Rating: 
Summary: So it goes
Review: The first time I read this book (as a high school student), I found it tremendously liberating, primarily because of Vonnegut's style of writing, which was unlike that of other books we had to read at the time. This second time, however, I was surprised to find that Vonnegut's writing seemed almost clumsy. And I wondered about my voracious desire in high school to read all of his books. There may be an optimum adolescent time frame when Vonnegut speaks most influentially to his readers.Still, it carries the weight I felt in the first reading, and his voice is perfect for pointing out the absurdities of tragedy. Though Vonnegut's topic is the firebombing of Dresden, his book concerns all war and massacre. It is about the fringes of rationality, and the attempt to find something beautiful and optimistic in a world where the darkest things can occur. But in the end, it seems that this hopeful humanism shares the stage with another philosophy. The Tralfamadorians set a pessimistic tone: Time is a mere dimension, observable in an instant, the things that happen must happen, and no event is good, or bad, or sad-they are just inevitable.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly involving and darkly humorous
Review: Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" is one of the finest books I've ever read. I want to extend my deepest thanks to my girl Meredith for placing it in my borrowing hands. It's a fabulous reading experience that when explained verbally makes no sense. I'm sure that my breakdown of the plot structure didn't make anyone want to read it, but my neverending enthusiasm for the brilliance of the writer and all he accomplished in the 200+ pages of text probably did. Vonnegut is a genius of prose, and he handles a story that jumps back and forth through time and space like a kangaroo with a porcupine in its pouch with a delicate touch of dark humor that treads the boundary of the nearly ludicrous, but always stays this side of believable. It's an astonishing piece of anti-war sentiment that examines the life of Billy Pilgrim through the 4-dimensional eyes of time, seeing time and events therein as something that have always happened, is happening, and will always happen. This sets the time-hopping structure of the book. The book is rooted in Billy Pilgrim's situation as a prisoner of war, held captive first in a run down little camp that is pretty much headed by the distinguished Englishmen who have come to know the Nazi soldiers as comrades in arms, and then he is moved to Dresden, Germany; the site of a massacre that the combined destructive power of which took more lives than the Hiroshima bomb. We find out that Billy Pilgrim also became a optometrist, married a rich woman, and may or may not have been taken to a planet called Tralfamadore to be put on display in a zoo for the interest of the planet's inhabitants, who teach Billy about the true nature of time. I couldn't explain how or why this book drew me in with such power, but there is no doubt in my mind of its greatness. Vonnegut uses his characters to the anti-war angle splendidly, gives us some new perspectives about time to think about, and he sort of makes us feel guilty for wanting to chuckle at the snide moments of obscure humor he throws at us like eggs, and we're all the dumb football jock's car. It's a wonderful balancing act of psychological profiling, satire, theory, and love. This is a true timeless masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: An Atypical Novel
Review: Few novels contain the sense of humor and the sense of tragedy as this Vonnegut classic. This novel is about aliens, but is not science-fiction. This novel is about war, but makes you laugh. Almost impossible to describe, Slaughter-house Five captures the absudity and hopelessness of life in the most humorous way imaginable. The subject matter seems similar to Heller's "Catch 22", but the philosophical approach to time as the protagonist becomes "unstuck in time" makes this novel novel more compelling.
Rating: 
Summary: Slaughterhouse Five
Review: Slaughterhouse Five is an intersting book which gives science fiction a neat twist. The plot is very hard to follow because of the main characters time traveling. This stream of consiousness book makes you think about life now and after death. But if you are looking for a no brainer easy read this is not the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: A Questionable Classic
Review: I have been aware of this book since seeing the movie for the first time over twenty-five years ago. I finally got around to reading it recently. It is appalling that this is considered a classic and that it is studied as an example of American literature. Slaughterhouse five deals with Billy Pilgrim, a WWII veteran who is "unstuck in time" and jumps back and forth from his experience as prisoner of war in WWII Dresden to mundane suburban concerns as a wealthy optometrist to life as a zoo exhibit on the planet Tralfalmadore. Being "unstuck in time" could be a metaphor for mental illness but Vonnegut's telling of it makes me feel otherwise. He actually means for the reader to believe in this infantile nonsense. The novel is written in a childish absurdist style that becomes wearisome very quickly. This short novel of 187 pages has little to say: War is bad, killing is bad. Duh. There is the idiotic repetition of the phrase "and so it goes" every time death is mentioned. Even the death of bacteria or a stale glass of water. Vonnegut also implies that he did not want to write about this subject but has somehow been forced. The opening chapter details how he had not dwelt on the memories of his wartime experiences for decades and was finally forced to reflect on them in writing this book. This unwillingness shows. I estimate that less than a quarter of the novel actually deals with the events he witnessed in WWII. If Vonnegut had been able to write a normal wartime memoir that would have been a much more interesting book. Instead we have this puerile fantasy that, perversely, is treated as great literature. I am especially amazed that this book is studied in English courses across America. Message to students: Question the judgment of any teacher who presents this as an example of anything other than worthless ...that should have never been published.
