A bit about Kurt Vonnegut
American author, Kurt Vonnegut, is known for his blend of dark humour, science fiction, and strong anti-war messages.
World War II and Dresden:
Kurt Vonnegut fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was caught by the German army.
He survived the Allied bombing of Dresden while locked inside an underground meat locker. This was the inspiration for this famous book, Slaughterhouse-Five.
After the bombing, his captors made him pull bodies from the ruins.
Family:
After his brother-in-law and sister’s deaths, he adopted their three young children raising them together with his own three children.
Kurt Vonnegut’s most famous books
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) – This is his most famous masterpiece and tells the story of a soldier, Billy Pilgrim, who gets stuck in time after surviving the horrific bombing of Dresden by the Allies during World War II.
Cat’s Cradle (1963) – An amusing yet scary look at science, technology, and a dangerous doomsday substance called «ice-nine» created by an atomic scientist.
The Sirens of Titan (1959) – A wealthy man’s bizarre journey across the solar system is the vehicle for this space age adventure that explores free will, fate and the true meaning of human history.
Breakfast of Champions (1973) – A critique of American life and free will in the form of a wild, satirical story about a dying science fiction writer and a car dealer who goes insane.
My review of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
What Amazon says
Slaughterhouse-Five is an American classic and one of the greatest antiwar novels ever written. Following Billy Pilgrim, unstuck in time from World War II to the firebombing of Dresden and beyond, it asks what it means to be human in a world that keeps ending.
Kurt Vonnegut blends science fiction, satire, and autobiography with dark humor and the famous refrain: So it goes.
This is not a story about heroes. It is a story about children.
My review of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
I finished this book on my second reading attempt. I found it a difficult book to get into as the book opens with a narrative about the author’s own war experiences and his struggle to write Slaughterhouse-Five and then jumps to the story of a fictional character, Billy Pilgrim, the author’s vehicle for the telling of this story which revolves around his own experiences during World War II.
The narrative is non-linear and the events occur out of order. The reason for this writing style is that Billy Pilgrim has become «unstuck in time» and travels between different moments in his life and has no mental choice about where he’ll go next. The novel follows the path of Billy’s travelling between past events during World War II and his present life with his family. This mind travels include delusional visits to the fictional planet of Tralfamadore where he is displayed in a zoo with his partner, another ‘earthling’ and celebrity Montana Wildhack. This delusion arose following a plane crash which only Billy and one other passenger survive. He believes that he was abducted by aliens who took him to their planet, Tralfamadore. The Tralfamadorians can see the past, present, and future all at the same time and are of the view their is no concept of free will. Billy’s wife dies due to a care accident on her way to visit him in the hospital where he is recovering form the plane crash. His good fortune in being one of a handful of survivors of the Dresden bombing and one of two survivors of the plane crash completely unhinges Billy who starts trying to promote the Tralfamadorian ideas of time in public. These actions deeply distresses his adult daughter who thinks he has lost his mind.
The book shares a lot of information about Vonnegut (through Billy’s) experiences during World War II and the horrors he experienced climaxing with the destruction of Dresden and the retrieval by the prisoners of war of hundreds of bodies from beneath the rubble. The author closes the book with more of his own personal narrative but he merges them with those of the fictional Billy with a statement that ‘he was there.’ This interjection pops up at interludes during the novel as Billy’s story in Dresden unfolds.
This book is an excellent deep dive into post traumatic stress disorder and the non-linear form with a jumbled story that is all over the place does suit this theme but it is difficult for the reader to follow. It is not a book that will appeal to all readers for this reason.
You can purchase Slaughterhouse-Five here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Five-Novel-Kurt-Vonnegut-ebook/dp/B0H7P7K313/
Quotes from Slaughterhouse-Five
“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, ‘It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.’ It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: ‘if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?’ There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.
Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”
“Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.”
“There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.”
Have you read Slaughterhouse-Five? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.
About Robbie Cheadle
South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, written and illustrated four poetry books and written and illustrated one celebration of cake and fondant art book with recipes. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/
Social Media Links
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