Slaughterhouse-Five

Rating:
Summary: War bad. Vonnegut good.
Review: "Slaughter House 5" is slowly becoming one of my favorite books. Having read it twice already, I am very appreciative of his ability to mesh humor and misery together so well. The man is a master of satire and well-deserving of the Orwell comparisons. And yes, the description of Billy's seminal vesicles being emptied into Valencia was indeed cool and trippy. -c

Rating:
Summary: Funny, Sad, Provocative
Review: If you have never read Vonnegut, this is the one. Not to belittle his other works, but this one is quintessential Vonnegut.

Rating:
Summary: simply put, awesome
Review: This book is a subtle diatribe against war. Sort of like Catch-22, but you don't need a dictionary by your side to read this one. If you love a great novel with a profound message, read it.

Rating:
Summary: The novel was okay, but I found it hard to follow
Review: I thought the anti-war theme was very good. It reminds you of how bad war really is. I'm only 17 so I havn't ever experinced a real war. I think that movies and shows today do to much to glorify war, but this book does a great job of making you realize what war is like. One think I did not like was all the time traveling and the whole alien thing. I found it to be confusing and stupid. Other than that I liked the book.

Rating:
Summary: it describes that which is a good narative into Vonnegut
Review: This was a very good book. It describes what life would be like if you yourself became unstuck in time. It offers a superb view of Pilgrim's seminal vesicles as he empties them into Valencia.

Rating:
Summary: Great!!!
Review: This is the first Vonnegut book I've read. I'm only 15 so I thought maybe I'd have trouble with it. But it was great! It's anti-war themes were terrific and really made me think about my beliefs on war. I can't wait to read more. So it goes.....

Rating:
Summary: CULTURAL LITMUS TEST
Review: This is fun! By simply reading the reviews on SH5 not only can I accurately gauge whether one likes or dislikes V, but I can guess age and education. Example, if you found this novel hard or disjointed you probably haven't had the challenge of English 101 yet. If you find the anti-war message trite, you're probably born after Vietnam. Why? If WWII was a great and just war (Saving Private Ryan) and displayed the worst of man's inhumanity (Dresden, Hiroshima, the Holocaust...), what does this say about a meat grinder like Vietnam (escalating when the book was published). If you don't like it because it was too simple then you are probably a college graduate and / or more accustomed to Mailer or some other hokum artist. I don't know many writers who in the late '60s or early '70s who wouldn't have sacrificed a limb to have written this book. P.S.--If you've haven't had the pleasure of Vonnegut in person then please see him before he coughs up his black lungs.

Rating:
Summary: an excellent book
Review: The sadness and the humor mixed together in this book truly show how devastating war can be and make it hard to either feel sorry for Billy Pilgrim or just laugh at him, but Vonnegut definitely gets the point across that war is hell, in and out of it.

Rating:
Summary: Vonnegut is unreal..
Review: I am a huge fan of his writing, but sadly, it was not due to his more famous novel, Slaughterhouse Five. Whilst I did enjoy this book, I found the ending a little offputting, and it is certainly one I have forgotten, although reading it not that long ago. I felt it was similar in style, and maybe a little in substance (despite the lack of aliens) to Catch 22, although Catch 22 remains one of my favourites. Perhaps the difference between the two is that Catch 22 had time to be developed, where as Slaughterhouse Five was a tad short. I felt the method of storytelling was immensly effective, as well as highly capturing attention wise. I would love to give this novel five stars simply because Vonnegut is such a champ, but I felt there was something missing. Nevertheless, most certainly worth the short read it is.

Rating:
Summary: Okay, I guess......
Review: This book was very difficult to understand. I didn't like the book itself, and especially the way Vonnegut belittles values. The only thing I really loved was the way he kept using the phrase "so it goes" It gave the book a feeling of reality...like saying "This is the truth. Deal with it." I think I'll try rereading the book when I'm a little older to see if I like it more then.