Slaughterhouse-Five

I have sat here for some time now pondering on what exactly to write, but with so many other reviews, which are excellent, I am left a bit uncreative. Let's just say this is a great book. SL5 was recommended to me in a lit class I took last semester, and I picked it up a few weeks ago and devoured it the next day. It was one of those books that was so original, meaningful, and funny (in a dark humorous way), that I could not put it down. I even left a spaghetti stain on a page because I was reading while eating.

Anyway, all these reviews say so much about the book, that all I have to say is I agree with all the other good reviews. This is a great book, and it is hard not to like it. Check it out, I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

This is Kurt Vonnegut's Masterpiece. It achieves everything that good science fiction aspires to achieve. The world of Billy Pilgrim is not to be missed. This definitely has to be one of the greatest science fiction books ever written if not it is in the top 10.

John

Straightforward Fantasy of Baffling Reality

Billy Pilgrim has been unstuck in time, and I feel that way too. Through my English class, the whole contemporary style threw me completely off. This is not Dickens. This is not Steinbeck either. The closest I've read before is James Joyce, but I had no clue what he was saying. The similarity: half my brain cells died reading either book.
So it goes. However, this book is not going to be like any other war book you've
ever read-besides the usage of drugs as a plot device. This story has one of many interpretations. I am certain I have overanalyzed this book over and over again, but this is what I feel about the book.
The first is the easiest to explain and understand. Kurt Vonnegut is crazy and disillusioned after the onset of a terrible war including the hellish bombing of Dresden during World War II. This could easily explain for the random twists, plot spins, alien abductions, etc. However, this seems too simple an explanation.
Another explanation is an extremely deep one: the characters in the story are intended to be completely sane, and the book is not as much an antiwar novel as much as an analysis on free will. The narrator includes countless allusions to this argument, starting when Vonnegut compares stopping a war to stopping a glacier, to when the Trafamadoreans tell Billy Pilgrim that free will does not exist, to Billy getting thrown into the deep end of a pool. Billy is being taught the "sink or swim" method by his dad, but is rescued "against his free will" when they find out that he actually likes the bottom of the pool.
At this point, I cannot say that I have made a thorough analysis. I have practically nothing good to say. Perhaps the only thing I have left to say is "poo-tee-weet?"

June 9, 2008

Criticism on Slaughterhouse 5

Slaughterhouse 5, by Kurt Vonnegut, describes the unpredictability of life, as well as the inability to control it. The main character of the book, Billy Pilgrim, goes on many different adventures, some at home, and some on other planets several quadrillions of miles away from earth. Many lessons are taught in the book, some which certain people may disagree with. Among these are ideas that cannot be controlled, and the future cannot be altered by your decisions. Another suggestion is that death is not a large thing to worry about, as one can remember the good parts of someone's life, not just how they are now. However, these lessons have the potential to be disregarded by people who believe otherwise, if they are not already.

An interesting aspect of the book is that it is written in a format similar to the described Tralfamadorian format in the book. Several small passages make up the majority of the book, which alludes to the way the inhabitants of planet Tralfamadore format their books. Their books are meant to contain many short, happy memories that can all be viewed at once to form a single image of contentment. However, not all of the scenes in this book may be viewed as joyful. Plenty morose sections counter the good in this book.

The repetition of "so it goes" (1) in this book is unique and confusing. Usually it follows a mention of death, therefore following the main theme of life being uncontrollable, but is absent at certain instances, such as the death of Russians. This may be because the author doesn't like this group of people for some reason, or it may just be one of the many cases of disrespect in this book.

This novel has many inappropriate aspects as well. Wikipedia commented that "Because of its realistic and frequent depiction of swearing by American soldiers, its irreverent language (including the sentence `The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the zipper on the fly of God Almighty,') and some sexually explicit content, Slaughterhouse-Five is among the most frequently banned works in American literature, and in some cases is still removed from school libraries and curricula." (2) This is true, as many swear words were often repeated, and coupled with pornographic content at the end of chapter nine, this book may not be recommended to some audiences. Not to mention the fact that the repetition of this content distracts from the meaning found in this novel. However, any alterations to create a censored book would drastically alter the plot, so unfortunately it is hard to avoid this content if one wishes to read the novel.

In conclusion, Slaughterhouse 5 is a unique book with many hidden details that this criticism just touched the surface of, though it may not be recommended to some audiences. Vonnegut has created another novel that matches his style exactly.

(1) Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
(2) Wikipedia Search "Slaughterhouse 5"

I can almost imagine the author sitting at his typewriter, his wallpaper outline in yellow crayon tacked on the wall, typing a line at a time--all the while wondering if this book would ever be finished.

Because that is how it reads. It's random, with moments of brilliance. The first and last chapters were actually intro and epilogue, while Chapters 2 and beyond were the real "story". Characters may or may not play a part. A frozen hobo is a stark image, but what does it mean? Words and colors are interwoven - beginning with breath that reeks like mustard gas and roses, only to find it again in an underground tomb in Dresden. Like I said, brilliant--but random.

I read it twice, and liked it better the second time.