Even though you know how things will end, because Kurt Vonnegut lays it all out for you pretty early on, the characters are so ridiculous and perplexing in their choices, it is still a fun ride getting to see how humanity shapes up.

Really though, the main characters of this novel are chance and circumstance; individual actions and egos have little baring on the overall consequences of the human race. This plays well into Vonnegut's general modus operandi - reality is absurd.

I felt too much time was ultimately paid to the English speaking characters, especially given the fate of the language. Following genes to understand the linear narrative was quite entertaining, but more time spent with the people providing the mitochondrial DNA would have been preferable to the self-important (yet boring) Adolf von Kleist, or the erratic (yet boring) Mary Hepburn.

What the book does great, is poking fun at characters POVs with assessments in ways that completely undermine their own understatings and self-importance. Comedy.

Overall my "big brain" enjoyed it.