Product ReviewsModern Library 100 Best Novels Ser.: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1991, Mass Market)

A book you can’t read once!

Slaughterhouse 5 is a masterpiece, and the signature work of Kurt Vonnegut. The story revolves around central character Billy Pilgrim, who is captured during World War II, and confined in a slaughterhouse in Dresden during the Dresden Fire Bombings. Billy becomes “unstuck in time”, shifting between the present, Dresden, and alien capture by the Tralfamadorians.
Author Vonnegut was captured by the Germans during the closing days of WWII, was transported to Dresden, and was present during the Fire Bombing.
This is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. It has earned a place on virtually every Top 100 books list.
Get it – read it.
And so it goes.
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A Waste of Money!

I stopped reading the book as it mocks God and Christianity. The devil is in the book and author. It belongs in a dumpster!

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A Book to Read Before You Die

This book is simply amazing and someway or another life changing. Kurt V's style is so smooth, and fast pace it has got to be my favorite book that I've read. I've read a lot of books but this is the first one I've from start to finish within a week of receiving it. If I were to nit pick the book is too short, but that's a good thing, because you want to leave your readers wanting more I feel. The nonfiction mixed with fiction and fantasy play a great part, as they take the reader on for a journey they never saw coming. The stories of life and death, so it goes.Read full review...

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Review of Slaughterhouse-Five

126 of 134 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth all five stars, January 31, 2001
By Andyrew (Beaver, PA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Slaughterhouse-Five (Mass Market Paperback)
Slaughter House Five deserves its reputation of being a piece of great American literature. The book follows a young man, Billy Pilgrim through his life. Billy believes aliens, tralfamadorians to be exact, have abducted him. We assume that it's through these aliens that he learns to time travel, a skill he frequently uses. In the book Pilgrim bounces around time to all the various portions of his life, many times returning to World War II where he was captured, taken prisoner, and held in slaughterhouse five in Dresden, Germany. He seems to be defined by this moment in his life as he frequently returns there. If you know anything about Vonnegut, you know that he too was held in Dresden, Germany when the city was firebombed. This is the major setup for this antiwar novel as Dresden was home to over 100,000 persons while at the same time Dresden didn't have any industry lending itself to the war effort. Obviously you wander, "Then why was this city bombed? What advantage came from killing well over 100,000 thousand civilians?"

One of the major themes of the book is fate. The prayer of serenity appears twice in the book stating that we need to change the things we can and be wise enough to know which things we cannot change. Also the Tralfamadorians speak of fate. They say they know how the universe is going to end, but they do nothing to stop it. Vonnegut seems to say that yes, war is one of those things we cannot avoid, but we need to change the things we can about it, like the atrocious bombing of Dresden.

Overall, the book's message is clear, and Vonnegut delivers his message in a very accessible way. The story of Billy Pilgrim is enjoyable to read, and contains more than dry philosophy that some antiwar novels are filled with.Read full review...

Why Vonnegut is the new Swift, Pope, or Voltaire....

Slaughterhouse-Five is in the Top 10 of all-time American novels. It is possibly Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s greatest piece of work - which is saying something, considering all of his other great novels (Cat's Cradle, Timequake, Breakfast of Champions, Mother Night, Sirens of a Titan, and Player Piano/Utopia 14).

The story of Billy Pilgrim - the story of Vonnegut, much like parts of Mother Night, Timequake, Palm Sunday, and other bits and pieces of Vonnegut's works - part fiction/part-autobiography; and this is why we love him. This is why we adore him. This is why he is the king of satire.

I recommend it to every person who ever asks me for a novel to read. Just as a recommend many of Vonnegut's other works; but this is always the first I recommend.

It works on the levels of satire, on humanity, on emotion, on utter dependence upon one's own mind, a weakening mind - as is all of ours in their own way. Vonnegut shows us what life is, from the lowliest of times, to the greatest of times, and teaches us to take it all in with a bit of humility. And we learn to do so - and like it.Read full review...

Slaughter House Five

I had checked this book out of my public library a few months back after my neighbor had mentioned this author and book.after reading it and laughing quite a bit and loving every part of this masterpiece, i started to spread the word about the author Kurt Vonnegut.i have since after reading Slaughter house five embarked on a journey to find and read everything Kurt Vonnegut wrote.sadly he has passed away,but in my humble opinion Kurt Vonnegut is the greatest American author since Twain or Hemmingway.i highly reccomend not only this book, but also anything by Kurt Vonnegut.Read full review...

Slaughterhouse five or the childrens crusade

this book is awesome!!! Vonnegut at his best,you must read this book!
I read it back in high school, which is what promped me to purchase it, I sinply had to have a copy of it in my library for my children to enjoy when they get older.
Slaughterhouse five is book about war, only it focuses more on the direct effects war has on those who fight it, or live through it. Vonnegut has a way with words, you feel like you are standing right next to the characters, experiencing the same things that they are.
this book should be required reading for human society on the whole is these dark times, a reminder that war is never healthy, and has profoud effects on the world around it.
read this book!!!Read full review...

A Generation Unstuck in Time

Kurt Vonnegut was arguably the finest American writer of the twentieth century. In Slaughterhouse-Five he attempts to come to grips with his personal experiences as a POW during World War II, and the horrors he witnessed first-hand during and after the allied fire-bombing of Dresden. He includes himself as a minor character in the novel but Billy Pilgrim as Vonnegut's alter-ego is the main character. In Pilgrim we see Vonnegut at his finest: He has created a character "unstuck in time" who views the horrors around him but is powerless to intervene. Like the lamenting spirits in Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Pilgrim is able only to witness and relate but is powerless to stop or alter the misery he knows will eventually unfold. This book is a must read for anyone and is an excellent first step for anyone interested in exploring Vonnegut further.Read full review...

" Great story, Vonnegut calssic "

Great story told in a way only Vonnegut can do . It's an antiwar tale that is both funny and sometimes sad too, This was one of first successful works launching his great carreer, I know you'll enjoy it as much as I did.Read full review...

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Not About Slaughterhouse-Five

If you're reading this book for war history you're in the wrong aisle of the library. There are plenty accounts out there which deny or ignore the perverted glorification of each and every disgusting war man has waged, won or lost. Vonnegut does neither in this work but he does allude to the insane horror and inhumanity of such conflicts. Slaughterhouse-Five is not about war. Slaughterhouse-Five is not about Slaughterhouse-Five. It is in some ways a confession of human weakness and animalism but Slaughterhouse-Five is primarily and simply the most popular example of Vonnegut literature. So what is Vonnegut literature? It cannot be explained - it has to be experienced. As with all of his work, you will read it, enjoy it, be puzzled by and amused by it and will want to read it again. Vonnegut was like no other and we are all the richer for him.Read full review...

Like no other book you have ever read. The author is speaking to you about what happened at 3 time periods of his life all the while humorous.

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