by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
There was a fire-storm out there. Dresden was one big flame. The one flame ate everything organic, everything that would burn.
Quite possibly a top-five book of the 20th century, Slaughterhouse-Five, also known as The Children’s Crusade is one of the greatest gifts given to the human experience. I imagine many schools require their students to read it, but my school didn’t. Everyone should read this book.
My initial memory of hearing about this book came from my friend Christian. I can’t exactly remember why books were in discussion– I imagine I was looking for recommendations. Somehow, Slaughterhouse-Five was brought up and the only thing I remember him saying about it was: “It was aliens.”
Five or so years later, I picked up a copy of Slaughterhouse at a bookstore in downtown East Lansing, MI. I could not find a retro copy of it, but getting a near-mint paperback for about $8 was a steal in my book, pun intended. I knew Slaughterhouse-Five was going to be good, but how good? I had to find out. I think I read it over a day or two, but probably within a day.
It was my first Vonnegut follow-up. I had the prefaced “It was aliens” still in the back of my mind from years ago and I was ready to leave anything I thought I knew about the book aside. I am grateful I did. It wasn’t just aliens, and it was, of course, much more. The aliens were Tralfamadorians from the planet Tralfamadore, as featured in other Vonnegut novels. It did take me a while to realize it was not aliens, of course, contrary to what Christian said. It was a subtle literary device to add elements of science fiction to a story that is none other than a story about some of the most raw human experiences: war.
Most of us have only seen war through our eyes and then through a subsequent screen or book. Odds are if you are reading this, you probably didn’t even serve. But if you did, or are currently, thank you for your service.
Our character, Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time. Not really, but in a way, he is. The book follows snippets of Billy’s life non-chronologically. From his time as a civilian post-war to his experiences during World War II in the European theater, Billy is thrashed around, jumping into different hills and valleys of his life. These aren’t flashbacks for Billy, he is actually waking up to a different time in his life.
The first chapter opens with the voice of Vonnegut explaining, “All this happened, more or less.” The last chapter is also voiced by Vonnegut. Every chapter in between follows the woes of Billy Pilgrim, leaping from Point A to Point B, back to Point A, then to Point C (but in outer space!), and for some reason to Point D, before going back to Point A, and so on. He seems to always pick back up where he left off during the war.
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After returning to this post many times over during the writing process, I realized exactly how much of the book I had forgotten. Therefore, I plan to stop here and return to the book and post some other day. I feel as if this book deserves a fresh set of thoughts, and I am in no position to retrospectively reflect on it thoroughly and thoughtfully.
I, although, give Slaughterhouse-Five five stars.