Kurt Vonnegut

Billy Pilgrim returns home from the Second World War only to be kidnapped by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, who teach him that time is an eternal present

Or, The Children's Crusade, a Duty-dance with Death

Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death

Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

matus

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 

Avery

There in the hospital, Billy was having an adventure very common among people without power in time of war: he wahe was trying to prove to a willfully deaf and blind enemy that he was interested to hear and see.

Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected.

I think you guys are going to have to come up with a lot of wonderful new lies, or people just aren't going to want to go on living.

He said that Americans had no choice but to keep fighting in Vietnam until they achieved victory or until the Communists realized that they could not force their way of life on weak countries.

It was his addled understanding of the rules of warfare that the marksman should be given a second chance.

Kyle Curry

Kairos

It was never clear whether Billy Pilgrim really had an extraterrestrial encounter which gave him the ability of observing time on a higher dimension. The entire lifetime of Billy tells a compelling story, far more interesting than Billy’s personality.

Billy came from a wealthy but broken family, went to war, became a war prison, saw friends and comrades and innocent civilians die, survived a plane crash, spent years in hospitals, had his own family. You would think that Billy may be somehow wiser and stronger and more mature. But in reality, Billy was a beaten down and stoic person. He often cries himself to sleep, being unable to sexually please himself. When he sleeps, he would travel back or forth in time to relive those moments when he had suffered the most.

Billy claimed that he gained this time travel ability from an alien species who called themselves the Trafamadorians. He could be completely out of his mind, and the stories about his time travels, were probably just his own memories but in a more glorified fashion. Or he might be right, there might really be aliens, and they see everything in all of its timeline.

The story has no conflicts, you just experience the lifetime of Billy Pilgrim as he gradually told what had happened in the past and what would happen to him afterwards.

Benedict Neo

This was my first ever Vonnegut book, which I hear is an amazing author, and this book proved that to me. Since this was one of the greaters anti-war books, I learned a lot about world war 2 in particular, the experiences of POWs, the brutal conditions they were forced to live in, and most importantly about the bombing of Dresden, which I did not know about beforehand. 

The way the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim travels through time uncontrollably was interesting to read and it kept the story exciting and flowing. I also found what the Tralfamadorians said about seeing time in all it's entirety, and not as a thread from one point to another intruiging, and how when a person dies, they're not really dead, but existing in time, realting to the quote “All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.” 

I kept thinking about why the protaganist did not do anything to stop his abduction, or the plane crash, but let it happen because the idea was "everything has happened and will happen", and that trying to change your destiny and exercise free will is pointless. This dichotomy of predestination and free made me think about my own life, and whether God has predestined my entire life for me, down to my every action, or there's an infinite amount of possiblities that could spring from my actions, and free will still exist. 

Overall this was a fun read and it helped me from the business of life. The next Vonneget books I wanna read are Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions.

“I’ve been opening the window and making love to the world” ……so it goes 

Drew Santiago

Ryan North

The first-ever graphic novel adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great anti-war books. An American classic and one of the world’s seminal antiwar books, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is faithfully presented in graphic novel form for the first time from Eisner Award-winning writer Ryan North (How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler) and Eisner Award-nominated artist Albert Monteys (Universe!). Listen: Billy Pilgrim has... ...read Kilgore Trout ...opened a successful optometry business ...built a loving family ...witnessed the firebombing of Dresden ...traveled to the planet Tralfamadore ...met Kurt Vonnegut ...come unstuck in time. Billy Pilgrim’s journey is at once a farcical look at the horror and tragedy of war where children are placed on the frontlines and die (so it goes), and a moving examination of what it means to be fallibly human.

Briar's Reviews

I have wanted to pick up Slaughterhouse-Five for years, ever since I was given 1984 in high school instead of this book. I had always been interested in what I missed out in reading this book, and lucky for me NetGalley had the graphic novel version of this book!

I thought this was a great way to present the story, even if I haven't read the original work. If I had options like this way back in my high school days then it would have made reading some of these classics way more entertaining! I'd highly recommend educators and students grab books like these to add a little spice and fun to your reading lists.

I really enjoyed the illustrations, and I found the book really intriguing and well done.

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

for being a classic… i wasn’t a big fan. unorthodox writing structure didn’t make it an easy read

Jonathon Sanders

Billy Pilgrim survives capture by the Gemans in World War II, the Dresden bombings, and the struggle for financial success only to be kidnapped in a flying saucer and taken to the planet Tralfamadore.

A Duty Dance With Death

Slaughterhouse Five Or the Children's Crusade

Beautiful and thought provoking but not as good as I have expected of fead before. 

Liezel van der Walt 

This was a brilliant read, could really see it being translated for stage! 

Derek

incredible. the type of book id call genius, yet wouldnt make the leap towards masterpiece

Connor Bragg

A delightfully sad book. Most parts funny while also being sad which I enjoyed.

cher elle

I'm upset that I hadn't read this sooner I won't lie.

John Burningham

Mr. Gumpy accepts more and more riders on his boat until the inevitable occurs.

Mr. Gumpy's Outing

Cheri Fuller

What an interesting and fantastically written book. I'll read it again and I'm certain I'll catch all sorts of things I missed the first time.

