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stargazerave'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
An incredible recounting of the firebombing of Dresden and an emotional retelling of how people change after intense trauma that left me giggling at parts and soberly understanding exactly what Billy Pilgrim was experiencing at others. Vonnegut pulls no punches when describing the atrocities of war and spares no detail in depicting exactly how it has fractured the mind of his protagonist, and the effects that fracturing has.
Graphic: War, Death, Mental illness, and Violence
Moderate: Gore, Excrement, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Antisemitism
douknwdewy667's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: War, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
count_of_carabas'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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Classism, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, Vomit, War, Cursing, Genocide, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Dementia, Infidelity, Mass/school shootings, Sexism, Rape, Death, Excrement, Gore, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Body horror
devermismysteris'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
4.5
Graphic: Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Drug abuse, War, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Torture, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Child death, and Death
precise's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I reread Slaughterhouse-Five in advance of a trip to the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library. I am glad that I did. It definitely enhanced the museum exhibits to see, for example, the ceremonial WWII saber that Vonnegut took home from his service on display (not particularly called out at the museum as such, but mentioned multiple times in the book).
I also found Slaughterhouse-Five to say much more about trauma and stress than I remembered. It may make sense that I didn't remember this - see above re lowest point in my life when I first read it - for all that I experienced stress and trauma as a teenager, I don't remember a lot from then anymore. A naive assumption one might hold about trauma is that Billy revisits the worst times in his life over and over. Instead, he travels at random through things that definitely happened in his life and things that might not have, a much more nuanced metaphor for feeling adrift and like agency has been taken from you in the wake of a traumatic experience. I was also reminded, having also read The Body Keeps The Score less than a year ago, of how recent our modern mental health constructs are and how post-traumatic stress treatment was not really available to Vonnegut's generation.
Overall - the book is fairly short, it's not satisfying and it's not meant to be. It does a good job of capturing a specific mood, and is worth reading for that even though it's not a pleasant mood.
Graphic: War
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Cursing, Death, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
I listed a lot of content warnings to be on the safe side but I would not warn most people about them explicitly before recommending this bookthedrtaylor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Genocide, War, Sexual content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
sputnik2's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: War
Moderate: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Car accident and Infidelity
yleavy'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: War, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Panic attacks/disorders
fayyaz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: War and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
joharrismay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
5.0
Will probably read another Kurt Vonnegut book
Graphic: Genocide, War, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness
Moderate: Violence, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content