Rating: 
Summary: Weird and Wonderful
Review: Hard to describe this one except to say that I loved it.
Really a book-within-a-book, Vonnegut's tale gets you turned around with great story telling and (in some instances) wonderful use of absurdity. The writing keeps the pages turing quickly and easily and you finish the journey with your outlook slightly different that it was when you began - in a good way.
Give this one a chance.
Rating:
Summary: I recommend hearing it as a book on tape.
Review: I could add to the volumes of literary criticism that fills the reviews of this book, but what's the point of that? Rather, I will recommend that you hear the book as a book on tape - the book's a stream of consciuosness, disjointed approach works very well on tape. The reader shifts from one scene to another as easily as Billy Pilgrim does. The version I heard was not the one available here. Mine was narrated by Jose Ferrer and he did a wonderful job. Too bad Ferrer has passed on. So it goes.
Rating:
Summary: Read it again
Review: I know this novel fairly well having read it several times (once aloud to my students). It is about all time being always present if only we knew, or could realize it, or had a sense about time in the same way we have senses for light and sound.It is also about the Allied fire bombings of Dresden which killed more people than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. (And so it goes.) Kurt Vonnegut begins as though writing a memoir and advises us that "All of this happened, more or less..." Of course it did not, and yet, as with all real fiction, it is psychologically true. His protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, an unlikely hero, somewhat in the manner of unlikely heroes to come like Forest Gump and the hero of Jerzy Kosinski's Being There, transcends time and space as he bumbles along. This is a comédie noire--a "black comedy"--not to be confused with "film noir," a cinematic genre in which the bad guys may win or at least they are made sympathetic. In comédie noire the events are horrific but the style is light-hearted. What the genres have in common is a non-heroic protagonist. This is also a totally original work written in a most relaxing style that fuses the elements of science fiction with realism. It is easy to read (which is one of the reasons it can be found on the high school curriculum in our public schools). It is sharply satirical, lampooning not only our moral superiority, our egocentricity, but our limited understanding of time and space. And of course it is an anti-war novel in the tradition of All Quiet on the Western Front and Johnny Got His Gun. Vonnegut's view of time in this novel is like the stratification of an upcropping of rock: time past and time present are there for us to see, but also there is time future. Billy Pilgrim learns from the Tralfamadorians (who kidnapped him in 1967) that we are actually timeless beings who experience what we call the past, present and future again and again. And so Billy goes back to the war and forward to his marriage, and to Tralfamadore again and again. He learns that the Tralfamadorians see the stars not as bright spots of light but as "rarefied, luminous spaghetti" and human beings as "great millepedes with babies' legs at one end and old people's legs at the other." So time is not a river, nor is it a snake with its tail in its mouth. It is omnipresent, yet some things occur before and some after, but always they occur again. And so it goes. What I admire most about this most admirable novel is how easily and naturally Vonnegut controls the narrative and how effortlessly seems its construction. It is almost as if Vonnegut sat down one day and let his thoughts wander, and when he was through, here is this novel. In a sense, Vonnegut invented a new novelistic genre, combining fantasy with realism, touched by fictionalized memoir, penned in a comedic mode as horror is overtaken by a kind of fatalistic yet humorous view of life. Note here the appearance of Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut's alter-ego, the science fiction writer who is said to have invented Tralfamadore. Bottom line: read this without preconceptions and read it without regard to the usual constraints. Just let it flow and accept it for what it is, a juxtaposition of several genres, a tale of fiction, that--as fiction should--transcends time and space.
Rating:
Summary: Just brilliant
Review: I read Slaughterhouse-Five three times and enjoyed every part of it those moments that I occupied myself with the book. Vonnegut is an amazing writer, so creative, brilliant, clever and witty that some of his words are difficult to forget. This was the first book I read by Kurt Vonnegut, and it was recommended to me by a friend. While I was reading it the first time, I tried to understand why it had become so much of a talked about read. At the end of it, I understood. As someone who witnessed the Dresden bombing, the author portrayed his insight of war through the character of Billy Pilgrim, who was serving the US army during World War II a private. It is a fantastic anti-war book, or more a book with a sobering effect on war mongers. The overwhelming destruction of picturesque and artistic Dresden, by Allied bombers is at the centre of the book. The alien part of it was marvelous. This book is easy to understand, the setting is great and the pace is fast, confirmed by the fact that I lost my attention for a minute while reading the book until the last words. This is a book to recommend to any reader who accepts the realities of life. Also recommended: DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Rating:
Summary: Powerful. Breathtaking.
Review: I read Vonnegut's masterwork when most people read it- in school. I was too young, and the book was mature and too sad. I didn't get it. However, experiencing the book as a middle-aged adult, I get it now. Oh, boy, do I get it. It is a rich, rich feast of humanity, humility and soul-retrival. The tenderness with which Vonnegut tells the picaresque tale of Billy Pilgram alleviates the more tragic elements and gives us a melancholy story of a man who just wants to live his life. Billy Pilgram transcends his life to an almost Buddha-like understanding of suffering, happiness and death. I listened to the audiotape recently, read by Ethan Hawke. This has to be one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to. Ethan Hawkes' spare tone, and lowkey voice are a perfect marriage of prose and interpreter. He brings out flavors and colors that sent me flying back to re-read the book when I finished. I am richer for the trip. Listen or re-read Slaughterhouse Five and prepare to be profoundly moved by a master.