Rating:
Summary: Loved It
Review: I loved the positive spin on this book. The main character is not a typical guy -- through his strange experiences with aliens, soldiers in WWII, family and doctors, he tells his anti-war story convincingly. A very fast read.
Rating:
Summary: Innovative, Intriguing Literary Work
Review: To say the least, the book was innovative, intriguing, and somewhat overrated. Kurt's supposed morbid sense of humor was either: a)not apparent; or b)just not humorous, and seldom created a foundation for the plot. The book does, however, bring up revelations about time and its other dimensions, but is nowhere near the detail of Abbot's Flatland. But it also creates a solid foundation for the plot. It consists of a man being "unstuck" in time, meaning he can inadvertantly warp from time to time. The events that happen during his lifetime, however, do not pertain to any specific theme, except for the manifest anti-war theme. The book is not necessarily a very good anti-war book, but the man's life and "death" still make one contemplate. There are also some powerful anecdotes, as when the protoganist tells the tale of his favorite author's book. It speaks of how there is a tree with bark made of gold, diamonds in the flowers, etcetera, and how humans fight and kill each other on the roots, and only help the tree grow.
All in all, the book makes one contemplate virtually everthing analytical, but lacks the commonplace anti-war theme with vulgar scenes, sadistic tales, etcetera, but is still worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book, couldn't put it down!
Review: This is the first book I have read by Vonnegut, and it is one of the best books I have read by any author, although after having read a few other books by him, it is certainly his best work. The book is set mostly in WWII, but it also flashes around to time periods after the war. The flow of the story is similar to the movie "Pulp Fiction", but the flashbacks are in a logical order that makes sense throughout the book. It is mostly a serious story, but the author has the knack for smacking the reader with some witty comment or antecdote that will have you laughing [...], but makes strong social commentary at the same time. He writes in a way that is very matter-of-fact and he tells it like it is, often giving the reader a new perspective on this world.
Rating:
Summary: A Darkly Entertaining and Honest, Modern Classic
Review: Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" is a modern, anti-war classic. It is the story of Billy Pilgrim and his problematic life marred by his horrific experiences as a prisoner of war in Dresden during World War II. There, Billy experiences firsthand the catastrophic fire bombing that leveled the German city. The reader jumps back and forth to different points in Billy's life, many times randomly and unexpectedly. All of it adds up to a darkly (yet humorously) told story of a sad, existentialist life. I must say that I, as a Believer, have a different worldview than Kurt Vonnegut and Billy Pilgrim. But this book is so very honest about what everyday human life must mean if there is nothing more than fire bombings, dogs barking, family members, dreams of trips to imaginary planets, and so on. If what we see is all there is, as many of us, with our actions and beliefs testify to frequently, well then, as Vonnegut writes, "...so it goes." The only thing we can do to cope is deny the fact and create our own subversions, unless we truly want to open ourselves up to something our very nature tells us from which to run. "So.." said Billy gropingly, "I suppose that the idea of preventing wwar on Earth is stupid, too."
"Of course."
"But you do have a peaceful planet here."
"Today we do. On other days we have wars as horrible as any you've ever seen or read about. There isn't anything we can do about them, so we simply don't look at them. We ignore them. We spend eternity looking at pleasant moments--like today at the zoo. Isn't this a nice moment?"
Rating: 
Summary: An enjoyable read
Review: Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" is an enjoyable read. Vonnegut writes with a smooth and witty writing style. The story of Billy Pilgrim's experiences as a POW during World War Two, including his time traveling adventures, are shocking and amusing at the same time. Confronting horror and death with humor is an age-old concept, and Vonnegut finds a good balance between the two. One thing that I kept asking myself as I read the book was "what is this book about?" I think Vonnegut may have succeeded in writing a book where the reader can make up his or her own mind concerning the book's meaning. Yes, it addresses the horrors of war and makes light of authority, but there were so many subliminal and idiosyncratic references to various things, places, events, people, etc., that I couldn't help but think that I would just have to use my own creativity and ideas to figure out the book's real message. What really disturbed me about the book was Vonnegut's constant use of sarcasm and irreverent humor. Many people in modern society equate cynicism with sophistication. I respectfully disagree; I think that Vonnegut's numerous disparaging references to various institutions got old after a while. All in all, I recommend it . . . but I won't exalt it to the extent that other readers have.
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