Critical Book Review of Slaughterhouse Five - 2406 Words

In Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut explains his experience of the World War II bombing of Dresden, Germany. Vonneguts creative antiwar novel shows the audience the hardships of the life of a soldier through his writing technique. Slaughterhouse Five is written circularly, and time travel is ironically the only consistency throughout the book. Vonnegut outlines the life of Billy Pilgrim, whose life and experiences are uncannily similar to those of Vonnegut. In Chapter 1, Kurt Vonnegut non-fictionally describes his intentions for writing the book. Vonnegut personally experienced the destruction of Dresden, and explains how he continuously tried to document Dresden but was unsuccessful for twenty-three years after the war. Vonnegut let†¦show more content†¦He has situated the book in a fashion that it is not chronological, has isnt linear, is fictional and non-fictional, and maintains the same satirical voice throughout. The style makes the reader think there is no plot line , and that Vonnegut is freelance writing, however his work was greatly thought out, for twenty-three years actually. Vonneguts constant confusion about the war and circular thoughts left few options for techniques in which he could tell his story. To portray the story clearly would have been virtually impossible, since the author himself didnt even know the answers to his questions, so he approached it in a unique way. This organization, or assumed lack thereof by the audience, indicates strongly Vonneguts deep confusion about life and death, and his juggling with ideas over the concepts. At some points in the story Vonnegut changes from third person to first person, indicating that he was among the soldiers. When the paths of Billy and the narrator meet up at Dresden, there is a brief period of person shift. The narrator uses ‘us and ‘we, simply because Vonnegut is there too. Charles B. Harries, who wrote, Time, Uncertainty, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: A Reading of ‘Slaughterhouse Five explains the person change as this: He [Vonnegut], too, had suffered capture and malnutrition and the devastating firebombing. He, too, worked in the corpse mines and saw a friendShow MoreRelated The Thought-experiments in Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five or the Childrens Crusade: A Duty Da3375 Words   |  14 PagesThe Thought-experiments in Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five or the Childrens Crusade: A Duty Dance With Death In 1945 Kurt Vonnegut witnessed a horrific series of bombings that led to the destruction of the German city of Dresden, where he was taken as a prisoner of war. The controversial fire-storm raid, carried out by bombers of the Royal Air Force and US Air Force, took casualties of up to a quarter million people (Klinkowitz x-xi). 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