Rating:  Summary: I Don't Get It Review: O.K., I read it, but I literally have no idea what this book is about. And I'm not reading it again to find out either. Apparently, people like almost anything in life, which is really a sad commentary on the human condition.
Rating:  Summary: Almost as good as the hype Review: This was a book I bought after hearing about several of my english teachers and peers rave about it. They claimed it was wonderfully written, excellent satire, and funny, so that is what I expected. The problem was that as with many overly hyped things they can not live up to your expectation. There was good news with this book, however, it was very intriguing and unique. The style of writing, the story itself, and the characters are all quirky and engaging. It is a very quick read and a book that once you get started you will not want to put down. The problems I had with it, however, were that it was very disjointed (which as you read it you will understand the importance of it, though you may not like reading it)and after I was done I didn't really care about any of the characters or the story--it is behind me down and I will not be going to all of my friends telling them that this is a must read. All in all, I think this book is one you should get from the library, read in an afternoon and return. It is not one that you will need to have around your house because you will never have to reference it again and while it is enjoyable it would be one that would have made me happier to have borrowed that purchased.
Rating:  Summary: Vonnegut's most famous, but not his best Review: Vonnegut's command of his narrative in this novel is commendable. The story seemlessly moves through time and setting almost too logically for the absurdist universe Vonnegut has created. Not one of Vonnegut's funniest books, but he does justice to the war he never thought he could put in writing. The philosophy of the Tralfamadorian aliens is very powerful and desirable to a tragic hero like Billy Pilgrim, as well as the reader and Vonnegut himself. However, I think even Vonnegut rejects the notion that free will does not exist, or he rather wishes to believe in a world where we are free to escape our misery by our own actions.
Rating:  Summary: well deserving Review: Vonnegut is a true master. Slaughterhouse Five is Vonnegutshowing us just how excellent he can be. If you pick up this book,don't plan on being able to do anything else until you finish it. It really is that good. It will pull you in, hold you there, and make you laugh outloud, all while delivering a strong anti-war message. Only Vonnegut could pull this off so well.
Rating:  Summary: And so it Goes.... Review: Consider yourself lucky if you have been assigned to read this book for school. And if you have picked up this book on your own, you made a great choice.This is a classic work that is actually a great book to read. Vonnegut is such an original writer. I can think of no author who comes close to what he do. This book is so unique and is such a memorable reading experience. Everyone should read a Vonnegut book and this is a great one. And so it goes.....
Rating:  Summary: Crazy WWII, sci-fi, space alien book! Review: I plan to read more books by Vonnegut, this was a fantastic book! The main character travels through time, has a new outlook on life, and lives all of his life out of sequence. We are taken on these journeys and adventures with him, we travel to Germany in World War II and to a space ship where he is kept in an alien zoo!
Rating:  Summary: Astonishingly creative...... Review: I never read Kurt Vonneguht before and, thus, had no idea what to expect from his book. Through the first few chapters I was a little confused to where he was taking this book; especially since it was said to be loosely based on his own experiences during World War 2. Kurt forced the reader to deal with the fantastic reality, that one could only view as absolute humor, and forced us also to deal with the harshness of life and death and the fine line between them. He intertwined the two and created a character whom was eternally trapped re-living his War days and the time when he was abducted to the planet Tramalfagador ( I probably spelled that wrong ). One cannot completely overlook the meaning of the "imaginary" world....because who is to say what is reality and what is not....I certainly dare not impose my opinion; figure it out for yourself.
Rating:  Summary: So it goes Review: John Clute called Vonnegut the funniest SF author ever. I don't know. This book made me snicker at times, but I didn't really laugh. I think it is in Vonnegut's delivery, the scenes are not visual enough. This, ironicaly, works well with the tragic elements though. The only other problem is there is no sense of closer because of the fragmented style, but this same style works very well when you are in the middle of the book. If you like this, I'd think you'd also like Canticle for Leibowits by Walter Miller. It is somewhat more optimistic, but just as poignant.
Rating:  Summary: Plunging through time Review: In the tradition of Vonnegut's works, _Slaughterhouse Five_ is part autobiography, part fiction. Recounting the author's World War 2 experience, the story is told through the eyes of Billy Pilgrim, a timid and hopelessly ill-equipped army private. As our docile hero is dragged along behind his fellow soldiers on their pilgrimage across the war-scarred German countryside, the reader is sent chronologically back and forth like the proverbial tennis ball (in a manner that will be revisited in Vonnegut's later novel _Timequake_) to experience snatches of Pilgrim's childhood, his old age, and his captivity on the alien planet of Tralfamadore. While a morbid fellow soldier rambles on about blood gutters and iron maidens, Billy's mind flees from the POW camp near Dresden and finds itself in it's host's future body, reclining in the nude under the protective dome of a Tralfamadorian zoo. From outside the cupola, plunger-shaped creatures scrutinizingly observe his every move. The bizarre extraterrestrials, oblivious to the concept of time, bestow Billy Pilgrim with the following information (which Vonnegut appears to have borrowed from Quantum Physics): "All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just the way we look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever." Yet despite his daughter's suspicions, Pilgrim has not lost his mind - and neither has Vonnegut, who, by using this surreal allegory, presumably seeks to issue a welcome reminder of the mental detachedness that is rendered by the atrocity called war.
Rating:  Summary: The Contrast of Duty Verses Self Preservation Review: I felt this was a great book. It really made me think about how I felt about nationalism.Vonnegunt uses many puns and clever cynicisms to weave a great story. It was so good I read it in one sitting.
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