Rating: 
Summary: A must read!!!
Review: This is one of my top ten favorites which I have read numerous times (and enjoy more each time I read it). I usually do not lean towards science fiction or war pieces, which how I would classify this work, but it is a very unusual piece of literature. Some of my favorite books are not great works of art, but are interesting peeks into the creative mind of the author. Kurt Vonnegut displays an unusual theory on how we view time travel and life. In a nutshell, Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time. He is able to visit any time in his life and relive each moment over and over. He travels back to World War II, his marriage, his children's lives and, of course, when he is abducted by the Tralfamadorians (aliens who help Billy become unstuck in time) and put into their version of a zoo. Billy never really dies because he can move from one period of his life to another over and over.
What comes from this work is a strangely interwoven tale of World War II (the title comes from where Billy and his fellow prisoners of war hid during the famous fire-bombing of Dresden), middle class life, alien abduction and how we believe life is lived moment after moment (the Tralfamadorians live life as though it were on a record, being able to visit any moment of their life out of order). It is a great ride following Billy Pilgrim through his life as he moves from one aspect of time to the other. A must read!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Very, very enjoyable
Review: As one of the set books on my university course I found Slaughterhouse Five to be the most enjoyable of the lot (so far)...At heart, Slaughterhouse Five is sf but rated highly on anybody's list because it's not just sf. It's genreless if you like. The point of narrative is constantly changing, the main character, Billy Pilgrim, timetravels to the extent of knowing the time of his own death. Of course, Slaughterhouse Five's theme is war, more precisely the impact of war on the minds of its survivors (Kurt Vonnegut in the driving seat). And the mix of realism with humorous sf makes Slaughterhouse Five one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a while. But it.
Rating:
Summary: We are all bees in amber. So it goes
Review: This book describes war, as it should be depicted. That soulless horrific unstoppable force that rolls on forever destroying everything in its path. Billy Pilgrim is described as a bee in amber who can do nothing but exist in a world he cannot control (This metaphor can of course be extended the entire human race.) Vonnegut uses the aliens and Billy Pilgrim's time travel to show the futility of trying to stop war. The aliens while they know all about war and even the destruction of the universe do nothing to stop it because it is just the way of things. So it goes. This phrase used throughout the book seems to say what difference does it really make we are all going to die anyway. Also especially interesting is the time travel for instance at one point Billy Pilgrim sees a bombing in reverse order. He sees the planes take back the bombs and stop the fires, he sees the bombs being disassembled, and finally he sees the raw materials hidden into the mountain where they can't hurt anyone anymore. So it goes. The irony that permeates Billy's experiences is not only dogmatic but also well developed in this classic work of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: A fun, original mindbender of a read.
Review: I read this book in Grade 11, because it was recommended to me and is considered to his greatest work. It's not exactly his greatest, but it's way up there. If this book isn't to oyur liking, then maybe Kurt Vonnegut isn't for you. I love it, and ever since I've read it, Vonnegut has become one of my favorite authors.
Rating:
Summary: A basic review, for english class.
Review: It is in my belief that Slaughterhouse was a book that gets the mind active, and I enjoyed this book very much. At first the story seemed a little awkward, Vonnegut actually devoted the first chapter to telling how he thought his book to be a failure and how he could not bring himself to write a book about his experience in Dresden. He goes to a friend who cannot remember the bombing. The next chapter seemed to be a little more exciting. What isn't mentioned until about halfway through the chapter is the war, and then instantly jumps in and out of Billy Pilgrim's military experience. I see this as maybe a message that Vonnegut is trying to say. War isn't talked about much, because war is senseless and there isn't much to say about it. Billy seems to be unfetered by death when he is in the war. This is shown when his group is being shot at, and Billy is narrowly missed by a bullet and stands still as to give the shooter another chance at killing him. Billy does not see death as a thing to fear, so this means he must not think of war as anything. From Billy's point of view, all that war brings is death. After the bombing of Dresden, Billy doesn't seem to notice that he is cleaning away dead bodies, but focuses on other, more minute details. For example, Billy says that the best moment of his life was laying out on the horse cart under the sun in Dresden. As most people couldn't be able to enjoy any moment in Dresden after the bombing, seeing as how 135,000 people died, and the bodies are lying all around. This sense of not giving a damn gave Billy a comical aura. There is much, much more dark humor spread throught the book that is like this. It's the unique humor that makes this book very enjoyable, and I recommend that everyone reads this selection.
Rating: 
Summary: Review of Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
Review: Slaughterhouse 5 was written by Kurt Vonnegut in 1969. Within the story, Kurt Vonnegut is an author who is writing another story. The Kurt Vonnegut who is a character in the story is writing a book called The Children's Crusade. In The Children's Crusade, Billy Pilgrim is the main character. Vonnegut also makes connections between himself and Billy Pilgrim. Billy Pilgrim is the main character in the story. The first chapter is an introduction to the author, and his reasons for writing The Children's Crusade are explained. Much of The Children's Crusade describes the horrors of World War II, specifically the firebombing of Dresden. Vonnegut had first hand experience with the destruction caused at Dresden, so he had a strong basis for describing the war. Strangely, in The Children's Crusade, Billy Pilgrim is "unstuck in time", which means that he randomly travels through time to different periods of his life throughout the story. The idea is that Billy has lived his whole life already and died, but now he continues to skip around through different moments which have already passed. Billy spends much of the story going through his experiences at war. He skips around to moments ranging from his life as an optometrist after the war to his abduction by space aliens known as Tralfamadorians. Billy even experiences moments where he is already dead. Both the structure and ideas of the story are intriguing and new to an unsuspecting reader.
