BOOK REVIEW: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

"So it goes."

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is one of the best novels I have read, especially when compared to others that have been written based on the events of World War 2.

The narrator, Billy Pilgrim, tells his experience in a very unconventional way. The book is in no way linear and in fact is rather confusing when you first begin since you can't seem to tell at what point of his life you are joining. But as you continue to read you realize why that is. Not only is this a war novel but it also involves time travel and aliens. I'll admit that was the strangest element of it all, and yet also the most compelling.

By the introduction of time-travel the stories rapid jumping to and from time periods make perfect sense as well as making the novel even more entertaining.

"People aren't suppose to look back. I'm certainly not going to do it anymore."

Billy at first is attempting to write this novel that you are reading, and the story of the bombing of Dresden that was so often disregarded though it killed more people than the bombing on Hiroshima. As he begins, he is presented with hostility from someone who doesn't believe someone should write another novel about the glory of war and the brave, strong men that go into battle for the greater good of their country. Because the truth is, they were all just boys and there is no glory in war.

From then the novel jumps from time to time, before the war, after the war, during the war, and even taking place when Billy believes himself to have been kidnapped by aliens known as the Tralfamadorians.

The novel is in no way traditional as Billy Pilgrim is not the typical soldier you hear about, but entirely reluctant to fight, causing him more trouble as he causes problems and disgraces his fellow soldiers. His actions during the war will greatly effect his future, if he actually has a future since he seems to be unstuck from time.

Some say it is an anti-war novel, others argue that the novel is pro-war because it does not condemn the actions. The way I see it, it is neither. It actually seems to depict the inevitability of war. And while human beings often believe in the concept of "free will", if it truly did exist then war would be possible to stop. So it really calls into question whether free will is merely an ideal or if it in fact exists.

"It is just an illusion here on Earth, that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once one moment is gone, it is gone forever."

One of the most interesting concepts of the novel is an idea that time is not linear, but that everything exists simultaneously. That while I am sitting here writing this there is a future me doing something else, and there is a past me that is thinking about writing this post and so on. In this idea, people would never be nonexistent because there would always be a version of us that still exists somewhere else in time. So in this regard, we are always alive.

The novel, aside from being interesting, was thought-provoking and for me it was difficult to separate what it discussed about the way time works. I found myself constantly applying this logic to the world around me. It is truly a story that will affect someones philosophy and perspective of the world around them.

"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."