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

Macy HB

Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops. 

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.

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

loved the sci fi elements combined with the repeated phrases that made the whole book feel so cohesive

amelo

Lovro Oreskovic

Sarah Sammis

There are many classics and well known books that I haven't read. I'm trying to make amends with that. I can now cross Slaughterhouse Five off my list.

Slaughterhouse Five is two stories in one. There is Vonnegut trying to explain his desire to write the great Dresden bombing book and then there is the story of Billy Pilgrim who is "unstuck" in time and keeps finding himself back in WWII (among other times and places).

Unlike the men in The Time Traveler's Wife and The Man Who Folded Himself, Billy has no control over when he jumps or where he'll end up. Billy doesn't seem to care either that he jumps through time living his life (and death) at random. Billy's philosophy on the absurdity of life (and his life in particular) is summed up repeatedly through the book: and so it goes.

I'm not sure how I feel about Slaughterhouse-Five, having now finished it. I can understand why it's a novel with literary merit but at the same time, it didn't capture my imagination the way The Man Who Folded Himself did.

Vicky  Nuñez 

Rating: 4.5

I wish there were more books like this one.

Chaitanya Baranwal

"If I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice."

A unique mixture of time travel and déjà vus, slaughterhouse-five wasn't the book I expected it to be. Sure, it talks about the horrors of war, about the effects it can have on people, but it does so in such a peculiar manner that sometimes, I found it hard to accept that this was an "anti-war" novel. Kurt Vonnegut's writing style is quite unique too, and frankly, if you're looking for a book which will make you go "whoa" at times, I don't think this book is the one. That being said, the entire time travel made me so engrossed in the moment that I genuinely forgot which period Billy was actually living in, and I think that's kind of the point (that time is not linear).

Without mentioning gruesome details with intense visual imagery, without intricately detailing the various deaths that are mentioned throughout the novel or the horrific bombing of Dresden, this book gets across its point that war is dreadful. That is what makes it an anti-war novel, and this I something I consider quite an achievement. A combination of equal parts tragedy and equal parts humor, this is the kind of book which makes a unique impression on the reader's mind.

jack

there’s so much to love about this book!!!!! so much so that i can’t express it all (the two things i want to say most is how much i love his overuse of motifs and the way he can write beauty with a sort of dumb simplicity. raw as fuck)!!!! this is the quickest i’ve breezed through a book in quite a while!
 but i do have one problem, and it may come from my own misunderstanding. i really don’t like how his anti-war message seems to gloss over and humanize nazis! yes war is an atrocity and should be condemned, but doing so in a way that vastly overlooks the crimes committed by one party feels a little uncomfortable to me

edit: additionally, this book lowkey propagates a lot of falsehoods about the bombing of dresden that vilifies the allies a lot more than they deserve (for this one particular instance). while i’m all for vilifying war hungry assholes, this unfortunately is often used by the modern far right to paint a narrative in which the nazis weren’t all that bad. while i’m not going to blame vonnegut for this, it does make me a little uncomfortable while reading. for more info, check this out https://youtu.be/kS2_YFbzAVs

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.

“(…) if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I’n grateful that so many of those moments are nice”.

benja

unlike anything I’ve read before.

“(…) if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I’n grateful that so many of those moments are nice”.

Jackie Lu

“god grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference”. Need to read it again someday without the high school external essay pressure-mindset looming over me. I enjoy the concepts and ideas but I’m too impatient to stop and understand the true depth of the story, reading about the main ideas and quote explanations on SparkNotes at 2am in the morning did make me quite emotional when I was studying for it once tho. This is definitely a book that needs to be read twice. Didn’t even know it was Gray’s favourite book until later, but I can see why- even if I don’t interpret it as deeply as Gray or true connoisseurs of this novel do.

Ive seen a lot of somewhat bad reviews out here and in real life regarding 

but what amused me the most, and very much impressed me was the way the author via the character of Billy Pilgrim, lets himself unravel not just in time, but within himself as he goes on frightently remembering his past, and the way all of this is spilled onto the pages in the form of a jumbled unravel of words. His use of "So it goes. . ." evoking the presence of death in the next few lines. Or maybe the last few lines. Jumbled, one may suspect of losing the plot, not receiving a plot twist, a spoiler present perhaps, but as you battle on this surface of the moon you realize there is everything and nothing to predict. Quoted by many as an anti-war novel, I believe this to be far more than 'just' that, it outlines the strained presence of war from which we really cannot find a way out no matter how much we try, no matter the time or century we are in.

diya

Ive seen a lot of somewhat bad reviews out here and in real life regarding 

but what amused me the most, and very much impressed me was the way the author via the character of Billy Pilgrim, lets himself unravel not just in time, but within himself as he goes on frightently remembering his past, and the way all of this is spilled onto the pages in the form of a jumbled unravel of words. His use of "So it goes. . ." evoking the presence of death in the next few lines. Or maybe the last few lines. Jumbled, one may suspect of losing the plot, not receiving a plot twist, a spoiler present perhaps, but as you battle on this surface of the moon you realize there is everything and nothing to predict. Quoted by many as an anti-war novel, I believe this to be far more than 'just' that, it outlines the strained presence of war from which we really cannot find a way out no matter how much we try, no matter the time or century we are in.

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.

Aamna

Thoroughly enjoyable read, you never know where the story might turn and Vonnegut doesn't shy away from anything; in one scene a man coughs and shits himself, in another a man wakes up in a heated massage bed smelling of mushrooms...

Read the book and see what a wild journey it is.

This book is very good. The non-linear storytelling is fantastically well done. I have seen this described widely as an anti-war book - maybe even THE anti-war book - it even describes itself as such, but I did not find its anti-war rhetoric that strong. To me it is only not a glorification of war, which set against the heroism we are so often exposed to around the subject makes it seem like it is positioned against it. 

I cannot say that I have an in-depth and scholarly understanding of the themes of this book or of exactly what all of the messages and morals of the story are. The book was not explicit, to me at least, on whether Billy Pilgrim really was unstuck in time, or if his Tralfamadorian visions and time travel were his way of dealing with the horrors he saw in his life. 

Billy Pilgrim is meek and miserable, this is the true mastery in this story for me, there could be no better character to experience the horrors of war who could give the reader the opportunity to explore it.

I would recommend that this book be put on everyone's reading list, it is not long and I will read it again sometime to see whether I can take more out of it.

Liam Richardson

This book is very good. The non-linear storytelling is fantastically well done. I have seen this described widely as an anti-war book - maybe even THE anti-war book - it even describes itself as such, but I did not find its anti-war rhetoric that strong. To me it is only not a glorification of war, which set against the heroism we are so often exposed to around the subject makes it seem like it is positioned against it. 

I cannot say that I have an in-depth and scholarly understanding of the themes of this book or of exactly what all of the messages and morals of the story are. The book was not explicit, to me at least, on whether Billy Pilgrim really was unstuck in time, or if his Tralfamadorian visions and time travel were his way of dealing with the horrors he saw in his life. 

Billy Pilgrim is meek and miserable, this is the true mastery in this story for me, there could be no better character to experience the horrors of war who could give the reader the opportunity to explore it.

I would recommend that this book be put on everyone's reading list, it is not long and I will read it again sometime to see whether I can take more out of it.

Aaron J Mitchell

An essential book. Everyone should read it, a hilarious and strangely touching book. It's been described to me as an anti war book and while it certainly paints a bleak picture of war it feels more like a meditation on mortality and the value of life as a whole, and the anti war sentiment is a byproduct of the setting.

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.

“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

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

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

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