Slaughterhouse-Five

I really didn't understand this book. The story is confusing, and although it does have a bit of historical information, it doesn't compensate for it's weirdness.

The pacing of the story was very weird. Because the main character, Billy, is constantly drifting off, it's hard to tell when we're "unstuck in time" or in the present and Spark Notes and Crash Course does little to clarify what is going on. The writing style is very different from anything I have ever read. It's not very descriptive of the surroundings and it's difficult to visualize.

I did not think it was written very well, and I found myself wanting to skip chapters.

135,000. That is the conservatively estimated death toll from the British and American aerial bombing of Dresden, Germany: more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kurt Vonnegut explores this dark event as well as the permeation of war inhuman society from his own recollection as a veteran and in his wonderfully dark and ironic humor in Slaughterhouse Five. Slaughterhouse Five tracks the exploits of Billy Pilgrim, a World War II soldier and Optometrist, from the perspective of an unnamed author writing about his time in the war. After being unwillingly drafted from his comfortable optometry profession, Billy Pilgrim begins as a private making his way through enemy lines, but ends up as a prisoner of war in the waning years of World War II. On his way Billy experiences death, sorrow, and the atrocities of the war as he outlives his comrades and suffers on. Ultimately he arrives at Dresden, where the historic bombing takes place, and he experiences the destruction of war firsthand. Billy Pilgrim is an unusual character however, because, kidnapped by a 4th dimensional alien race from a planet called Trafalmadore, he has become “unstuck from time” (Vonnegut 29). That is, he does not understand time as a continuous, transient object but more as a spatial dimension of its own. Therefore, the book is extremely discontinuous, flashing from Billy’s time in the war to various other points throughout his domestic future. Everything else the reader needs to know Vonnegut supplies himself: “It begins like this: Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck from time. It ends like this: Poo-tee-tweet?” (Vonnegut 28). Vonnegut makes a number of thematic assertions in Slaughterhouse Five. One of the most clear is the idea that free will is an illusion, for in Billy Pilgrim and the Trafalmadorians’ perception of time, everything that has ever happen and ever will happen is fixed, so that people do not really decide what their future will be. That is why, after every mention of death, Vonnegut writes “So it goes” (Vonnegut 31), for those who die are still alive at some other point in the spatial dimension of time. Another theme that Vonnegut explores in Slaughterhouse Five is the notion that conflict, and the catastrophe that arise from it, are natural in complex society, and that it is important to learn from such errors in relationships that lead to conflict. Because every deviation from Billy’s timeline in the war seems to reflect what Vonnegut described during the war, he points out how conflict repeats itself and how people should avoid it. He also states, from the perspective of the Trafalmadorians, that is important to focus on what is happy in one’s life, for what is not happy will always be there and nojoy will come from focusing on that. Vonnegut also describes the destructive nature of war, for he describes Dresden as one of the most beautiful places Billy Pilgrim has ever seen, but then after its bombing described it as a “moon” (Vonnegut 272). I personally loved Slaughterhouse Five. Vonnegut was able to weave surrealist, ironic, humor into a blatant commentary on the human society. The pages fly by, because, much like the nature of time itself, the story feels like a physical piece of artwork that Vonnegut paints a fraction of on each page. The climax is unexpected and wonderfully ironic, though I will not give it away so as not to spoil an excellent read. In short: in Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut delivers humorous and thoughtful prose in a book that one could read in one evening, and still read it again the next day. Rating: Overall: 4.6 Stars out of 5(Excellent) Appeal: 3 out of 5, it is a tough book to approach. Language and Illustration: 5 out of 5, Vonnegut is a true wordsmith. He uses amazingly detailed language, varies syntax by the mood of the scene, and provides illustrations when necessary. Plot: 5 out of 5, the plot is like a wonderfully intuitive puzzle that lacks holes and loose ends, keeping the reader involved until the very last page. Character Establishment and Development: 5 out of 5, Kurt Vonnegut has an amazing ability to establish a character directly in very few words, and leaves development up to indirect clues throughout the book. Design (visual appeal): 5 out of 5, all cover designs are from Vonnegut, and the book has a jarring and intriguing cover. The text is laid out well with ample breaks for thought and transition.

Reading Slaughterhouse-five is like watching a slideshow of several different trips jumbled all together in a seemingly random order, yet while knowing that the author placed these pictures in a very specific order and that these pictures are actually allegorical and not meandering. But when I did miss the allegory In slaughterhouse-five I was okay with seeing it as the wandering mind of a psychologically traumatized "child" who was never quiet given the time to grow up before he was sent into war and never got much older once he got back. Basically, everyone could see this book differently, and while it has layers enough to allow this kind of reading, some people may say, "what the heck is the the point of this". Honestly, sometimes it's a lot like Catcher in the Rye. Obviously as this is a war book readers should expect some violence, but for the most part it's restrained, and the violence is represented in a sort of, "Try not to think about how many people died or the implications of candles made from the fat of Jews". It's a book about the horrors of war that never gets too graphically violent in description. I actually found the books sexual content to be the biggest problem, as while little actual sex takes place, there are many mentions of it, though it never seems overly crude, as the book has a way of making you feel sort of detached in certain areas. Language can also be a concern, with at least ten uses of the F-word (various forms) and a menagerie of S-words and other milder obscenities. Overall, this Sci-fi/war novel/dark humor book is a good read, also a classic, but not everyone should read it and not everyone will like it.

This is a beautiful work that I think every American should read and also not just Americans! I first read this when I had just turned 14 and the subject mater was just right. But I think appropriateness ranges for the individual. PARENTS: you must let your teens read this book, it is necessary for their mental health! WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT AHEAD!! The only things to watch out for are some bits of violence, a bit of swearing and graphic sexual content. BUT the sexual content must be graphic for the story to be what it is. Without the sex the story would not be the masterpiece that it is. I just want to warn that it is implied that a woman has sex with a pony in a reaching photograph. The rest is much less graphic and could be closer to a PG-13 rating.

Only book I've ever read that has aliens, Nazis, dildos, possible schizophrenia, AND political satire. Overall a total trip but totally worth the read. Would recommend to anyone wanting to read something crazy, sad, and angering. It's a mess honestly, so it goes.

In my opinion, "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut was not a very intriguing book. I found that this book was a very slow and uninteresting read. Although many people really enjoy reading about the historical time periods and events of this book, I do not think that this would be a great choice for reading. This book mainly talked about the main character, Billy Pilgrim's, life after he was drafted into the army in 1922. Vonnegut focused on how Billy was injected with high doses of morphine, causing him to "time trip" all throughout the book. This is mainly what was confusing about the book, because it was hard to tell when he was "time tripping" and when he was actually living in the present. The constant flashbacks were confusing because I was trying to decipher whether his flashbacks were related to his experiences in Dresden or if they were completely unrelated.

My first Vonnegut read, and probably a good introduction to his work. Swearing, violence, talk of torture, sex, etc. Better for a teen on the maturer side.

I loved it..it was a bit confusing at first, but you learn to get used to the jumping around. If you want to read the book you have to be able to get past the first like 3 chapters to get to the actual good story. All in all it is great, though!!!! :) I was given it to read and do a report over in English....