Slaughterhouse 5 by K. Vonnegut

The name Slaughterhouse 5 brings to mind scenes from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or one of a hundred other horror movies my wife wouldn’t watch on principle. When I picked this book up, I was vaguely familiar with Vonnegut’s name, but hadn’t actually read any of his works. Slaughterhouse 5 turned out to be a different kind of horror than what I was expecting.

Rather than a madman with a chainsaw, the book was about a madman in World War II. The story starts off with the anonymous narrator, discussing how he was going to write a book about the destruction of Dresden. He had been a prisoner of war in the city when thousands were killed in the bombing and subsequent firestorm. The narrator then focuses on one of his fellow prisoners, Billy Pilgrim.

The story of Billy’s life is told as Billy remembers things, which is somewhat difficult to follow because he becomes “unstuck” in time. One paragraph discusses honeymoon bed, the next to a morphine-induced dream in a prison camp, the next in his zoo cell on the Tralfamadorian home world (did I mention he was abducted by aliens?).

The story is very erratic as it follows Billy back and forth across several timelines. I don’t want to give away the ending, but if you’re one who likes clean, tidy endings, it’ll drive you crazy. That said, I enjoyed the book quite a bit. The characters were interesting, the themes of the book (anti-war; the effects of war on man) were well defined and made their point, and the storytelling (while unusual) was compelling.

I’d recommend this book to someone looking for something different.

About Jesse 29 Articles
The Master and Overlord or better known as the hubby who keeps LE running. He rarely reviews, but he's the one who keeps everything running smoothly from the IT perspective.