Kurt Vonnegut's
latest novel (1996) and likely his final one. In the year
2001, the universe questions whether it's all worth it and stops growing, actually shrinking 10 years.
Everyone must relive 1991 through 2001 exactly as they had the first time. They each wonder if they are going insane but can't ask anyone as they haven't the first time around. It is as if they are actors. Suddenly, in 2001 Free Will returns and many cannot deal. Kilgore Trout revives people with his call of "You were sick and now you are well again and there's work to be done."
It calls into question free will vs. determinism as Vonnegut did in Slaughterhouse Five. Along with several other tales of John Wilkes Booth, he tells how he broke his leg when he leapt out of the booth that held Lincoln's dead body and broke his leg. "Which was bound to happen when an actor writes his own material."
This novel has a less convincing tone to it, as if Vonnegut wasn't positive what he was saying or if what he said was correct. However, it remains classic Vonnegut.