From the Bookshelf of Chat, Eat, and Read …

Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Start date: September 11, 2016

Finish date: September 24, 2016

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Sep 15, 2016 AngelofNoMercy rated it really liked it

This is a book that I think needs to be read to be understood. I fear any review of it will come across as nonsense because it contains its share of purposeful nonsense. This book is unusual because of its creative approach. At its most basic level, it is an antiwar book juxtaposed with science fiction in the form of alien abduction and time travel. See, it sounds like nonsense. What is impressive is that, as you read it, it makes sense. The path that you follow as you read, despite how much it This is a book that I think needs to be read to be understood. I fear any review of it will come across as nonsense because it contains its share of purposeful nonsense. This book is unusual because of its creative approach. At its most basic level, it is an antiwar book juxtaposed with science fiction in the form of alien abduction and time travel. See, it sounds like nonsense. What is impressive is that, as you read it, it makes sense. The path that you follow as you read, despite how much it jumps around, is clear and, in a way, logical.

What is very interesting to me is that the author was present at the bombing of Dresden, Germany and this book is the result of his effort to write about that experience; but in order to write about it, the author had to go to great lengths to distance himself from the subject. In fact, he went so far as to use a fictional character named Billy Pilgrim as the protagonist in his semi-autobiographical story. What a daring creative choice. Then he throws elements of sci-fi into Billy's story which actually work really nicely at times to parallel the foreign nature of war to the general public. He grounds the fictional aspects of the story in two important ways. Firstly, the entire first chapter is nonfiction and is about his struggles to write this book. Secondly, he inserts himself into the story occasionally. In the midst of describing something that Billy Pilgrim experiences, the author will make simple statements like, "That was me" or "I was there." This keeps the story grounded in a way that wouldn't otherwise be possible and adds an air of validity.

Another interesting aspect of the novel is that the sci-fi elements can be interpreted in several different ways. You can accept them as truth. You can write them off as a consequence of senility, as Billy's daughter does. Or, you can take those alien/time travel sections as delusion, but also as a way for the main character to cope with the bombing and the direction his life took by claiming it was all inevitable. The facts that Billy suffers a serious brain injury and reads sci-fi books that parallel his alien/time travel story support this idea. Also, a lot of the time jumps seem to come at stressful moments that you could call triggers for psychological episodes (that he experiences as time travel) or flat out delusions (like with the aliens). This perspective would force the reader to consider Billy an unreliable narrator. However, what is particularly clever, is that the author makes it clear that he, not Billy, is the one relating the story. Therefore, it ultimately doesn't matter whether you believe the sci-fi aspects or not; the war parts, particularly the prisoner of war and Dresden parts, are backed up by the author who was there. Ultimately the sci-fi parts serve to make the war parts more palatable. I think this unusual but winning combination is what makes this book so widely read. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 15, 2019 Alicia Davies marked it as to-read

Oct 09, 2015 Diana rated it really liked it

Sep 17, 2016 Deborah Heffner rated it really liked it

1 like · Like

Mar 08, 2016 Baz is currently reading it

Oct 20, 2016 Delaney marked it as to-read

Group Home Bookshelf Discussions

Photos Videos

Send invite Members Polls