Slaughterhouse 5
You can view this book's Amazon detail page here.
Tags: aliens, optometry, Timetravel, WWII
- Started reading:
- 20th April 2007
- Finished reading:
- 15th May 2007
Review
Rating: 7
I bought a few books by him right after he died. I figured I had never read anything by him, so maybe this was the time to start. I started with this one, because I know it was supposed to be one of his best.
I had been warned that Vonnegut isn’t the easiest to read, and he might not always make sense. I can confirm that. Vonnegut seemed to bounce between his real voice and the author’s voice. Breaking the 4th Wall, I guess, of book writing.
The book was based on Vonnegut’s own WWII experiences as a German POW in Dresden during the firebombing. The book seemed almost cathartic for Vonnegut, who was probably struggling with his own experiences in the war and the Allies’ present day denial or lack of knowledge concerning the events of Dresden. The story is about a Billy Pilgrim, a young soldier who’s WWII experiences parallels Vonnegut’s. Only Pilgrim actually slips in and out of time, bouncing between his past, present and future. A future which apparently involves Pilgrim being abducted by aliens, and chasing after an obscure writer, Kilgore Trout, which is Vonnegut’s alter ego in several of his books.
It was an interesting book, and not the last of Vonnegut’s I will be reading.
