanding is that this is the first of the recognisable Vonnegut novels.

[diehardkev · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the first SF novels I read. A brilliant and hilarious read, it's just a shame I can't remember any of it!

[blueguitar-238106 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The purpose of human civilisation is to construct a replacement part for an stranded alien's broken spacecraft.

[sublunarie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I honestly never believed I would read another Vonnegut novel I would love more than God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Upon finishing The Sirens Of Titan, I stand corrected. I liken Vonnegut's answer to the meaning of life nearly as clear and simple and hidden as "TURN SHIP UPSIDE DOWN". It would have been as plain as day if only we'd stopped and thought about it a little harder.

[steve02476 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hadn't read any Vonnegut for decades. I liked it, but not quite as much as I used to.

[dlmorrese · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not all fiction ages well, especially science fiction. This one did. There are few obvious tells that it was first published almost 60 years ago. It also has the rare and wonderful combination of absurdity and intelligence that I personally like in speculative fiction, the kind Douglas Adams achieved so well in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Sirens of Titan doesn't provide quite that level of laugh-out-loud absurdity, but the wit is there, along with some pause-to-think moments about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. I highly recommend this one.

[pgiunta_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The wealthiest Hollywood playboy in America, Malachi Constant, is invited to the home of Beatrice Rumfoord to witness the manifestation of her husband, Winston Niles Rumfoord, and his dog Kazak. Nine years before, Rumfoord had piloted his spaceship into an uncharted chrono-synclastic infundibulum near Mars. Kazak was his only companion aboard ship. Since then, man and dog exist as energy but materialize on a regular schedule in his mansion on Earth. Word of Winston’s materializations have spread over time and now draw a crowd outside the mansion’s walls. His wife, however, permits no audience to Winston’s appearances—until he specifically requests the presence of Malachi Constant. What follows is a mind-bending journey, entirely predicted and orchestrated by Rumfoord, that takes Malachi and Beatrice to various points in the solar system, all memories and identities from their Earthly lives erased. In the meantime, Rumfoord creates a new religion called The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent in which the Almighty exists but cares not for the affairs of mankind. Oh, and then there’s Salo, an alien from the planet Tralfamadore who crash landed on Saturn’s moon Titan eons ago on his way to deliver a message from his people to parts unknown. Also on Titan is where Rumfoord and Kazak reside in a palatial estate when they’re not beaming across the solar system. But what is the purpose of Winston Niles Rumfoord’s machinations? Why has he chosen Malachi Constant and his own wife Beatrice as his pawns and how does the Tralfamadorian Salo fit into the picture?In Sirens of Titan, Vonnegut’s dry humor sinks its claws into religion, morality, destiny, and the purpose of life in a tale that is sometimes hilarious, other times disturbing, but at all times original.

[baswood · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Sirens of Titan was Kurt Vonnegut's second novel and is included in the science fiction Masterwork series. Published in 1959 it was the novel that won the first of the many awards that Vonnegut won in the genre, although his first novel Player Piano had created a stir. I have previously read Slaughterhouse-five, his most well known book, a couple of times and neither time was I overly impressed. I think it is because I am not in tune with his style of writing. I think because he is such a well known author in the genre and [Slaughterhouse-five] crossed over into the mainstream, it is perhaps the sort of style that would be off putting for many readers, who were dipping their toe into science fiction for the first time. Certainly I think that would be true back in the 1960's, well before [A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy].There is not much science in The Sirens of Titan, really it is more of a fantasy novel and one that reads like it was cobbled together after a drunken nights storytelling, which I think it was. The writing style has all the elements of an oral story; the sentences are short, the language is simple and it has a conversational style. The organisation feels a bit haphazard and the structure is one you might find in a good story made up as the teller went along. However after saying all this, it kind of works, the reader gets carried along with the story rush, not stopping to think about holes in the plot or the sheer craziness of the story: that is if you have not already tossed the book aside, thinking I am not going to read any more of this rubbish. It works in the genre where a sense of wonder and dare I say it: ideas; bordering on the fantastic; which are more important than literary style.Of course there are flashes of brilliance in this crazy mess of a book and it is open to all kinds of interpretation; it is a bit like [Alice in Wonderland] and like Lewis Carroll's book it is funny and genuinely satiric. However in my opinion it has not stood the test of time, although the style has been imitated and I am thinking of Philip K Dick, who managed to run with it taking it to another level. If my thoughts are confused then I can only put this down to having just finished The Siren's of Titan. The story, the plot you don't really need to know. It deserves to be in the masterwork series because of what it is, but I just didn't like it and so 3 stars.

[kale.dyer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyable read. My understanding is that this is the first of the recognisable Vonnegut novels.

