Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonneguts absurdist classic?ÿSlaughterhouse-Five?ÿintroduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonneguts) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.?ÿ

Dont let the ease of reading fool you! Vonneguts isnt a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, “There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters…”Slaughterhouse-Five?ÿ(taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonneguts most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. Like?ÿCatch-22, it fashions the authors experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority.?ÿSlaughterhouse-Five?ÿboasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonneguts other works, but the books basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancyƒ??and humor.