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.”
So basically everyone I’ve ever talked to has read this book before me, and I’m kinda pissed off about that. Why didn’t y’all tell me I needed to read this? I know most people had to read it in high school, but I didn’t read any of the books normally assigned in high school because my teachers were all rebellious anti-establishmentarians and assigned books like Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison not H.G. Wells), The Sound and the Fury, and The House of the Spirits instead; I caught up on some missed classics in college and grad school, but I’m still catching up on others. Why didn’t anyone ever think to tell me, Oh hey, by the way, Ashley, you know Kurt Vonnegut HE’S SUPER GREAT.
I mean, I read Sirens of Titan a couple of years ago and liked it, but it’s no This Book. This Book is so dark and angry and funny and absurd, and it’s obviously deeply personal. It’s also one of the most quotable books I’ve ever read. I was bookmarking pages one after the other to save passages for future reference, and eventually I had to stop because I was reading a library copy and determined I just needed to buy my own and mark the hell out of that one instead.
It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds.
And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like ‘Poo-tee-weet?'”
So I don’t know, if there are any others of you out there who haven’t read this, but this book is Vonnegut’s attempt to finally put into words what his experiences with WWII mean to him, and specifically his experiences being present at the fire-bombing of Dresden, in which more people died than in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first chapter is actually told from Vonnegut’s first person POV, and while I’m sure it is slightly fictionalized, it also feels mostly true. He spent years trying to write this book and what ended up coming out of his pen was this absurdist, satirical humdinger of a book, in which WWII veteran Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time and is shuttled back and forth across his life, and also is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, who experience four dimensions and view humans and their activities in quite a different way.
The easiness of reading this book belies its depth and anger, which is tremendous. It’s also a darkly funny book. You’re horrified even as you’re chuckling to yourself over his phrasing or his absurd imagery, and then a line comes along out of the blue to sucker punch you in the feelings. There is really no excuse for you not to read it. Even if you don’t end up liking it, it’s so short it’s worth giving it a shot. And even if, as Vonnegut says in this book, writing an anti-war book is about as useful as writing an anti-glacier book (“What he meant, of course, was that there would always be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers. I believe that, too.”) this is still probably one of the greatest–if not the quintessential–anti-war books ever written. It’s important in a way that literature often aims for but doesn’t always reach.
And Lot’s wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.
So she was turned into a pillar of salt. So it goes.
People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.
I’ve finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun. This one is a failure, and had to be, since it was written by a pillar of salt.”
It’s been a long time since I read this, but your review brought it back and made me want to read it again.
Glad to be of service :)
I love this book so very much. I also loved your review so very much. I love that you loved it!
Thank you! I’m glad I loved it, too! I just really like liking things.
I ask this of everyone whose read this book. Pilgrim- Actual abductee or just driven crazy by his war experiences? There are arguments to be made for both and I find both sides interesting. I, who will find ANY excuse to slate a book into the sci-fi/fantasy genre, actually think if’s the latter.
Hmmm, I read it literally, but assumed it was symbolic of the actual experience veterans would have with PTSD and dealing with the fallout from being in a war. That his literal fragmenting timeline and mind represents the figurative fragmenting present in someone who has been affected by something like this. I could see how it could be the other way around, though, but I think I prefer it my way.
It has been quite awhile since I read this one. Although I love the story of how I ended up reading it. It was not required reading in my high school because if a book had ever been banned in the state there was a lot of reluctance to make it a required reading. BUT, I had failed a quiz in my Contemporary History class and my teacher loved to assign books as replacements for bad grades. She picked Slaughterhouse Five because it “related” to the subject area I had so obviously missed. I think she just loved getting books into the hands of her students. I had a similar experience with Ordinary People in a different class.
You failed your history quiz? Haha. You don’t seem the type! Good for her, anyway. Teachers need to make their students read more.
There may have been the problem of falling asleep during the lecture preceding the quiz. I have never been a morning person, and this class started at 7:25 a.m. :)
Oh, yes. That’s totally understandable then. I regularly fell asleep in my senior year history class, as did the boy who sat next to me. We were both in the front row right next to the teacher. But his voice was so soporific! The teacher started calling us Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. We used to have to take turns “going to the bathroom”, which was really walking in laps around the hallways to try and stay awake.
(I had such a crush on that boy.)
(I wonder what he’s doing now . . .)
My desk was right in front of the wall (a place to lean my head) and I was sitting behind a boy who is an entire foot taller than me (couldn’t be seen sleeping). It was a terrible combo, but I really loved that class. :)
If by terrible, you mean excellent.
(whispering)
I’ve never read anything by Vonnegut. I’m not sure how that happened.
Will rectify this as soon as possible.
YES DO IT.
(whispering) me neither!
Well, at least I know I’m not alone!
Me three. There are tons of “required reading” books that I’ve never read because I grew up in Norway. Here a lot of high school English is focused on learning the history and social sciences of English speaking countries, not actually reading a lot of books. Hence I have never read this, or books like Lord of the Flies or Catcher in the Rye. Your review really makes me want to read it, though, which is more than I can say about the other two books I mentioned.
Malin, don’t read Catcher in the Rye. I feel like you would hate it. I mean, I could be wrong. But I don’t think I am. Lord of the Flies is really good, though, and so is this one!
Unfortunately, I am pretty sure I’m going to have to read Catcher in the Rye, even though I’m also pretty sure I’m going to utterly loathe it. We are currently working on “Classics” as a topic and the advanced level kids are going to read Catcher in the Rye. I’m not sure I can in good conscience suggest that 14-year-olds read a book I’ve never read. It’s not like it’s that long a book (unlike Anna Karenina *shudder*) and if I hate it (I’m pretty sure I’m going to hate it, as is my husband, who has read it), I can get my scathe on properly for the review, right?
If you have to read it, I highly suggest watching the Crash Course YouTube video series that John Green did for it a couple of years ago. I feel like it will make you appreciate it more. It might also be fun for the kids to watch!
Good suggestion! I will add the links to that to the web resources we have for the kids.