[kevn57-163679 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sadder then HGTTG but I'm sure that this was an inspiration to Adams when he begun the script to the radio show. Combat Respiratory Rations or CRR's or goofballs were — had to tell him to take one every six hours or suffocate. These were oxygen pills that made up for the fact that there wasn't any oxygen in the Martian atmosphere. like Robinson Crusoe on Mars. I just saw an interview of novelist Andy Weir and when asked if the movie was an inspiration he laughed talking about the oxygen pills, now as I read this pills again, but a few of the links to HGTTG would be Winston Niles Rumfoord's Pocket History of Mars and revised bible and the ship was powered, by a phenomenon known as UWTB, or the Universal Will to Become. UWTB is what makes universes out of nothingness — that makes nothingness insist on becoming somethingness compare to HGTTG infinite improbability drive "Not believing it was the thing that saved them from panic." "Don't Panic"

[gbill_7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An impressive book for 1959, and for a debut. Vonnegut uses science fiction to satirize the wealthy, the military, religion, and mankind’s role in the universe, and manages to tell an entertaining tale on top of it. While fantastical, it’s brilliantly creative. There is a chrono-synclastic infundibula which spreads one of the characters and his dog out across space in a wave, such that they appear on Earth when its orbit regularly intersects it. There are translucent, diamond-shaped creatures in deep caves of Mercury with only one sense, touch, that cooperate with one another. There are creatures on the planet Tralfamadore who can’t find any purpose to existence and wage war against each other, ultimately turning the job over to machines ala the Terminator.The satire of the ultra-wealthy, who believe they are that way because of their consummate business skill or because “someone up there likes me,” implying a God who actually pays attention to our little lives and favors them, is not only effective but well ahead of its time, and highly relevant today. We see overpaid CEO’s who don’t understand how much sheer luck played a role in their success. We see the immorality of their excesses, war profiteering, and the “philanthropy” of buying art and lending it out to museums in reality being PR and good investments. We see the creation of shell corporations that are “a marvelous engine for doing violence to the spirit of thousands of laws without actually running afoul of so much as a city ordinance.” We see generational wealth maintained via marrying within the set, even if it means with cousins. It’s just remarkable stuff, and one can only imagine what Vonnegut would think of the elite today.Relative to the military, in some of his best and most chilling writing, Vonnegut describes a Martian army controlled by antenna implants into the brain and regular memory scrubbing, so that they strictly follow orders, even if it means cold-blooded killing. A military commander wears the uniform of an elite tactical group which caught his fancy, “regardless of how much hell anybody else had to go through for the privilege.” The Earthling military response is out of all proportion to the danger, with thermonuclear devices rendering the moon “unfit for human occupation for at least ten million years.”As for religion and the delusion that there is a God looking down upon us, the story alludes to how this is weaponized, and how one of the characters creates a new church, that of the “God of the Utterly Indifferent” to combat this. Vonnegut writes: “No longer can a fool like Malachi Constant point to a ridiculous accident of good luck and say, ‘Somebody up there like me.’ And no longer can a tyrant say, ‘God wants this or that to happen, and anybody who doesn’t help this or that to happen is against God.’ O Lord Most High, what a glorious weapon is Thy Apathy, for we have unsheathed it, have thrust and slashed mightily with it, and the claptrap that has so often enslaved us or driven us into the madhouse lies slain!”As for mankind, the story plays with meaninglessness in a vast universe and free will (or lack thereof) in fanciful ways. It also alludes to our violence, creatively captured in a statue of Neanderthals roasting a human foot on a crude spit, and one of a scientist with an erection for having discovered atomic power – there being little that is pure or cooperative about the species. Bonus points for the protagonist wanting to be let down in Indianapolis near the end because it was “the first place in the United States of America where a white man was hanged for the murder of an Indian,” referring to the Fall Creek Massacre of 1824 and subsequent hanging of three of the perpetrators the following year.Great stuff here, full of meaning, but written in a light, engaging way. One to seek out.

