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Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
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Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)

by Kurt Vonnegut

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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Showing 1-5 of 310 (next | show all)
Kurt Vonnegut has a tendency to write very sparsely, with prose that is very "bare bones" and straight to the point, which I don't like at all. I like an author who can weave a sentence and blow me away with just one of them. However; the collection of short stories in this book are so tremendously awful and wonderfully terrible that his writing style doesn't hinder it one bit. In fact, I think it even bolsters it. The mood throughout this book is very cold and desolate - a perfect distopia, really - and I can't say any of these stories could be made better. They're chilling, vexing, and exceptionally thought-provoking. A+. ( )
  frozenplums | May 5, 2013 |
The writing style is quite sparse and matter of fact. Vonnegut describes terrible and fantastical things in an observational, objective way, which has the effect of making the events more extraordinary. There is much bleakness in this work, humour, and an undercurrent of sadness. We feel Billy Pilgrim’s helplessness as he is carried along by the forces of war, death and destruction. He is a powerless man observing what is happening to him. He seems equally powerless in his civilian life, carried along by his marriage, career and family as if it is all happening to someone else. I thought that the theme of war and time-travel were linked. It’s as if Vonnegut was saying – you can no more stop the march of war than the passage of time. War has always been and will always be. It’s a wonderful book; short, bleak, darkly humorous and strange. ( )
  Sophiejf | May 1, 2013 |
I'm not really sure what to say about this, or what I really think of it. It was...unique. It was a quick and essentially enjoyable read, about a difficult subject. It's just hard to really sum up thoughts about it though. It was worth reading, I'd probably recommend it to others, I'm just not entirely sure why. I am pretty sure some of it went a bit over my head. I suppose sometime in the future I'll have to reread it and see if it sinks in any better. ( )
  PolymathicMonkey | Apr 30, 2013 |
I'm honestly not sure what to think of this novel after I had finished it. I enjoyed the themes that it explored (though it all seemed touch and go) and thought the structure of the novel really helped amplify the story itself. However, I never really felt for the characters beyond the circumstances that they were in and the melancholy that comes with the ebb and flow of life. You could read my full review of the novel over at my blog: http://www.rulethewaves.net/blog/?p=4611 ( )
  caffeinatedlife | Apr 26, 2013 |
This is the first Kurt Vonnegut book I have ever finished, and I am still not sure what I think about it. I found the story a bit confusing at times, and I am curious how much of what is written is based on the author's wartime experiences. The first chapter and last chapter sound like they are being written from the author's point of view but I am not sure if that is real or a literary device. I like stories that follow a linear time progression. This book has no chronology, and bounces all over the place. The book is thought provoking and I enjoyed it. I want to learn more about Dresden and Howard Campbell now. ( )
  SparklePonies | Apr 21, 2013 |
Showing 1-5 of 310 (next | show all)
It is a novel about war and what men do to each other in the name of holy causes.

Which is not to say it is anywhere near "The Naked and the Dead" or "From Here to Eternity." Vonnegut fights his wars with feathers rather than with jackhammers. "Slaughterhouse-Five" is funny, satirical, compelling, outrageous, fanciful, mordant, fecund and at the bottom-line, simply stoned-out-of-its-mind.
added by Shortride | editLos Angeles Times, Harlan Ellison (pay site) (Apr 20, 1969)
 
An agonizing, funny, profoundly rueful attempt by Vonnegut to handle in fable form his own memories of the strategically unnecessary Allied air raid on Dresden... few modern writers have borne witness against inhumanity with more humanity or humor.
added by jjlong | editTime (Apr 11, 1969)
 
"Slaughterhouse-Five" is an extraordinary success. It is a book we need to read, and to reread. It has the same virtues as Vonnegut's best previous work. It is funny, compassionate and wise. The humor in Vonnegut's fiction is what enables us to contemplate the horror that he finds in contemporary existence. It does not disguise the awful things perceived; it merely strengthens and comforts us to the point where such perception is bearable.
 
It sounds crazy. It sounds like a fantastic last-ditch effort to make sense of a lunatic universe. But there is so much more to this book. It is very tough and very funny; it is sad and delightful; and it works. But is also very Vonnegut, which mean you'll either love it, or push it back in the science-fiction corner.
 

» Add other authors (24 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Kurt Vonnegutprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Hoog, ElseTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jaskari, JuhaniTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
The cattle are lowing,
The Baby awakes.
But the little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes.
Dedication
For Mary O'Hare and Gerhard Müller
First words
All this happened, more or less.
Quotations
"Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops."
"There was a a soft drink bottle on the windowsill. Its label boasted that it contained no nourishment whatsoever."
I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee.
So it goes.
Listen:

Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0385333846, Paperback)

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Don't let the ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..." Slaughterhouse-Five (taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy--and humor.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:11:49 -0400)

(see all 3 descriptions)

Billy Pilgrim, an American soldier captured by the Germans, witnesses firebombing and destruction in Dresden. Launched in November, Dell's Kurt Vonnegut reissue program continues with one of the world's great anti-war books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know.… (more)

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