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sliceofghost's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Gore, Genocide, War, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death of parent, Racial slurs, Cursing, and Antisemitism
Minor: Xenophobia and Toxic friendship
kellieligon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
So it goes.
Moderate: War and Mental illness
Minor: Racism, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts
blumoonie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Racial slurs and War
_fallinglight_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The OG Everything Everywhere All at Once but of the horrors of war, death, and dehumanization, C-PTSD, depression, suicide ideation, aliens, and what even tf fuck is time? It also goes hard on how the US is a danger to itself and others, and well, I can see why war mongers, pro-2A people, capitalists and the like absolutely hate this book lol. I personally didn't see the funny in this (I was aware of the satire but instead of wanting to laugh I wanted to cry; this book is horrifyingly sad) and it wasn't an enjoyable read to me, but, I still appreciate what KVJR set out to do with it and haters gonna hate but he was spitting facts left and right idk what to tell yall.
Graphic: War, Animal cruelty, Violence, Death, Genocide, Animal death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Ableism and Fatphobia
Minor: Sexism, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Misogyny
deannamartin113's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1. This is a PRIME example why books should NOT be banned. When a book is banned, we create the ‘Streisand Effect’ surrounding it, which encourages people to want to read it. These folks expect to find, and then elevate, what they think are profound expositions in it.
2. Kurt Vonnegut was a troubled soul. No doubt the war did it to him. He wrote the book simply to be offensive for the sake of being offensive.
3. This is NOT a classic. It’s a CULT classic. There’s a huge difference. Think of it as a classic for the kind of people who get duped by the likes of Charles Manson. (I’m pulling no punches here). This book is awful, imo.
4. I looked up the essays from ‘explaining’ Slaughterhouse 5 and those essays that actually claim that you can ‘find the gospel’ in it. I find it particularly offensive that Christians feel the need to read this, much less buy into the notion that they find Truth in it.
5. There is no Truth here. There is no Goodness here. There is nothing of VALUE here.
6. I made the mistake of believing it was a ‘classic’ and allowing my teen daughter to read this. I’m convinced this affected how she sees the gospel today.
7. The impropriety of his ‘jokes’ about other people groups would be a reason for the Woke crowd to demand this book be pulled from library shelves today; but, because it fits within their narrative, it’s okay to call Down’s Syndrome kids ‘idiots’ and make all the Polish jokes you want. 🤯
8. There is transgender theory in here. It is not masked in anyway. It is also handed to young minds as from the ‘higher power’ & much more intelligent minds of the Tralfamadorians. Because, of course, aliens who can see four dimensions and never go to war, are much more moral and better than us stupid humans who believe in a God. It’s much more sensible to believe in little green men who abduct us in the middle of the night, put us in a human zoo on their planet to watch humans have sex, and control our whole environment by putting us in and out of the timeline of our life as they please.
Graphic: Genocide, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Ableism
Moderate: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and War
dlsmk's review against another edition
3.25
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Torture, War, Alcohol, Body horror, Car accident, Gore, Death, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Excrement, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
taleofabibliophile's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
Graphic: Cursing, Confinement, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Gun violence, War, Death, Animal cruelty, and Mental illness
Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Gore, Ableism, Antisemitism, and Blood
Minor: Murder, Suicide, Sexual content, Animal death, Slavery, Medical trauma, Child death, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Excrement
allidone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Genocide, Excrement, Violence, Animal death, War, Medical trauma, Bullying, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Sexism, and Mass/school shootings
Minor: Transphobia, Racial slurs, Murder, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
lastsilversunset's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Confinement, and War
Moderate: Excrement, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Sexual content
Minor: Car accident, Fatphobia, and Racial slurs
vikingvisuals's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
If someone asked me to explain Slaughterhouse-Five, I am not sure how I would go about it or if it would even been possible. Describing the writing style and the plot seems an impossible challenge. "It's a book reflecting his experiences in WWII and his witnessing the bombing of Dresden" just barely scratches the service. It has so many things going on: sci-fi elements, time-travel, adventure, political commentary, etc. Some of which are barely touched upon yet somehow still hold a large weight.
Surely one thing the book is not is a typical novel with a clear storyline. Reading it you are taken on an adventure not due to the plot, but due to the diverse shifts in time and place. Having some understanding of trauma and PTSD, reading this book sort of transported me into the very mind of Vonnegut, errr... Billy Pilgrim and his experiences.
The sudden teleportation through various timeline brings up emotions of survivors of war being brought back to a traumatic experience from even the seemingly simplistic of triggers. When going back to the experiences of WWII in the book, often it seems the knowledge of experiences that happened to Billy Pilgrim after WWII are also present, reflecting potential new interpretations or emotions becoming attached to a memory upon its further inspection.
War and death in this book do not seem super "vivid" in a way that I can't quite describe. Certainly there are scenes that are graphic, but these scenes are often combined with shockingly beautiful descriptions. But I don't think that alone is the reason for this feeling, more-so that the perspective of Billy Pilgrim conveys the feeling survivors of war themselves develop towards death. It becomes a constant of sorts throughout the book. With each death being marked by the Traflmadorian "So it goes" it becomes clear that each occurrence of death is both very much present and recognized whilst still being so 'insignificant' that a simple 'so it goes' becomes the only way to process it.
Billy Pilgrim being described so negatively and weak yet surviving while other more "fit" characters perish brings the sense of the futility of war and the complete randomness / luck involved in it. It is not something you see in typical action movies where the strong and "good" survive while the weaker and "bad" perish, yet it very much is a feeling veterans often cope with, having seen countless friends killed right next to them while they survive.
This book has so many layers and I feel like if (or better said, when) I read this again, I may uncover a new understanding or a new interpretation of it.
One thing to me that was also quite jarring is how Vonnegut can manage to make you laugh in one sentence only to make you somehow feel guilty about it in the very next one. Or as stated above even with oddly beautiful descriptions of terrifying scenes. I really loved the writing style and surrealistic descriptions.
Other reviewers have also mentioned it, but the hardest part for me was also the attitude/descriptions of women in the book revolving around them as little more than sexual objects. That alone is an aspect of the book that I am still struggling with, as so many other aspects of the book were so great in my eyes that it makes you feel a bit uneasy loving them and the overall book itself so much.
Graphic: War, Violence, Animal death, and Death
Minor: Racial slurs