eBook, 189 pages
English language
Published Dec. 31, 1968
A special fiftieth anniversary edition of Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, “a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century” (Time), featuring a new introduction by Kevin Powers, author of the National Book Award finalist The Yellow Birds Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he …
A special fiftieth anniversary edition of Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, “a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century” (Time), featuring a new introduction by Kevin Powers, author of the National Book Award finalist The Yellow Birds Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.” An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O’Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut’s words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as “the kind of writer who made people—young people especially—want to write.” George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be “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.” Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties. “Poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion and, behind everything, the cataract of a thundering moral statement.”—The Boston Globe
An incredible and innovative book full of wisdom, humor, purpose, and the kind of writing that makes you feel like the author is sitting by your side telling you the story. I was sad for it to come to an end. So it goes.
What a powerful read about how pointless war is, how disconnected/dissociative people can be to each other, the power of the elite, etc. Depressing yet funny... And so human. So it goes.
Da avvicinare alla Trilogia della Città di K. Incomprensibile per gli umani.
This is a beautifully written book about the pointlessness of war. It’s brilliance is that Vonnegut manages to make his point in a gentle way without getting angry or blaming anyone. It is very, very sad but also funny, whimsical and occasionally psychedelically weird (the aliens look like sink plungers with hands).
The lead character drifts aimlessly through the story as the people around him die in pointless ways. So it goes. His lack of agency which would normally annoy me, but in this case it’s fundamental to the point of the novel. The aliens have taught him that the past, present and future all exist forever and can’t be changed. Pilgrim’s consciousness veers wildly through time as he visits each important moment in his life. He knows where and when he will die and is as stoical about that as he is about the things that happened in the …
This is a beautifully written book about the pointlessness of war. It’s brilliance is that Vonnegut manages to make his point in a gentle way without getting angry or blaming anyone. It is very, very sad but also funny, whimsical and occasionally psychedelically weird (the aliens look like sink plungers with hands).
The lead character drifts aimlessly through the story as the people around him die in pointless ways. So it goes. His lack of agency which would normally annoy me, but in this case it’s fundamental to the point of the novel. The aliens have taught him that the past, present and future all exist forever and can’t be changed. Pilgrim’s consciousness veers wildly through time as he visits each important moment in his life. He knows where and when he will die and is as stoical about that as he is about the things that happened in the past.
Vonnegut’s tone and light touch make the weird, dream like story wonderfully readable. It’s probably one of the best books I’ve ever read and definitely one I’ll come back to in the future.
This is a beautifully written book about the pointlessness of war. It’s brilliance is that Vonnegut manages to make his point in a gentle way without getting angry or blaming anyone. It is very, very sad but also funny, whimsical and occasionally psychedelically weird (the aliens look like sink plungers with hands).
The lead character drifts aimlessly through the story as the people around him die in pointless ways. So it goes. His lack of agency which would normally annoy me, but in this case it’s fundamental to the point of the novel. The aliens have taught him that the past, present and future all exist forever and can’t be changed. Pilgrim’s consciousness veers wildly through time as he visits each important moment in his life. He knows where and when he will die and is as stoical about that as he is about the things that happened in the …
Best book I've ever read.
Attraverso l'alter-ego di Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut, elabora un racconto autobiografico sull'esperienza terribile della Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Da leggere assolutamente.
It was a story.
Strikingly powerful book about the utter absurdity of war.
It seems reliable sources say the book was copyright 1969! My copy has 1966, and 1968 ?! with imprints "70 69 68 67", and a publishing date of 1991. Why does this matter? because in 1969, i not only met my wife, on Friday the 13th, but was in the middle of a two-year tour with the NSA in Turkey.
After Vonnegut's death, I went back and read Slaughterhouse 5, which I hadn't read since high school. Vonnegut is not a great stylist. His female characters are not really characters at all.
Nevertheless, he knows what he believes, but questions his beliefs mercilessly. He is straightforward and gets to the point. His heroes are often inept but teach us what it means to be human. Vonnegut was my hero in high schoool, and he still is.
''So it goes.''
