Player Piano

Player Piano is the debut novel from one of history’s most innovative authors, published on Vonnegut’s 100th birthday.

In Player Piano, the first of Vonnegut’s wildly funny and deadly serious novels, automata have dramatically reduced the need for America’s work force. Ten years after the introduction of these robot labourers, the only people still working are the engineers and their managers, who live in Ilium; everyone else lives in Homestead, an impoverished part of town characterised by purposelessness and mass produced houses.

Paul Proteus is the manager of Ilium Works. While grateful to be held in high regard, Paul begins to feel uneasy about his position – especially after a trip to Homestead. Eventually, Paul makes the decision to rebel against all he’s been given, inciting seismic repercussions…

‘His black logic…gives us something to laugh about and much to fear’ New York Times Book Review

Watch the documentary about his life – Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time – on Prime