Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the world's great anti-war books. Centering on the infamous fire-bombing 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.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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It took Vonnegut more than 20 years to put his Dresden experiences into words. He explained, "there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again." Slaughterhouse Five is a powerful novel incorporating a number of genres. Only those who have fought in wars can say whether it represents the experience well. However, what the novel does do is invite the reader to look at the absurdity of war. Human versus human, hedonist politicians pressing buttons and ordering millions to their deaths all for ideologies many cannot even comprehend. Flicking between the US, 1940's Germany and Tralfamadore, Vonnegut's semi- autobiographical protagonist Billy Pilgrim finds himself very lost. One minute he is being viewed as a specimen in a Tralfamadorian Zoo, the next he is wandering a post-apocalyptic city looking for corpses. Slaughterhouse Five-Or The Children's Crusade A Duty-Dance with Death is a remarkable blend of black humour, irony, the truth and the absurd. The author regards his work a "failure", millions of readers do not. Released the same time bombs were falling on South East Asia, this title caused controversy and awakening. Essential reading for all. So it goes. --Jon Smith
--This text refers to the
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'A marvellous excursion...the writing is pungent, the antics uproarious, the wit as sharp as a hypodermic needle' Daily Telegraph
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By Penguin Egg
Format:Paperback
Slaughterhouse 5 is every bit as good as it's reputation suggests. It is witty, observant, humane, and clever. Vonnegut writes in a deceptively simple prose, but which must have been difficult to have pulled off: namely, the way the story flits from the present to the past and to the future, very often in a single page, but manages to do it without disturbing the effortless flow of the narrative. No mean trick for a writer. A favourite book of mine. I can also recommend some of his earlier books: The Sirens of Titan; Piano Player; Mother Night, and Player Piano. His later books are not so hot; but Slaughterhouse 5 is his masterpiece. Like Heller's Catch 22, with which it has something in common, it is fun to read.
50 of 54 people found the following review helpful
By M. Moran
Format:Paperback
Taught now in English classes as a post-modern sketch of the absurdity of war, this novel uses a collage of techniques and genres--science fiction, episodic storytelling, Absurdism, memoir--to get its point across.
It's point can still be missed, however. War is fought by children, Vonnegut explains, caught up in something that they often do not understand. Therein lay the absurdity. Vonnegut's own personal history, captured and held in Dresden during the bombing, allowed him firsthand to witness the devastation war can bring. Ideologies are transient, he realizes. And the destruction of one of the most beautiful European cities and the deaths of 24,000 human beings had a profound effect on him. What is the point? Examine the purpose of life. What is it?
The story demands the reader to ask questions of him/herself.
Also, the impact this book has had on literature can't be ignored. In an earlier review, the stylistic similarities to Adams and Irving, both who followed Vonnegut and so were obviously influenced, was mentioned. That's important. You can trace a number of modern satirists to Vonnegut--Palahniuk being my own personal favorite.
Whether you agree with Vonnegut's stance on war as absurd or not, Slaughterhouse-Five is worth a careful reading.
It's point can still be missed, however. War is fought by children, Vonnegut explains, caught up in something that they often do not understand. Therein lay the absurdity. Vonnegut's own personal history, captured and held in Dresden during the bombing, allowed him firsthand to witness the devastation war can bring. Ideologies are transient, he realizes. And the destruction of one of the most beautiful European cities and the deaths of 24,000 human beings had a profound effect on him. What is the point? Examine the purpose of life. What is it?
The story demands the reader to ask questions of him/herself.
Also, the impact this book has had on literature can't be ignored. In an earlier review, the stylistic similarities to Adams and Irving, both who followed Vonnegut and so were obviously influenced, was mentioned. That's important. You can trace a number of modern satirists to Vonnegut--Palahniuk being my own personal favorite.
Whether you agree with Vonnegut's stance on war as absurd or not, Slaughterhouse-Five is worth a careful reading.
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By Dennis Littrell
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I know this novel fairly well having read it several times (once aloud to my students). It is about all time being always present if only we knew, or could realize it, or had a sense about time in the same way we have senses for light and sound.
It is also about the Allied fire bombings of Dresden which killed about 25,000 people. (And so it goes.) Kurt Vonnegut begins as though writing a memoir and advises us that "All of this happened, more or less..." Of course it did not, and yet, as with all real fiction, it is psychologically true. His protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, an unlikely hero, somewhat in the manner of unlikely heroes to come like Forest Gump and the hero of Jerzy Kosinski's Being There, transcends time and space as he bumbles along. This is a comédie noire--a "black comedy"--not to be confused with "film noir," a cinematic genre in which the bad guys may win or at least they are made sympathetic. In comédie noire the events are horrific but the style is light-hearted. What the genres have in common is a non-heroic protagonist.
This is also a totally original work written in a most relaxing style that fuses the elements of science fiction with realism. It is easy to read (which is one of the reasons it can be found on the high school curriculum in our public schools). It is sharply satirical, lampooning not only our moral superiority, our egocentricity, but our limited understanding of time and space. And of course it is anti-war novel in the tradition of All Quiet on the Western Front and Johnny Got His Gun.
