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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9780385333849 ISBN: 0385333846 Label: Dial Press Trade Paperback Manufacturer: Dial Press Trade Paperback Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: January 12, 1999 Publisher: Dial Press Trade Paperback Release Date: January 12, 1999 Studio: Dial Press Trade Paperback Editorial Review: 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: Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the world's great anti-war books. Centering on the infamous fire-bombing 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. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - So it goes.In my opinion, the greatest novel ever written. Slaughterhouse-Five examines war, free will, and time. Vonnegut had the ability to send chills down your spine. R.I.P. (So it goes.) Rating:  - a short book about slaughterThis is a book I'd always put off reading because of the title. I couldn't figure out what it meant, and it sounded too weird for me. In fact it is more literal than I imagined: it refers to five army personnel who survive the bombing of Dresden by taking shelter in a slaughterhouse. It must have seemed a very clever book back when it was written, some 40 years ago now, but all the time-travel and general avant-garde story-telling is so mainstream today that it hardly registers. In ... Read More Rating: - "So it goes....."Slaughterhouse Five is the sad tale of Allied firebombing of Dresden, Germany during the Second World War. The Dresden bombing caused nearly the same number of deaths as the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. This novel is based on Kurt Vonnegut's own war experience and took him over two decades to finish it. Vonnegut is actually present as one of the characters; he was the constant cynical narrator who makes all deaths equivalent with his comment:" so it goes". Interestingly, ... Read More Rating: - CrazynessThe book jumps all over the place in a captivating way. I wouldn't necessarily call it SF though. Rating: - The Why of TralfalmadoreMade In Hero: The War for Soap Vonnegut joked that he didn't know if people read his books after high school. With that in mind, trying to get re-acquainted with SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE can bring up a vague feeling of dread. Like a lot of people who love this book, I first read it when I was an unsuspecting teenager. I loved the prospect of a planet Tralfalmadore. The creatures who live there aren't bothered by things--not bombs, not hunger, not crowds, and least of all, history--although Billy ... Read More |
