Slaughterhouse Five was on my “to read” list because of its acclaim, so for me it was medicine that I wanted to take. This was an uncomfortable novel, but certainly an important one, as Vonnegut painstakingly outlines his anti-war stance and the far-reaching consequences of war.
Billy Pilgrim is a reluctant participant in war and his experiences in Dresden are always with him. He suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, and spends his life “traveling in time” along his personal timeline due to his experiences with space aliens who have a non-linear approach to time. For them, what has happened has happened, and always will happen. This is a pretty hard novel to describe (especially when one’s brain is addled by jetlag) but is one that will stay with you, and provide many points to ponder.
I listened to this on audio, which helped me move along as it was pretty dense and hard to follow because of the time jumping. Eventually I got into the rhythm of it and was glad to have read it.
The time travel device was interesting: for me I likened it to reflecting on memories, or visiting old haunts. The process of reflection transports you back to that time and place, and to who you were then, and hence we are all time travelers once in a while.
I read this in Jr. high, I think there was a Vonnegut book burning, so in protest I read all the Vonnegut’s I could get my hands on. Slaughterhouse 5 stuck with me more than any of the others. I should probably read it again as an adult.
A… A… A book BURNING ?! oO
Probably not a local book burning, but one that made the news. They happen, and Slaughterhouse Five is one of the top 100 Challenged Books of the last decade.
I meant century, not decade.
The US seem like such a strange place sometimes -__-.
*mumbles*
Book BURNINGS !! Iconoclasts !!
*grumbles*
The U.S. is a very strange place. Full of contradictions and hypocrisy.
Basically like everywhere else, then :)
Happy Quarter Cannonball! I read this one back in high school, thanks to a teacher unafraid of assigning banned books as make up work (I had spectacularly bombed an assignment and she felt Slaughterhouse covered this missed material perfectly.) I probably owe it a revisit, since I remember being captivated by it then. It has become my go to reference for people who don’t like Huxley.