From My Bookshelf

Player Piano by Vonnegut

I hated Slaughterhouse-Five when I read it in high school.  I'm sure I didn't get most of it, and I would never have picked up another Vonnegut book were it not for the recommendation of a fellow trusted bibliophile.  So, I began reading Player Piano only to find that I couldn't put it down.  
The main character, Doctor Paul Proteus, exists in a dystopian society where computers and machines do everything.  The average citizen has been stripped of the ability to work at a vocation.  Forced to do mundane, pointless jobs, they are supposedly living in a "perfect" world; everything is planned by computers, taking away choice, creativity, hope, etc.

The main storyline is interspersed with vignettes of the visit by the Shah of Brapuhr.  He is in the US to learn from the richest, most powerful nation how to improve his country.  The scenes where he keeps referring to the average citizen as a takaru (much to the annoyance of his guide) are hilarious.  Takaru means "slave" in the Shah's language.  As an unbiased observer, he is able to see that the citizens lead a life equivalent to that of a slave.  He is completely nonjudgmental and matter-of-fact when he uses the term.  He just believes these people must be the slaves since their lives mirrors the slaves in his country.  He sees right through all the gilding to the reality of the society. 
 
My favorite character is Ed Finnerty.  He is Proteus' best friend and possesses a "devil may care" attitude which I love.  Finnerty does not play along with the perfect world - he is jaded and disillusioned.  Since he won't play the part, he comes across as being a bit crazy, but I think he is just trying to keep it together trying to exist in an insane world.  He knows life is more than this.  It is Finnerty gets Paul thinking about the ills of their supposed utopian society and connects him with the "terrorist" group - the Ghost Shirt Society. 

"Without regard for the wishes of men, any machines or techniques or forms of organization that can economically replace men do replace men. Replacement is not necessarily bad, but to do it without regard for the wishes of men is lawlessness"