Book Review - Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Title: Slaughterhouse Five
Series: -
Author: Kurt Vonnegur
 
Description: Billy Pilgrim - hapless barber’s assistan, successful optometrist, alien abductee, senile widower and soldier - has become unstuck in time. Hiding in the basement of a slaughterhouse in Dresden, with the city and its inhabitants burning above him, he finds himself a survivor of one of the most deadly and destructive battles of the Second World War. But when, exactly? How did he get here? And how does he get out?
 
Review: In “Slaughterhouse Five”, we follow the fortunes of Billy Pilgrim. Billy is a somewhat dumb, awkward and average American. He survives the bombing of Dresden at the end of World War II. At the same time, Billy constantly travels in time and is abducted by aliens.
 
This sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it isn’t. This book is a delight to read. The story creates absurd flash-backs and flash-forwards. One moment Billy is a prisoner of war, the next he is at his wedding party. He is tossed back and forth so often that he never has enough time to dwell on the situation. This also prevents Billy from making a connection to present. Everytime someone dies, he sighs, “so it goes”. His coping mechanism is the time traveling.
 
His experiences on the planet Tralfamadore, where Billy is exhibited in a zoo, further contributes to his indifference to earthly concerns. The Tralfamadorians experience every moment in the light of eternity and see distinction between past, present and future. Everything seems to happen for them at the same time.
 
The two absurd interventions, the time travel and the aliens, make “Slaughterhouse Five” a wacky novel on a very heavy theme. It’s the genius of this novel. The absurdity does not act absurd just because life and reality is essentially equally absurd and unpredictable.
 
Kurt Vonnegut has written a classic, no doubt. This book says more about the madness of World War II than all the reference works on that topic combined. Vonnegut writes smoothly and with striking imagery. The dry, factual narration of Billy Pilgrim contrasts with the tragic wartime horror.
 
“Slaughterhouse Five” is not a book for everyone. It’s completely different from I expected from it. But it’s such a good read.
 
Rating: 4/ 5