“Billy Pilgrim is an optometrist prisoner of war time traveller. Yes, all of those. All of those at once. Billy is such an odd character that he defies grammar. Slaughterhouse-Five is his manic story, from his time as a POW in Dresden and its bombing in WWII, to his future life with his family, and his time on Tralfamdore. It is all bundled and jumbled into a back-and-forth adventure that isn't showy off-y.
I have seen this book title and author many many times but never knew what the story was about. I don't know why but I assumed it was some sort of popular book published recently. I didn't know how much of a literary success it was and that it was published over forty years ago. I had avoided it up until a few weeks ago when I saw the cheap Vintage edition.
At points in the book I thought Vonnegut was being trying to be a little too clever and cute. It reminded me of Forest Gump at those points, which I hated. And those three words (you will know if you've read the book) which appeared on every other page annoyed the hell out of me. However, the oddness of the story was always intriguing, and there were quite a few insightful moments for a book that was less than two hundred pages in length. Vonnegut is now in my good books, and I will definitely attempt to read more of his works soon. ”
Justin M wrote this review Friday, January 13, 2012.
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