Vonnegut's view of time in this novel is like the stratification of an upcropping of rock: time past and time present are there for us to see, but also there is time future.... Read more ›
It is also about the Allied fire bombings of Dresden which killed about 25,000 people. (And so it goes.) Kurt Vonnegut begins as though writing a memoir and advises us that "All of this happened, more or less..." Of course it did not, and yet, as with all real fiction, it is psychologically true. His protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, an unlikely hero, somewhat in the manner of unlikely heroes to come like Forest Gump and the hero of Jerzy Kosinski's Being There, transcends time and space as he bumbles along. This is a comédie noire--a "black comedy"--not to be confused with "film noir," a cinematic genre in which the bad guys may win or at least they are made sympathetic. In comédie noire the events are horrific but the style is light-hearted. What the genres have in common is a non-heroic protagonist.
This is also a totally original work written in a most relaxing style that fuses the elements of science fiction with realism. It is easy to read (which is one of the reasons it can be found on the high school curriculum in our public schools). It is sharply satirical, lampooning not only our moral superiority, our egocentricity, but our limited understanding of time and space. And of course it is anti-war novel in the tradition of All Quiet on the Western Front and Johnny Got His Gun.
Vonnegut's view of time in this novel is like the stratification of an upcropping of rock: time past and time present are there for us to see, but also there is time future.... Read more ›
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Janie U
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
The first chapter in this book is in the first person which gives context to the rest of the book. I always forget how rare, but enjoyable, it is to read first person until you come across it, generally in autobiographies. This gave a fascinating start which engaged my curiosity from the beginning.
I loved the swapping backwards and forwards in time. It was initially unsettling but once I accepted that was normal then it was a very relaxing technique. The use of the fourth dimension led to a interesting conclusion that when a body dies it doesn't matter as there are still times when it was alive and they can be revisited at any time.
Billy has memories from the future which is a great concept and I loved his complete acceptance of what will be happening at some time and also accepting his inability to change it.
I'm not quite sure how the author managed to acheive it, but the suspense was retained all through the novel even though, through Billy, the reader has already seen the end of the story.
There is a thin line between the philosophical genius of Billy and his lunatic tendancies which increase as the time progressed towards his death.
This is the first Kurt Vonnegut book I have read and I will read more.
I loved the swapping backwards and forwards in time. It was initially unsettling but once I accepted that was normal then it was a very relaxing technique. The use of the fourth dimension led to a interesting conclusion that when a body dies it doesn't matter as there are still times when it was alive and they can be revisited at any time.
Billy has memories from the future which is a great concept and I loved his complete acceptance of what will be happening at some time and also accepting his inability to change it.
I'm not quite sure how the author managed to acheive it, but the suspense was retained all through the novel even though, through Billy, the reader has already seen the end of the story.
There is a thin line between the philosophical genius of Billy and his lunatic tendancies which increase as the time progressed towards his death.
This is the first Kurt Vonnegut book I have read and I will read more.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Read this decades ago when Vonnegut was THE thing. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE was our talisman in school, right along with CATCHER IN THE RYE and about ten other books. We loved this guy for his absurdist comedy and knowing look at the human condition. Occasionally Vonnegut's works will be so "real" that you think he's just giving you a take on a slice of life, but with S5, time becomes a major player in this tale of angst, social malfunction, and Tralfamadorians. The only book I liked better was BREAKFAST FOR CHAMPIONS and the great quirky novel KATZENJAMMER by McCrae which flew off the shelves in America when it first came out. S5 is Black comedy at its finest. Can't go wrong with this one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully written
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is written very well, reminiscent of Catch-22 in the themes and the post modern style. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Annalisa
4.0 out of 5 stars
A war story with imagination
Hearing Slaughterhouse 5 was based on Vonnegut's experiences of the Dresden World War II bombings, I was braced for a gripping, blow-by-blow account of a terrible and... Read more
Published 15 days ago by Carol A.
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent re-read
I've read it before and it holds up to a second reading - a classic of the genre, well worth a look.
Published 18 days ago by Ferdinand Po
4.0 out of 5 stars
very enjoyable
I was very pleased with the theme. The storytelling was so good the time travel was easy to accept.
I loved the humour too but thought it ended too abruptly.
I loved the humour too but thought it ended too abruptly.
Published 25 days ago by paul mahon
3.0 out of 5 stars
Weird but interesting
I bought this book as it was apart of my university reading. I found it a good read overall with very interesting concepts and narrative. Read more
Published 28 days ago by Tobchipbob
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Great book in good condition for a good price. It arrived quickly too. I would recommend it to anyone interested in these kinds of books.
Published 1 month ago by By K Neal
5.0 out of 5 stars
Listen
It feels like everything I really care about is somewhere in this book. I've read a lot of Vonnegut. Read more
Published 1 month ago by njd
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic
This book is a classic novel of the 20th Century. A brilliant if idiosyncratic novel written as only Vonnegut knew how. His style only emphasises the tragedy that is modern war.
Published 2 months ago by Alan E. Wharton
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant book...
This book is witty, observant, humane, and clever. Vonnegut writes in a simple prose, which must have been difficult to have pulled off - the way the story flits from the present... Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. Craven
1.0 out of 5 stars
"So it goes" into the bin
After 130 pages of 170 I could not take any more of "So it goes" so I gave up. What a tedious book. If I read "So it goes" once I read it a 100 times. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Baggie Blog
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