[petricor-635385 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

[read as an audio-book]A man, learning (from a man who is stuck in a magical spacetime loop with his dog) he's to travel in space to ultimately pro-create with a woman he doesn't like, does everything in his power to prevent this from happening.“I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all.” Liked: - the clever satirical tone which is consistently held and highly entertaining- how Vonnegut makes the characters simultaneously unlikeable and likeable- how Vonnegut answers the meaning of lifeDisliked: - the third act features a character not earlier expanded on, although briefly mentioned, making some parts of the plot feel a bit deus ex machina- would have loved a bit more exploration of Beatrice's character, especially her reaction to [redacted] but I suppose the plot covers itself through memory loss- the third act itself, on Titan, ends fairly abruptly (translation: I need more of Malachi and Beatrice on Titan, thanks)Final Thoughts:A visceral gut-punch to the stomach of a satire, which starts off so absurdly comical that it seems confusing how it can pack such a punch. Vonnegut masterfully navigates the human existence and explores the concept of free will, religion, and purpose. Easily one of my favorite sci-fi books and books in general.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A long time ago, when I was just a lowly Teen - I read this book. And totally missed the point. So, when I found a copy, I thought I would give it another try. First - this is not a bright book. Almost all the characters are unlikable (except for the Dog) and annoying. But that is the point. Its a story of randomness and why it means to be lucky. At times - the story is funny - very very funny for example, on the random writings of the harmoniums "The messages were written, of course, by.... He peeled off harmoniums here, slapped others up there, making the block letters".This book is quite tragic. All the characters are being used by someone. The ending kind of a slap in the face. The big question of the book is "is life better if life is random, or is life better if it was in service to a more advanced being?"Yeah - its dark, satirical, Full of sad people in sad situations. But, it has merit. If you like the author, and books that are dark and takes a view of pointlessness, you should probably read it.

[jrthebutler · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Malachi Constant, "the richest man in America," gives up his indulgent lifestyle to follow an urgent calling to probe the depths of space. He participates in a Martian invasion of Earth, mates with the wife of an astronaut adrift on the tides of time, and follows the lure of the "Sirens of Titan."

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not as enjoyable as the first time I read it many, many years ago but I still enjoy his views on the randomness of the universe and, of course, the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent still gives me a chuckle. I like the simplicity of his work -- that is what will endure the tests of time.

[pife43-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very imaginative and direct, as Vonnegut is so often. Read this book too long ago to adequately review it now, but I did enjoy it marginally.

[rbeffa_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I decided a few years ago when I was cataloguing my books on LT that I didn't need to read or re-read any more Vonnegut. Been there, done that. I gave away several of my books of his only holding on to two. I read him in my late teens and twenties. He was one of those like/not-like authors. But even when I was not liking I was generally shocked or tweaked enough to feel that even though I was slapped all around I hadn't been abused too much. After reading this I don't know quite what to say. Some people may call this science fiction because they don't know what else to call it. I wouldn't. It's a whack job and the reader is the one getting whacked. I like some a little, I dislike some a lot. What else is new? Vonnegut wasn't like anybody else. This is a smart book. I'm impressed. It is also absurd and ridiculous and rather insane. Like listening to an old drunk rail against the world. But Vonnegut wasn't an old drunk when he wrote this. What is this story about? What is the point of this rage against the machine of life, of religion, of society? Some people say the whole point of the story is contained in a line very near the end of the book. Some people also look at a Mark Rothko painting and find the meaning of life or something. I don't think so. In general I rarely had a clue as to what was going on with this story.I think I've had enough Vonnegut for quite a while longer.

[scottcholstad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Aside from perhaps some of the existential novels I read in college which I really enjoyed as I felt as I could really relate to them, Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan has to be one of the saddest novels I have ever read. I came close to crying several times while reading through it. It’s very, very bleak. Of course, there’s the satire and usual black humor and of course there’s the layers of meaning one can extract from a Vonnegut novel, but just reading it at its base layer, it’s damned cold.The book is about two main characters -- Winston Niles Rumsfoord and Malachi Constant. Rumsfoord and his dog took a spaceship out to explore the galaxy and became “chrono-synclastic-infundibulated,” which means they became scattered in time and space and materialize throughout both at various points in time, witnessing the past and future. He’s viewed as a type of prophet by the masses and his materializations are looked forward to by all. Constant is the world’s richest man, having inherited a good bit of his billions from his father and having earned the rest through an odd investment scheme his father invented. He is lazy and decadent and a bit of a Hollywood playboy. This book is about their lives and how they intertwine, as well as Rumsfoord’s wife, Beatrice.In my opinion, Rumsfoord takes on the role of Satan in this novel. He uses and abuses, tortures and slaughters, destroys and deceives. He’s a ruthless bastard and I grew to hate his guts. Constant comes to be known as Unk while living on Mars as Unk. He loses everything. He can be viewed as the Biblical Job, but without the happy ending. He and Beatrice, who Rumsfoord also attempts to destroy, wind up together ultimately on Titan with a son who is psychotic. There are also aliens, one of whom is pretty cool – Salo, the Tralfamadorian. Turns out the Tralfamadorians have been manipulating humanity for all of our history. While Vonnegut skewers the military and organized religion, he sets his sights on the notion of God, or a kind, benevolent god. In his view, if there is any god, if he’s not totally cruel, he’s at best a being who doesn’t give a shit about humanity. Ruumsfoord drives that idea home when he creates a world religion he calls The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. The “luckiest” people in the church have to wear heavy weights on their bodies or do something to make themselves suffer in some way. When Ruumsfoord and Constant first meet, Ruumsfoord tells him that he’s going to go to Mars, Mercury, back to Earth, and ultimately to Titan, and he’s also going to marry Beatrice and have a son with her and he’ll be very, very happy. He’s right about some of it and a lying bastard about some of it. The thing I never figured out was why he decided to pick Constant out to completely destroy. Was it simply because he was the “luckiest” man in the world and Ruumsfoord resented it? Was it really that simple? Is that good motivation? Cause Ruumsfoord went through a hell of a lot of trouble and killed tens of thousands of people just to destroy Constant and Beatrice. It doesn’t make much sense to me. What’s his motivation? Is he just jealous and, if so, why? He’s pretty damn lucky himself. He’s got a huge estate, has the only spaceship in the world, a lovely if cold wife, a good job, lots of money himself. So he decides to pick one man, the luckiest man in the world, to personally destroy just for the hell of it. Sounds like a royally evil bastard to me. This is probably a five star book because it’s so damned original and I did enjoy some of it, but I thought the section about Mars and the Army of Mars was somewhat weak and I really ended up not enjoying the book as much as I thought I would, so I’m giving it four stars. Still, recommended.

