Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut Book Review

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Review Summary
"Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time," kidnapped by space aliens, and put in a zoo/museum on the planet Tralfamadore with an adult film star named Montana Wildhack. Slaughterhouse-Five is a classic anti-war novel about the firebombing of Dresden during World War II. However, most of the book jumps around through time: Billy as a senile widower, Billy on his wedding night, Billy as a soldier, Billy on Tralfamadore. The book starts out during World War II, which is where Billy first becomes unstuck in time, and ends with the reader never quite sure of Billy's age, whether Billy is really unstuck in time, or this is the result of a nervous collapse. Joseph DeMarco, Resident Scholar
The atrocities of war have never been easy for a person to explain. However, in Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five", Billy Pilgrim takes a journey through worlds made possible only by war. It all circles around the infamous fire bombings of Dresden, Germany in WWII. By these journeys, the reader gains a clear idea of exactly how much war can break down and degrade a man mentally. The reader sees to what lengths a person would go to to escape the horrors of war. Anthony Selbe, Resident Scholar
Billy Pilgrim, a weak young man from Ilium, New York, is a prisoner of war in the non-military city of Dresden when the Allies firebomb it. Germans try to kill him, and American soldiers and pilots try to kill him. He meets young Kurt Vonnegut, also a prisoner of war, in Dresden. Pilgrim becomes "unstuck in time," traveling back and forth between the Second World War, his postwar life as an optometrist (and a nearly fatal plane crash in the mountains), and the planet Tralfamadore, where the local aliens have brought him to mate with porn star Montana Wildhack -- and he comes to understand basic truths about life, time, and human decency. David Loftus, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of Slaughterhouse Five

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 60%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

Tone of book - depressing/sad
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - part earth & part fantasy world
Time Travel: - into past and future equally
Inner Struggle Yes
Plotlet: - mental illness/nutsophrenia
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Time Travel story? Yes
Story largely takes place in - 1900-1960's

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Age: - long lived adults
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
Earth setting: - 20th century
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - inhabited by friendly aliens
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
scientific jargon? (SF only) - none/very little science jargon needed
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - impregnation/reproduction
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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