SealCubMassacre

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Andrew Parkinson

First published in 1969, this modern classic tells the tale of Billy Pilgrim (a semi-autobiographical alter ego of author Kurt Vonnegut) and the events of his life. After a planecrash, Pilgrim time travels to past and future events in his life from his childhood to death after suffering a skull fracture. The book focuses predominantly on his time as a World War 2 prisoner of war in Dresden before and during the little publicised but highly deadly Dresden bombings by the American Air Force where over 80,000 people died (more so than the bombing of Hiroshima).

The main theme of the novel is the exploration of the human process of mourning and coping with death. Vonnegut repeats the words "So it goes." after every death in the book; from a prisoner of war being sent to the firing squad in Germany to a bottle of Champaigne losing it's bubbles. The repetition of this phrase after every anecdote on death can be fairly bewildering at first, but once it's purpose to emphasise the death around Billy and human beings in general is realised, it is highly effective as a tool to emphasise the mourning but can also be used in a very witty way ("The American's clothes were meanwhile passing through the poison gas. Fleas and bacteria were dying by the billions. So it goes.") which helps prevent the book from becoming too morose.

“It’s light hearted take on death… can be taken into the audience’s own lives, a major factor to it’s past and most certain future success,”

The book also explores human behaviour in dystopian environments such as the prisoner of war camp in Czechoslovakia (like the British troops dominance over the camp) and even a human zoo in the alien planet of Tralfamador after Billy “goes back in time” to an alien abduction he experienced after the war. It is events like this and other events in the book that question Billy’s state of mind after he fractures his skull.

Despite the vast array of themes and environments compressed into such a short book and in such a strange order due to Billy’s traveling between different times of his life, the book itself never becomes messy and manages to keep it’s ideas relevant throughout the entire book. The last couple of chapters are particularly satisfying as it answers questions raised in earlier chapters (such as the fate of the man sent to the firing squad for stealing a teapot) and the previous chapters close very nicely indeed. It’s light hearted take on death is particularly interesting and refreshing as death is not seen as something to mourn over, but as a moment that never changes. This can be taken into the audience’s own lives, a major factor to it’s past and most certain future success,

Also, it’s very informal language style makes the novel accesable to people of all ages and backgrounds and is even studied in some American schools and colleges (somewhat controversially due to it’s sexual and violent content). Kurt Vonnegut has arguably created a modern classic with Slaughterhouse 5 and is one which future generations may enjoy and take something out to use in their own lifestyles.

5/5

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I might post more book reviews up if people enjoy this one and are interested in hearing about new books.