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Slaughterhouse-Five

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Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a unique and thought-provoking novel that follows the life of Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time. The story is told in a non-linear fashion, jumping between events such as the bombing of Dresden during World War II, Billy's childhood, hospitalization, and abduction by aliens. Vonnegut's writing style is a blend of dark humor, satire, and science fiction elements, creating a narrative that challenges the reader to question reality and the nature of war.

Characters:

The characters are diverse and often embody different perspectives on war and life. Billy Pilgrim serves as the passive protagonist who experiences life out of order, while supporting characters, like the Tralfamadorians, add layers to the exploration of time and trauma.

Writing/Prose:

Vonnegut's writing style is characterized by simplicity and directness, often using dark humor and a fragmented narrative to reflect the chaotic experiences of war and trauma. The repetitive use of phrases helps to underscore themes of fatalism.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot of the novel is structured non-linearly, following the protagonist Billy Pilgrim as he navigates various significant moments in his life, particularly during WWII and the Dresden bombing. His experience is characterized by a sense of disorientation as he becomes unstuck in time.

Setting:

The setting of the novel spans from the experiences of WWII in Dresden, Germany, where the bombing takes place, to various other locations including POW camps and the fictional alien planet Tralfamadore, highlighting different aspects of Billy's life.

Pacing:

The pacing of the novel is brisk yet uneven, with short, disjointed scenes that reflect the protagonist's chaotic experiences and thoughts, keeping readers engaged despite the unpredictability.
All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn’t his. Another guy I knew really did threaten to h...

Notes:

The novel is a blend of science fiction and historical fiction.
The protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, can time travel and becomes unstuck in time.
Vonnegut himself experienced the firebombing of Dresden during WWII.
The phrase "So it goes" is repeated throughout the novel after every mention of death.
Vonnegut wrote the book as a form of catharsis for his own experiences in the war.
Billy Pilgrim is a reflection of Vonnegut's own struggles with PTSD.
The novel critiques the absurdity and senselessness of war.
The Tralfamadorians, the aliens in the book, perceive time differently, viewing all moments simultaneously.
Slaughterhouse-Five was published in 1969 amidst the Vietnam War protests.
The book challenges traditional narrative structures with its non-linear storytelling.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings for Slaughterhouse-Five include themes of war, violence, death, PTSD, and mentions of mental illness, which may be distressing for some readers.

From The Publisher:

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time

Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber's son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming "unstuck in time."

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut's writing-the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit-that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O'Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut's words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as "the kind of writer who made people-young people especially-want to write." George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be "the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves."

Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era's uncertainties.

"Poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion and, behind everything, the cataract of a thundering moral statement."-The Boston Globe

Ratings (450)

Incredible (100)
Loved It (157)
Liked It (100)
It Was OK (58)
Did Not Like (25)
Hated It (10)

Reader Stats (785):

Read It (466)
Currently Reading (5)
Want To Read (213)
Did Not Finish (10)
Not Interested (91)

13 comment(s)

Loved It
1 week

This book also has another title Children's crusade and I honestly mixed it up with another book I've heard about on YouTube a very long time ago. So when I requested it, I wasn't expecting this and honestly might not have picked it up because of the blurb itself. WW2 novels have always been something I don't really want to read but lately I've still picked a few up so I though, why not it's short. It was a good book but very strange. Both about the horrible bombings in Dresden and alien abduction and somewhat of a time travel novel. As he can switch to different parts of his life. I have an hard time describing or even know what i think of it book. But the 4 star rating is a strong one

 
Loved It
1 week

Very confused by this book until about 50% through..I think I liked it but I'm not sure.. Great imagery used either way and his descriptive sentences kept me engaged.

 
Incredible
1 month

Although I'm a generation or two past the point it became cliché to like this book it blew me away regardless. Somehow I picked up Slaughterhouse after being awake for 2 days and I'd read two thirds of the book before my body finally forced me to pass out. None of my praise is new to Vonnegut but I'll state it anyway; his prose is concise & hilarious, his war imagery is grisly and free of fetishizing, and his characters are pedestrian people with a complex development throughout an intricately-quilted timeline. Although the action isn't sequential, the slow reveal of information and character details are pleasingly paced. Altogether a wonderful book about average humans who have to live through a terrible thing.

