Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, is one of the most interesting and unique novels to come out in the 20th century. It is a blend of genres, flowing between science fiction, historical fiction, and autobiography. It follows Billy Pilgrim, who is supposed to represent Vonnegut in this fictionalized retelling of his experience in World War II during the bombing of Dresden. However, while Slaughterhouse-Five is semi-autobiographical, Vonnegut’s creative usage of science fiction in the novel warps it into something other than a typical autobiography. The book follows themes of time travel and other nonlinear progressions of plot in order to accurately portray Vonnegut’s message and overall perspective from this difficult time in his life.
At the beginning of the novel, Vonnegut makes it clear that this story is semi-biographical and that even though the events are completely fantastical, especially the science fiction elements, the overall theme of the novel is completely authentic to him. The first chapter is the only chapter written in first person perspective and serves as a kind of introduction for the rest of the novel, following a real moment in Vonnegut’s life, but the rest of the short book follows the character “Billy Pilgrim” who gets “unstuck” in time. The novel itself follows a harrowing moment Vonnegut lived through while serving in World War II, the Bombing of Dresden. Vonnegut himself was a soldier at the time, like Billy Pilgrim. Throughout the novel, whenever Billy gets “unstuck,” he travels into another moment in his life, either before or after his time in the army. Billy himself is aware of this, too, adding an interesting element of a nearly omniscient narrator. Vonnegut gets creative when writing this book, inserting aliens and other common science fiction tropes as a way to communicate.
The plot may sound confusing or lackluster, but it is mostly because it is better to go in with as little knowledge as possible. It is easier to pick up the plot as you read than to hear a mismanaged synopsis. I will say this book can be very challenging when reading for the first time, especially if you are going blind. This is not to say that the themes and overarching message are difficult to grasp, but more that the style of the novel is non-linear in an interesting way. This is one of my favorite books because of the different ways to interpret the usage of getting “unstuck” in time and its implications. Once you pick up on the style of writing, the book becomes easier to follow. However, if you do enjoy Slaughterhouse-Five, I recommend rereading it because it is easier to pick up on the smaller details and nuances in the text. If you are trying to explore more modern classics, I highly recommend this book. The prose is not difficult to follow at all, even though the style of the time jumps may have a learning curve the first time reading. I think this is a great book to pick up if you are interested in exploring new styles of fiction.
