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Slaughter House Five (Mass Market Paperback)

by Kurt Vonnegut (Author) "ALL THIS HAPPENED, more or less ..." (more)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 215 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group (6 Oct 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0440180295
  • ISBN-13: 978-0440180296
  • Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.4 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 82,988 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #12 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > V > Vonnegut, Kurt
    #14 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Vonnegut Jr., Kurt

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

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


Synopsis

Billy Pilgrim survives capture by the Gemans in World War II, the Dresden bombings, and the struggle for financial success only to be kidnapped in a flying saucer and taken to the planet Tralfamadore.
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Customer Reviews

43 Reviews
5 star:
 (36)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (43 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Billy Pilgrim shows us the way in this grrrrrrreat book!, 6 Nov 2007
This review is from: Slaughterhouse-Five: Or the Children's Crusade, a Duty-Dance with Death (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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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A true literary classic, 7 Jul 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Slaughterhouse Five Or, The Children's Crusade (Paladin Books) (Paperback)
Kurt Vonnegut has produced an extraordinary account of a young soldier by the name of Billy Pilgrim, as he faces the disaster of the Dresden bombing in the second world war. Vonnegut's approach to this account sees Billy Pilgrim travel through time as he experiences many of his life roles both before and after the bombing, as we are taken on a journey through Billy's life. Vonnegut's style is both witty and serious, making Slaughterhouse 5 an entertaining read whilst truly bringing home the horrors of war. If you are particularly interested in war literature, Slaughterhouse 5 is a must.
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Just brilliant, 5 Feb 2005
By Sancho Mahle (Charlotte, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Slaughterhouse-Five: Or the Children's Crusade, a Duty-Dance with Death (Paperback)
I read Slaughterhouse-Five three times and enjoyed every part of it those moments that I occupied myself with the book. Vonnegut is an amazing writer, so creative, brilliant, clever and witty that some of his words are difficult to forget. This was the first book I read by Kurt Vonnegut, and it was recommended to me by a friend. While I was reading it the first time, I tried to understand why it had become so much of a talked about read. At the end of it, I understood.

As someone who witnessed the Dresden bombing, the author portrayed his insight of war through the character of Billy Pilgrim, who was serving the US army during World War II a private. It is a fantastic anti-war book, or more a book with a sobering effect on war mongers. The overwhelming destruction of picturesque and artistic Dresden, by Allied bombers is at the centre of the book. The alien part of it was marvelous.

This book is easy to understand, the setting is great and the pace is fast, confirmed by the fact that I lost my attention for a minute while reading the book until the last words. This is a book to recommend to any reader who accepts the realities of life.

I also recommend DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the classic I expected
Maybe his absurd fatalism (which I am unconvinced was simply satire) is just wearing me down, but despite the fact that I was looking forward to reading this anti-war book, it... Read more
Published 1 month ago by G. C. Brown

5.0 out of 5 stars knock knock-anyone out there??
An anti war book which along with catch 22 and others should be made compusory reading for any persons preparing to entering government service or indeeed any position of power... Read more
Published 2 months ago by K. Hepke

4.0 out of 5 stars A basic book for teenagers.
One of those books tlike Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, etc that can kick start students into the world of 20th century literature and mhistory
Published 2 months ago by Mr. Richard Connell

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and incredibly well written
Vonnegut has a way of explaining difficult (even incomprehensible things) clearly, in a way that often makes me exclaim - Ah yes! That's right! Read more
Published 14 months ago by Julie BTW

5.0 out of 5 stars genuine in sentiment and original in expression
I wasn't sure what to expect before I started this novel, and one always has to be wary of the description "Cult Classic". Read more
Published 14 months ago by Talc Demon

5.0 out of 5 stars So it Goes.
Kurt Vonnegut was a genius. If you were a publisher reading the synopsis (if he ever did such a thing! Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2007 by Mike French

1.0 out of 5 stars I could not stand it
I'm sorry to enter so rudely into this phalanx of 5 star reviewers. I picked up this book with great expectations as I saw the photo of this nice guy on the back of the true first... Read more
Published on 2 Jul 2007 by Alexander Borg

1.0 out of 5 stars Not what it seems
This is an abridged version with notes- don't buy it unless a) short on time b) buying for your children c) are a schoolteacher. Read more
Published on 20 April 2007 by Daniel Taylor

5.0 out of 5 stars Slaughter House Five
One of Kurt Vonnegut's best and almost certainly the most personnal to him.
I confess I have read every page this man has written but if I was to hone it down to which of... Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2006 by G. R. Fullam

5.0 out of 5 stars Literature's Orgasm
Vonnegut is Vonnegut, but even though I was flabbergasted.
This book is not only of great inspiration to all creative minds but an instrument of... Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2005 by Brando Gramazio

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