When your English teacher hands you a classic novel about the Second World War, the last thing you expect is a science fiction adventure involving time travel and a philosophical basis in determinism. This, however, is precisely what Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five is – a quirky, enjoyable and decidedly unexpected perspective on a very solemn subject. Even readers with little enough interest in history should find this book quite easy to enjoy – it is characterised not so much by its historical basis, but by its amusing and incisive comments about human behaviour. Its style is concise, witty and fluid, making it very easy to read. (It's good to see that not all classics have to be uphill slogs!)

To me, Slaughterhouse-Five is an example of everything science fiction should be. It presents an original and absorbing premise. It challenges the way we think about life. It pushes the philosophical boundaries of what we consider possible. It asks questions with answers too complex to comprehend. Through its exploration of the strange and unknown, it holds the mirror up to humanity, and makes us notice the things we take for granted. And perhaps most importantly, it does it all with skill, wit and creativity. Its attitude seems to resemble Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, but with a little more meaning and a little less absurdity.

Although Slaughterhouse-Five may read with a veneer of light humour and contentment, however, the core message that Vonnegut presents is a bleak and passive one which I found quite unsatisfying. To his credit, he manages to portray it in a convincingly positive light, but when I stepped back and analysed it dispassionately, I began to dislike it for its fatalism. It might not alter the quality of the novel, but it may well compromise the enjoyment that some readers are able to extract from it.

Slaughterhouse-Five is the kind of novel that you can read in a few days, and then think about for a few months. Apart from younger readers, who may be put off by the sexual references, I would recommend this book to just about anyone. At only 157 pages, why not give it a go? The experience will be well worth your short while.

The only thing I didn't like about it is the science fiction part of it. I liked the idea of how the aliens understood time and death but that was the only thing that interested me. It's a book I want to read again. ( )

Not a bad book about the war, but I feel like Catch 22 covered this territory a lot more successfully. Still, it's a pretty striking example of post-modern lit -- the experimental narrative still feels surprisingly fresh. ( )

http://alookatabook.blogspot.com/2009... ( )

Vonnegut was Robbins before Robbins. So it goes.