Comments (59)

Slaughterhouse-five

Or, The Children's Crusade, a Duty-dance With Death
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1 to 25 of 59 items
Mar 24, 2024GinoSena rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A fascinating examination of the psychological consequences of war that’s equal parts hilarious and dark. One of my favorite books and a great introduction to Vonnegut’s body of work!
Dec 19, 2023robhatem rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
In Vonnegut’s introduction to the 25th anniversary edition he says he was told being antiwar was bound to be as ineffective as being anti-glacier. Turns out humans are better at eliminating glaciers than at ending war.
Nov 29, 2023Kimberleygray rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
maybe a 2.5 rating but this was just a weird book for me. Satire commentary of WWII as Billy is a prisoner of war and survives the firebombing of Dresden. There is a whole section where he talks about being abducted by aliens. I think he…
Oct 17, 2023
Multiple Recs! "This book brings together historical facts, science fiction, and satire." - Lori G. "The classics are classics for a reason. You read it for the first time and feel, "Okay, I did my literary duty because I should..." and…
Feb 19, 2023Laurelsmithreads rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children’s Crusade, is Kurt Vonnegut’s amazing anti-war noveI. His protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, returns to the US after WWII and marries his young wife. Vonnegut shows us how young the couple is, they have both…
Sep 09, 2022Hongyi71 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I read it before I went to bed yesterday, so I began time travel in my dream. Vonnegut time travel is fragmented, random, you don't know when you're going, you just go. Casually arrive at a certain time, experience something that has…
Sep 03, 2022laurelfelber rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This novel is such a powerful story about the insanity of war. Based largely on Kirt Vonnegut's firsthand experience of the firebombing in Dresden and the PTDSD he suffered as a result of this experience. I was numb by the end, despite…
May 13, 2022red_dog_14987 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is another book that the republiCON (trumper) party is trying to remove from public school libraries. I don't understand why they don't just put their own children in religious schools so they can remain properly uneducated and leave…
Apr 19, 2022camilayeremin rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Although I loved this book, I remember finding it really hard to get into at first. The only other book I’d read at that time by Vonnegut was Cat’s Cradle, and the tone of that novel was extremely different. I didn’t like it at first…
Apr 15, 2022bell5133 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Another name for the book could be “so it goes” because of how frequently that phrase is repeated, seemingly whenever death is mentioned, which is often. The slaughterhouse five part is only in a very small portion of the novel. It was…
Jan 28, 2022pacl_teens rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
"Most consider war a heavy topic that cannot be associated with humor. This stereotype is not unjustified as the things that are connected with war, such as weapons, starvation, and death are all blights that warrant no banter. Kurt…
Nov 09, 202110000mefest rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Billy Pilgram's inner thoughts, as his grip on reality comes into question after a stint in the military during World War II. a story told in flash backs, futuristic visions and extra-dimensional sci-fi mental episodes. Unusual, clever in…
Aug 24, 2021phreshwater rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
For such weighty subject matter, it's a very fun read. Try not to go through it too quickly. After a couple chapters at a time, sit with it.
Jul 26, 2021gassan rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
While it is a very comical and entertaining work of literature indeed, I do have one objection. If you read other comments on this page or commentary on other websites, you soon find out that the novel is full of subtle metaphors,…
Jul 07, 2021liquidcrystalcity rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
While fiction, it's still a great read for anyone who wants a better understanding of PTSD.
May 27, 2021dgiard rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
"All this happened, more or less." Kurt Vonnegut begins his novel "Slaughterhouse-Five" with an autobiographical description of the effect that World War II had on him. He witnessed the carpet bombing of Dresden, Germany while he was held…
Mar 31, 2021Anita_Dickey rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I read this book to fulfil the goal read a genre hybrid A cross-genre (or hybrid genre) is a genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. this is a mixture between fantasy and memoir. i found it a little weird.…
Feb 22, 2021zacharylidd rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Every dark comedy I’ve read/heard/watched up to this point has felt like a watered-down version of this. Vonnegut puts his mastery of incorporating his real-life encounters with traumatic wartime events on full display with a voice and…
Dec 12, 2020saramarie rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
All time favorite book. When I first read it in high school I thought it was non-fiction lol!
Nov 26, 2020BARosen1112 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I had read Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel some 45 years ago while in my early 20s, and decided to read it again when I read it was Vonnegut's 95th birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I'm glad I did. I liked the story of Billy Pilgrim, who…
Oct 22, 2020monicajain12 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This novel by Kurt Vonnegut, one of the best American writers of the twentieth century, is both humorously absurd and profoundly tragic. It follows Billy Pilgrim, a young, reluctant, inept soldier as he’s shipped off to Europe to fight…
Sep 29, 2020janerf rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I don’t see the humor, or the absurdity. Yeah. War really is that absurdly stupid. The book is technically ‘fiction.’ Except all of the details about Dresden, and most of the characters, is non fiction. The audio book is marvelous.…
Jul 23, 2020
Blindness, greed, corruption, justice and dehumanization. Just a couple of the themes found the in the anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five, written by American writer and World War II veteran Kurt Vonnegut. 20 years past, Vonnegut, under…
Mar 30, 2020JCLMyshaP rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
A darkly humorous classic that blends surreal sci-fi elements and nonlinear storytelling to fully express the disillusionment of war. It's a truly fascinating read of the life of Billy Pilgrim and one I will no doubt return to for deeper…
Jan 31, 2020erfinn37 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
This book will probably take me a few times to read before I fully understand everything. And maybe I'll never understand all of it. I loved how the book always kept you guessing where the narrative was going to go next. It also left it up…