Holy hell, I have no words on how yo describe this masterpiece... I don't think I've ever been this shattered by a book, in the best and saddest way possible. 

The writing is incredible and with the sci-fi mix it does not get overwhelming because it is a book about World War II and the Dresden bombing... absolutely incredible and truly mind-blowing!

A book that should be read by people who not only love classics but also need an eclectic read and some history that actually happened.

Yetta Pahling

Holy hell, I have no words on how yo describe this masterpiece... I don't think I've ever been this shattered by a book, in the best and saddest way possible. 

The writing is incredible and with the sci-fi mix it does not get overwhelming because it is a book about World War II and the Dresden bombing... absolutely incredible and truly mind-blowing!

A book that should be read by people who not only love classics but also need an eclectic read and some history that actually happened.

Truly and absolutely incredible read!!!

The story of Billy Pilgrim, who was a soldier in Dresden when it was fire bombed, a survivor of an airplane crash, a dentist, and a time traveler.

༺ kat ༻

Julia

This is my new favorite book. Like going back to reread, underline, and annotate everything favorite book.

Anthony

** spoiler alert **
           I don't know exactly how to feel about this book.

There were times when I felt like putting it down and not finishing it. Other times I was extremely intrigued (mostly when wondering if Billy is insane or legitimately travelling through time). Perhaps it's both.

It was interesting reading something related to the war as I haven't done that much but still, sometimes I wonder what was the point? So much more could have happened. It was different to say the least.

The ending was a bit of a let down for me. I also didn't mind Kurt's writing style, I just wanted more from the story.

Audrey Lord

Jenelle andersen

Arun Khanna

** spoiler alert **
           Slaughterhouse-5 is a tragic story where emotional trauma is mixed up with cognitive dissonance. Billy, the “protagonist” of our story has been through the brutal firebombing in Dresden as a POW. His experiences presumably lead him to have delusions of being abducted by an alien race called the Tralfamadorian. There are notable differences in his treatment as a POW by the Germans and the Traflamadorians, he is looked up to by the aliens whereas he faced constant humiliation by the Germans, etc.

Billy’s predicament seems to have resulted from his mind shielding him from the trauma and severe emotional damage he faced in Dresden. As the narrator states: “Actually, Billy’s outward listlessness was a screen. The listlessness concealed a mind which was fizzing and flashing thrillingly. It was preparing letters and lectures about the flying saucers, the negligibility of death, and the true nature of time.” His trauma results him in making questionable decisions like his marriage: “Billy didn’t want to marry ugly Valencia. She was one of the symptoms of his disease. He knew he was going crazy when he heard himself proposing marriage to her, when he begged her to take the diamond ring and be his companion for life.”

Throughout the book, Vonnegut criticizes religion and society with his sharp tongue:
“The flaw in the Christ stories, said the visitor from outer space, was that Christ, who didn’t look like much, was actually the Son of the Most Powerful Being in the Universe. Readers understood that, so, when they came to the crucifixion, they naturally thought, and Rosewater read out loud again:

Oh, boy–they sure picked the wrong guy to lynch _that_ time!

And that thought had a brother: “There are right people to lynch.” Who? People not well connected. So it goes.

The visitor from outer space made a gift to the Earth of a new Gospel. In it, Jesus really was a nobody, and a pain in the neck to a lot of people with better connections than he had. He still got to say all the lovely and puzzling things he said in the other Gospels.

So the people amused themselves one day by nailing him to a cross and planting the cross in the ground. There couldn’t possibly be any repercussions, the lynchers thought. The reader would have to think that, too, since the new Gospel hammered home again and again what a nobody Jesus was.

And then, just before the nobody died, the heavens opened up, and there was thunder and lightning. The voice of God came crashing down. He told the people that he was adopting the bum as his son, giving him the full powers and privileges of The Son of the Creator of the Universe throughout all eternity. God said this: From this moment on, He will punish horribly anybody who torments a bum who has no connections.”

“Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue, the monograph went on. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times.”

“It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. Its flowers were government bonds. Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer.”

Kimber Severance 

'The great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.' George Saunders Prisoner of war, optometrist, time-traveller - these are the life roles of Billy Pilgrim, hero of this miraculously moving, bitter and funny story of innocence faced with apocalypse. Slaughterhouse Five is one of the world's great anti-war books. Centring on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden in the Second World War, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know. 'An extraordinary success. A book to read and reread. He is a true artist' New York Times Book Review

The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death

poprika

Taylor

I’m such a HUGE Vonnegut fan that I ordered a copy of the graphic novel as soon as I knew this adaptation existed. That might have colored my view of it as a standalone work. There’s some Vonnegut-ness that’s missing—which isn’t to say it’s not a good book on its own, but I think I will need to revisit when I’m not expecting the impossible.

andrea

not for me. i appreciate the content and message itself, but the characterisation was nonexistent and shallow. most of all, the narration jumping all over the place made this book extremely tedious, it was impossible for me to feel attached because of how it is structured. and yes i know that's an essential characteristic of postmodernism, but understanding why the author has chosen to write in a certain way doesn't mean i have to enjoy it.

Slaughterhouse-Five Or, The Children's Crusade, a Duty-dance with Death

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