 
Incredible
2 months

There are some terrible reviews of SH5 floating around Goodreads, but one particularly odious sentiment is that Slaughterhouse-Five isn't anti-war.

This is usually based on the following quote.

"It had to be done," Rumfoord told Billy, speaking of the destruction of Dresden.

"I know," said Billy.

"That's war."

"I know. I'm not complaining"

"It must have been hell on the ground."

"It was," said Billy Pilgrim.

"Pity the men who had to do it."

"I do."

"You must have had mixed feelings, there on the ground."

"It was all right," said Billy. "Everything is all right, and everybody has to do exactly what he does. I learned that on Tralfamadore."

For context, Mr. Rumfoord is an old military historian described as "hateful and cruel" who wants to see weaklings like Billy exterminated.

On Tralfamadore, Billy was introduced to the revelation that all things happen exactly as they do, and that they will always happen that way, and that they will never happen any other way. Meaning, time is all at once. The aliens, incidentally, admit to destroying the universe in a comical accident fated far into the future, and they're very sorry, but so it goes. <- passive acceptance

The entire story up to this point has been about Billy, buffeted like a powerless pathetic leaf in a storm, pushed this way and that by forces entirely outside his tiny purview. He lays catatonically in a hospital bed after the plane crash and the death of his wife, and all the time traveling back and forth from Dresden where toddlers and families and old grannies and anti-war civilians were burned alive in a carefully organized inferno (so it goes), and Billy is about ready to agree to absolutely anything.

It can't be prevented. It can't be helped.

You're powerless, after a while. What hope have we, or anyone caught in the middle of a war, or even the poor soldiers who are nothing but pawns and children (hence the children's crusade), to influence these gigantic, global events?

Therefore, Billy agrees with the hateful, the cruel Mr. Rumfoord, who is revising his military history of WWII, having previously forgotten to mention the Dresden bombing. Women and children, not evaporated instantly, but melted slowly by chemicals and liquid flame, their leftovers, according to Billy, lying in the street like blackened logs, or in piles of families who died together in their little homes.

Incidentally, how can anything be pro-war or anti-war? Because being anti-war is a bit like being anti-conflict, anti-death, and anti-suffering. Is there a book that's pro these things? Is there a book that touches on the subject of war and is not against it?

We don't support wars, though we are sometimes forced to accept them.

 
Incredible
3 months

This book is perfection.

I cannot believe this book hasn't crossed my path before. I read it in one evening/next afternoon straight through.

Sparse brutal prose. Every line is memorable, punches you in the gut, or makes you think.

A haunting, realistic, horrifying look at the banality, absurdity, horror, of war & the impact of trauma on the lives of men.

Everybody should read this one

 
Loved It
3 months

Moving, interesting, unqiue

 
Loved It
5 months

What is the purpose of a novel today?

“One critic said, ‘To provide touches of color in rooms with all-white walls.’ Another one said, ‘To describe blow-jobs artistically.’ Another one said, ‘To teach wives of junior executives what to buy next and how to act in a French restaurant.’”

Maybe, the purpose of a novel is to give us a glimpse into reality as a Tralfamadorian sees it. Read how you like, but the last page is already written, so it goes.

 
It Was OK
9 months

World War II literature

War trauma

Dark humor

Post-war experiences

Author's personal narrative

Masterful storytelling

Thought-provoking themes

Human resilience

Authenticity in fiction

Unique writing style

Exploration of trauma

Grim realities of war

Impactful narrative

Essential reading

 
Loved It
2 years

The most well known of Vonnegut's works, although not necessarily the greatest in my view.

Beautiful , engaging writing mixed with elements of science fiction, time travel and World War II.

 
Liked It
2 years

What a unique book! It took me a long time to get around to reading this classic, but I'm glad I finally did.

The book is about the horrors of war and trauma

 
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About the Author:

Kurt Vonnegut was a master of contemporary American literature. His black humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America's attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him, in the words of The New York Times, as "a true artist"…

 
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