Slaughterhouse Five: 09/17/07

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.

Comments (0)