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He has a vivid imagination which makes this book, and apparently all his books, that much more interesting. I understand why it was on the banned list or why people object to it, but their protests are weak and unintelligent. Vonnegut has a unique style of writing which keeps the reader on their toes.
Apparently this is an anti-war book, but I feel his protests are too mild. With that said, I believe this is a necessary book for all to read and look forward to another Vonnegut book. I see him making points, especially with the Tralfamadores, but he could have voiced his opinion louder.
I saw this book on several different `must read' lists and decided to see what the hype was all about. It provides the slimmest of previews, but his description is insightful none the less.
At first, his jumping around annoyed me until I got used to it. Many reviewers said that got a different perspective of World War II from this book, but I don't see how.
Billy is nuts, as all of the talk about the Tralfamadorians demonstrates. The tedium is actually an example of how jaded and desensitized humans have become to the horror of war. First, it is clear and concise.
The atrocity at Dresden shocks but is handled without sentimentality. The fact that most Americans don't even know that more died in Dresden than Hiroshima is another example of how jaded we've become. And so it goes becomes a little tedious and this very tedium is a metaphor, no that's not exactly right.
This wonderful snack of a book does so many things right. Thus, we see ourselves in a new way. The book is great art with both content and style and it's packaged so that a public school 9th grader should be able to access it.
Second, the limited narrator is used excellently. But in telling us what these aliens believe and what they believe about humans, Billy is telling us quite a lot about how he has come to see humanity.
It is. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut was nominated for a best-novel Nebula Award and for a best-novel Hugo Award. Time magazine considers it one of the 100 all-time best English-language novels written since 1923.
But, Vonnegut does not want you to weep. It is Life manifest. This novel is rendered so finely that, if you do not realize it, you will think of it as trash. He knows that you want to weep, like he does, and, so, brings an even more depressing moment that is so absurd that you can only laugh. American letters will not be the same without Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut uses high and low culture with such ease while blending deep philosophical questions. It's hard not to want to weep during this novel.
He is not particularly compassionate or kind. And that is the most important thing to me in a book. In some parts of the book, I outright hated him for his apathy. So it goes.*I might add that I like nearly every story involving time travel of some sort or another, and this makes me a little bit biased. It has an anti-war sentiment to it that doesn't leave the bitter taste of being preached at in your mouth. Adding my drop in the bucket of reviews:I enjoyed the book. It is insane at times, a little hard to follow, and leaves certain questions unanswered. The book follows the life of Billy Pilgrim, a tall, odd, mentally unstable un-hero, as he jumps from one part of his life to the next.
He is not strong. I docked it one star because (though there's a reason for it) all of the violence and death made me uncomfortable. Overall, his story is just a narrative with no real emotion involved. It's the nerd in me coming out. Made me consider everything from old wars to new ones, to time travel*, to family relations. He spends time in a mental hospital, on his honeymoon, on another planet, drowning in a pool, but mostly, he spends it in Germany in WWII. But, I suppose, that was the intention.The story made me think. But to me, these were all a part of the fun.
In others, I pitied him for his insanity. Billy is not brave. It mixes the grimmest of realities with outright science fiction in a way that makes it nearly believable. As a chaplain's assistant, he is taken prisoner by the Germans and witnesses the bombing of Dresden.
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