I recommend Slaughterhouse 5 because Kurt Vonnegut opens the reader's eyes to many ideas and problems which may not have even entered his or her head before. The story portrays many different ideas ranging from the obscure outlooks on life given by the Tralfamadorians to horrors and inhumanities of war described by Billy Pilgrim and various other characters. When the Tralfamadorians captured Billy Pilgrim and took him back to Tralfamadore, they shared their knowledge with him. They believed that every event in the universe had already taken place and that humans were just living in one specific moment. No one can change the future, because the future has already happened. However, they say that Billy has become "unstuck" from the track of the lifetime that he was following and therefore skips from moment to moment uncontrollably. As Billy skips through time, his moments at war depress him. He and many others display their common hatred towards the war. Kurt Vonnegut was obviously strongly opposed to the ideals of war and portrayed his feelings through Billy. One of the main events of World War II that was thoroughly discussed in the story was the firebombing of Dresden. Billy was present during the bombing of the city, when he and the rest of his company waited in a meat cellar so as not to come to any harm. When the American soldiers emerged from the cellar the following day after the bombing had taken place, they were horrified. Dresden had been left in ruins, and no person or other life form was left living. Billy was sickened by the masses of civilian casualties. Kurt Vonnegut obviously must have been opposed to the decision to destroy Dresden in such a complete and devastating manner. Vonnegut's views on war and life are well supported and strongly portrayed in this story.
The unique structure of the story makes me want to recommend this book to a potential reader as well. The story skips suddenly in and out of different moments and events in Billy Pilgrim's life. The seemingly unrelated and random moments are tied together by Vonnegut's carefully constructed common themes and ideas. Vonnegut gives the reader a sense of how startling and sudden Billy's time travelling is.
Although I enjoyed the new, unique style of structure, it is easy to see how one might become confused and lost in such a twisted array of scenes and images. A reader who is used to a straight forward, chronological plot structure will have trouble getting used to Billy Pilgrim's time travelling. If one does not take his or her time while reading this book, the reader will lose track of the many intertwining plots and will not appreciate Vonnegut's style.
Slaughterhouse 5 is a well written story which forces the reader to think about and become involved in its strong opinions and ideas about war and life. The structure shows that a book can be successful even if it varies from the traditional chronological plot line.
Rating:
Summary: My first Vonnegut
Review: I first picked up this book in a [retail store] as a freshman in high school. This book was on my AP English class, and I had a good friend who was a sophomore who read and recommended it to me.
So one day a month or so after bying this book I pick it up and start reading it.
Vonnegut has a style that reminds me of a seven year old who has been eating sugar cubes, which is a good thing, because it keeps you from being bored.
Along with this impressive writing style, Vonnegut adds a thought provoking plot.
Well worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: It easily became my favorite book EVER
Review: Even as we find ourselves ready to enter another war and in the middle of the tragedies that occurred September 11, 2001, I remain strictly anti-war. I do agree there is a time one must fight for what they believe in, but War is far from glorious.
Vonnegut does a wonderful job of relaying all of this to you. What is most captivating about his style is how it flows so smoothly even if the main character can not remain in one time period.
The character in this book claims to have know aliens who have shown him that life never really ends for we all exists at the same time in many different times. That they look at us as you would a mountain range, all at once, while we see only ourselves at this moment. That in itself I found profound since it hints at us having no true free will.
This is a theme he touches upon often and I believe he feels that, not to sound cliché, our destinies are already written for us.
This leads to his character showing a deep degree of apathy for everything, including the horrible bombing of Dresden in WW2.BR>Especially because of where we find ourselves now, I truly feel everyone should read this book, it helped me see thing differently. I was literally reading this book while the World Trade and the Pentagon were hit by terrorists. It helped me to turn to it, I am not as cold to things as the character, but somehow it offered a chilling calmness in his disregard for all that goes on. So it goes.
Rating:
Summary: Strangely funny, amazing writing
Review: A lot has already been written here about the merits of SH5 as an anti-war book, so I will focus on the two things that impressed me the most about this book. The first is that although it is clearly a serious and devastating topic (the bombing of Dresden), it is so infused with delicate humor that you can't help but smile. Vonnegut brings his characters to life using this humor so that Billy Pilgrim, Roland Weary and the rest of the cast become tangible real human beings. In war, humor is sometimes the only link to humanity - in this case, it is the lifeblood of the population of SH 5. The second thing that never fails to impress me is Vonnegut's way with the English language, his ability to wrap words around a piece of paper in such a way that no one else has thought about before. So simple, yet so beautifully done and so obviously a masterpiece. My favorite piece is when he describes a woman as "a dull person, but a sensational invitation to make babies". What a Vonnegut way of saying "knockout". The ideas expressed with make you think (especially for me, the one about America hating its poor people - being a rich nation filled with impoverished people who hate themselves and who are hated by the rest) and the intricate, amazing prose will stick with you.
Rating:
Summary: Called one of his best for a reason!
Review: My first Vonnegut novel--it amazed me that he could address such weighty issues in such a light-hearted way. Firebombing at Dresden is no picnic, and he doesn't make it out to be one, mind you, but Billy Pilgrim's adventures with war and aliens and life just reach out and smack reality in the face for a... well... reality check, I suppose. You'll think differently while reading this, and if you're lucky, aftwerward as well. Reading this one novel got me hooked on Vonnegut.
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