[stige_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm torn between three and four stars on this. On one hand the book reads like the later books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series with ideas and observations being thrown at the reader in one big jumble. On the other hand the book reads like the later books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series with ideas and observations being thrown at the reader in one big jumble.

Parts of the book are absolutely fantastic (the martian invasion stood out in my mind), other parts are dull (the invented religion) whilst the casual way rape is handled and seemingly brushed off is just troubling. It's witty, intelligent, not very well put together, memorable, frustrating and callous. It's clearly art :-)

[lyndatrue · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the actual first printing and first edition, of this work. Vonnegut had written Player Piano, and short stories here and there, and this was his second novel. I may need to put this on the kindle, so as not to disturb the pages of this book. Man, 1959 was a LONG time ago.

[ptdilloway-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good analogy for this book is it's like one of those paintings that looks great at a distance but when you look at it up-close you can see all the brush strokes. In this case the more distant Vonnegut is from his characters the better because up close the characters come off more as cartoonish props than real people.

The story details the lives of three people who are moved by forces beyond their control. William Niles Rumsfoord set out into space with his dog and now through a strange phenomenon I won't try to spell he has become unstuck in time and space (take that Billy Pilgrim!) so that he appears on Earth at his house every 59 days. His wife Beatrice Rumsfoord wants little to do with him. Then one day Rumsfoord calls his cousin Malachi Constant for a visit. Constant is a billionaire playboy who inherited his money from his father and has done nothing with his life. Rumsfoord tells Constant that he will roam the Solar System, first to Mars, then Mercury, then back to Earth, and finally to Titan, where he will meet three beautiful women, the sirens of the title.

Well this does happen but none of it goes as Constant thought it might. Beatrice gets swept up in it as well. Meanwhile Rumsfoord seems to be pulling the strings of everyone in the Solar System but who's pulling his strings?

As I said at the start, Vonnegut is at his best in this novel when he deals with broader issues, like the history of Mars or the lives of tiny insects on Mercury. Those moments called to mind Douglas Adams and the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" books where too the broader issues were often better than the up-close ones. The characters of Rumsfoord, Beatrice, and Constant aren't all that interesting and as I said none of them seems all that REAL. Vonnegut I don't think was interested in making real, sympathetic characters so much as in making his points about religion, Fate, and so forth.

The last 15% or so almost makes up for the book's deficiencies. Whereas Douglas Adams seemed to back away from providing the answer of life, the universe, and everything, Vonnegut tackles it head-on. Though in both cases, Earth is little more than a pawn in someone else's game; or perhaps not even a pawn; Earth might be more like a bit of dust that gets blown around when someone else moves the pieces.

I don't think this is one of Vonnegut's best, but it wasn't a waste of time either.

That is all.

[wethewatched · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like Vonnegut's succinct writing style so I'll keep this short. His debut novel is sometimes silly and other times sharply cynical. That makes it a fun but simultaneously depressing read. It's hard to deny Vonnegut is a great writer, but you really have to be in the mood for it.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The concepts behind it could have been interesting. I wanted to like Vonnegut because people kept telling me he was brilliant. I just... wasn't that interested. I didn't care about the characters, and I wasn't even sure there was a story. Perhaps it's just that I'm much more of a characters person than anything else.

[braden_timss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Need to think on this.