Review: Slaugherhouse-Five

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut, my copy published Dell Publishing in December 1991, copyright is 1965.

I had to look up information about the author, to see how close this book mimicked his life. This is a story about a man named Billy Pilgrim who can travel back and forth in time. His timeline sees Billy in WWII, on a planet captured by Tralfamadorians, where he is put in a zoo, his marriage and his life. But mostly he is traveling from his life in WWII. Whenever he is in a difficult situation he time travels. He finds himself eventually in Dresden where his life intersects with our Kurt Vonnegut, though we do not know this is the author, we can only suppose. But Mr. Vonnegut was stationed in Dresden and suffered all the horrors that were indicated in this book. Once again filling the adage that writers write what they know.

I found this book both funny and sad at the same time. The character of Billy Pilgrim and the problems he causes and the adventures he takes are hilarious. But the pain that people endured and the death that he faced was depressing. This is a book about jumping out of yourself to endure that pain and suffering. Good book, well written.