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Slaughterhouse-Five | 
 enlarge | Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Rating:  712 reviews
Sales Rank: 525
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0385333846
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780385333849
ASIN: 0385333846
Publication Date: January 12, 1999
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Amazon.com Review
Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden. Don't let the ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..." Slaughterhouse-Five (taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy--and humor.
Product Description
Launched in November, Dell's Kurt Vonnegut reissue program continues with one of the world's great anti-war books. Centering on the infamous firebombing 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 707 more reviews...
 So unique that a true review is difficult. So it goes. January 3, 2009
Slaughterhouse five is one of those great anti-war books in the 60's that is really hard to describe, so I'll make it quick. It tells about Billy Pilgrim, who 'time travels' to many points of his life, including the bombing of Dresden. He also gets kidnapped by aliens and learns about their way of life. Embedded in the whacky, realistic narraration is a message about war and life itself. I can't say much about it except that it's a must-read before you die.
Shell Shocked December 28, 2008
An amazing story that pulls the reader through time and back again. Story fragments shuffled in time. Escaping to the future, being in the present. Then always coming back to the war. Highly recommended.
A Masterpiece December 24, 2008
Vonnegut has penned a celebration of the anti-hero, the story of an unwitting man who takes a winding, chronologically non-linear dash through the space/time continuum. Billy Pilgrim experiences combat in Europe during World War II while simultaneously experiencing life as a successful optometrist in Ilium, New York twenty years later. Complexity to complexity, in 1967, Billy is kidnapped by aliens and kept captive in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore, naked and with a porn star for his cellmate.
That's the gist. How's the pudding, you ask?
Great. A frolicking mixture of anti-war sentiments and social commentary, Slaughterhouse 5 teases, humors, shocks and entertains. In expanding the topical and structural boundaries of the American novel, Vonnegut effectively gives a new generation of writers permission to experiment. Had it not been for Slaughterhouse 5, my first novel could not have included a trial of the Lord for crimes against humanity, court proceedings conducted against the backdrop of the Iraq War. Unlike Mr. Vonnegut, I didn't manage to include aliens and porn stars in the storyline, but there's always a next time.
(Smile)
And so Vonnegut has created a literary masterpiece, one that successfully melds the dispassionate sensibilities of existentialism with a cubist form, telling a story that is at once funny, sad, shallow and profound.
 Not as anti-war as I was led to believe December 19, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is about Billy, a pitiful loser who sleepwalks his way through WWII. Through weaving chronology we see the negative effects the war had on his ability to deal with reality.
From the other reviews I was expecting a strong missive against war, along the likes of 1984, but instead Vonnegut's thoughts about war is rather ho-hum and tame. The war gets second billing to Billy's story and the description of Dresden's bombing gets less description than you can find in its Wikipedia entry.
This is an enjoyable, quick read, but not particularly profound or heavy.
On Another Level November 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Somewhere in the first chapter (or maybe the second, if you are convinced that the first chapter is a foreword), it dawns on you: this is not normal. The main character is not dynamic. There is no real, driving conflict. There is no escalation, nor any other conventional literary mechanism used to move the story. That would probably be the best word to describe Vonnegut: anticonventional.
What follows is a masterful tale the likes of which we may never see again. The sublime tones combine with a graceful, immersive imagery and characters that are bare and gaunt while also full of fervor. The themes are beautiful and horrible to watch, but Billy Pilgrim's journey is one you won't be able to avoid. It'll call to you whenever this book is not in your hands. At any given moment, you'll find yourself murmuring to no one in particular, "So it goes."
I am not sure how this novel is assigned to high school literature classes, because the book is so subtle and layered: I would think that teaching this book to teenagers would be like describing Newton's theories to a family of Dachshunds. I guess that's why they (high school English teachers, not the dogs) descend to the level of Ethan Frome, or other such toys, to pass the time. Purely put, Vonngeut doesn't deserve to be put on your bookcase; the proximity to so many inferior works might lead someone to believe that Slaughterhouse-Five is comparable. I'd suggest framing the book and mounting it on your dining room wall, but that might prevent you from reading it again. Which you should. Immediately.
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