Rating:
Summary: Five stars is not enough for Vonnegut or Slaughterhouse-Five
Review: I was introduced to Vonnegut in college. Stand by for a weak cliche: HE CHANGED MY LIFE AND READING HABITS. Vonnegut is one of finest Satirists. Ahhhhh! A Classic book non-readers should be embarrassed they have not supped of his flowing knowledge. Vonnegut! No one writes like Vonnegut. He has an empathy and love for people that comes across through his stable of crazies and malcontents bumping into situations only KV could think up.
Yeah for Vonnegut! A writer I greatly admire.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Slaughterhouse Five is one of the, if not the, best book I have read in my short 16 years of life. Vonnegut tells the story of a man, unstruck in time, who travels spasmodically back and forth through time, reliving past experiences. It is enjoyable by fans of all genre: the bombing of dresden for you historical buffs, an alien abduction for you sci fi nuts, and hilarious dialogue and actions for the comedy fans.
As well as telling an incredably good story, it also informs the reader of an event in history that few know about, despite it's impact on the war, and the amount of casulties it caused. So not only are you reading a fine example of writing, you're also learning history too, now you just can't beat that with a stick. All in all, Slaughterhouse Five is a modern masterpiece, and rightfully deserves it's spot on the "Modern Library's 100 Best Books of the Century" (#18) as well as more. I whole heartedly recommend next time you are shopping for books at your local bookstore, you check this one out, it won't disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: Try Something Unusual!
Review: This book is quite possibly the best I've ever read, and I've read a lot. The problem is that the book is very hard to explain because frankly, it's odd.
This book is an anti-war novel which professes that it is not an anti-war novel. Written during the Vietnam War about World War Two, the book explores the atrocities of war without becoming maudlin. Vonnegut is wickedly poignant as he follows Billy Pilgrim, the main character, as be becomes "unstuck in time."
"Unstuck in time?!?" you say. Yes, the novel is not written in chronological order. It leaps around from time period to time period, and from planet to planet as well. But we'll leave some of that for you to discover.
This is not a difficult book to read. It reads like a light science fiction novel. But then, the issues it discusses are difficult. Vonnegut discusses war in a manner that gently disembowels, if you will. Like I said, it's hard to explain. Check it out. I think you'll agree that it's a "keeper." Another Amazon pick I'd quickly like to recommend is The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, another short, fast and memorable read.
Rating: 
Summary: Slaughter-House Five, a book inspired by insanity
Review: This difinatly is the most messed up book that I have read to date. Although I must confess that even with all that happens, it is still a book that is enjoyable. However not very appropriate for the young, do to some of crude and sometimes violent events. It is also a book that can seem dificult to follow with Billy going back and forth in time, this causes it to sometimes become a frustrating read.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books ever!
Review: This was the first book I read by Kurt Vonnegut, and in my opinion, the best book to read as an introduction to his work. The next book I read after SF-5 was Cat's Cradle, and I doubt I could have understood it if it wasn't for SF-5. Vonnegut's writing is not for everyone - he often uses strange, outlandish elements of science fiction and the like that take some getting used to.
Slaughterhouse-five follows the story of Billy Pilgrim, a private in the US army during World War II. Vonnegut tells us right away that Billy is 'unstuck in time', and throughout the book we make seemingly random trips to parts of Billy's life. Later in the book, Billy is allegedly captured by aliens and taken to their planet, Tralfamadore. In he very center of the plot is the destruction of Dresden, a completely civilian city in Germany that was demolished by an Allied firebombing. A reference to Dresden crops up almost every other page, revealing Vonnegut's obsession with this event he witnessed. There are many seemingly contradictory elements in SF-5, such as Tralfamdorian philosphy vs the theme of the book.
However, anyone who says that SF-5 is just a silly, mashed-together jumble of weird, absurd, unconnected events is reading it too shallowly. In English class, I wrote an in-depth literay analysis of this book. I picked a very narrow topic and still wrote 16 pages without having to fluff it out at all. I could have written thirty pages, but the limit was 10 (I eventually pared it down to 12).
A lot of people don't like SF-5 because they say its theme "War is Bad" gets too repetitive. A careful reader, though, can see that Vonnegut approaches the topic from many different angles, even from the seemingly random science fiction elements. SF-5 is a magnificently deep, poignant, yet still funny book. It is one of my favorites and I reccomend it to everyone without hesitation!
Anyone who is having trouble understanding this book should try and read some criticism or analysis of it. Go to the library, go to the computer card catalog, type in "Slaughterhouse-five, Vonnegut" and see what you get.
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