Reviews with content warning for Violence - Slaughterhouse-Five

what can a person say about it that hasn’t already been said. it’s a perfect example of anti-war novel, from he mouth of a veteran. amongst the themes of death and hungry and depravity are still themes of sci fi and i enjoyed Vonneguts take on humanity and religion

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marthathemartian's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book has strong anti-war themes, but I believe they don't hold up to modern standards. Women and people of color are plot devices used to critique the United States and white men are at the center of every struggle. I think the redeeming qualities of the book are its writing style and its obvious critiques of war.

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pershie13's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I tore through this book in less than 24 hours and absolutely loved it. When I picked up this classic, all I knew was that it was anti-war and centered on the destruction of Dresden, which piqued my interest immediately. What I didn't know was that Kurt Vonnegut would use science fiction and time travel to drive his point home. This book is semi-autobiographical and draws off of his experiences as a real-life prisoner of war in Dresden during World War II, which was interesting to consider while reading this book. While the characters were not real, they were based on people he knew, and that made it all the more interesting to consider what happened in the book and the toll that war took on these characters. The Tralfamadorian philosophy in this book was interesting to consider and clashed with a lot of the ways I was thinking about the story, and considering that way of thinking can provide a numbing viewpoint to the concept of war, especially a large destruction like the one that occurred in Dresden near the end of the war. This book was challenging and got me thinking about the philosophy of war, free will, and death all at once. I now understand why this is such a popular novel and a classic that will live on for so long. I loved the writing style and both the humor and darkness behind the book. I appreciate Vonnegut writing this novel over two decades after his real experiences as a POW, and I was surprised to see the portrayal of PTSD symptoms in the post-war sections as well. It is difficult to discuss the book, as it occurred in a non-linear fashion and constantly tore me all across Billy Pilgrim's life, but as you travel throughout the decades, the main themes start to come out and portray the big picture that Vonnegut is portraying. This is one of my favorite classics that I have read, and it makes me want to consider dipping into science fiction more frequently. I was pleasantly surprised by my love for the book, and not for the reasons why I initially decided to read it.

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miniingrid's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

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michaelceraburrito's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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jonwood's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I was quite disappointed with this boo and found it more gimmick than good. Sure, the nonlinear story telling may have been new at the time, but just because something is the first dose not make it the best. Perhaps Doctor Who and Christopher Nolan have spoiled me with a diverse selection of nonlinear story telling (both well and not so well executed), but even removing comparisons of executions, I didn't find that much substance buried within Slaughterhouse-5. I've read and seen much better reflections on tragedy and post-traumatic stress (just tune into MASH or China Beach). My take away is that the main character is losing his mind and that the aliens and time travel really aren't there, just metaphors and illusions, but I feel that is giving the author too much credit. There's a lot of disgusting things litter in the book, weather it's about people urinating/vowel movements, one character taking glee in describing tutor methods, or just how the narrator describes women (one example is of the narrator describing a woman as dull, but having a body that makes men want to fill her up with babies) that left a bad taste in my mouth.

Frankly, I don't think there was much reflections going on. I suppose the theme is that there are moments in time we are powerless to change, and sometimes there's no fighting it, one person can't always make a difference, "so it goes." However, it would have been more interesting seeing that struggle play out and the character learn the lesson via failure (like Clark Kent in the 100th episode of Smallville unable to prevent tragedy completely, and altering events only made other things worst), but instead the narrator just tells us this and the protagonist, Billy, just accepts this form of "enlightenment" without ever trying to fight it. Also, I did not find this book all that funny, despite it supposedly being funny at the same time as being traumatic, the book just lack heart for me.

Between the lack of entertainment, and the gross nature of some of the narration, I highly doubt I'll want to try to read another Vonnegut novel, and am left wondering why he has the reputation of literally genius that he does.

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triniparade's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Un libro que me hizo pensar.

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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

Banned Books Week 2023

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.

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