Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

15 reviews

devermismysteris's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

levtitticus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, War, Death, and Genocide

pershie13's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Murder, War, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Body shaming, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation, Excrement, Gore, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Classism, Blood, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Suicide

ssoha's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Death, Grief, Violence, Gore, Blood, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Murder, Rape, and War

megb64's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, War, Violence, Torture, Gore, Excrement, Death, Confinement, Gun violence, Grief, and Genocide

Moderate: Infidelity, Animal death, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, and Vomit

agw622's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

1.5

It's weird. It's so odd, and I find Billy such an unappealing unreliable narrator. It jumps so much that you never really get a good pace of reading. I personally am not a big fan of an unreliable narrator, and I also dislike spastic time jumping. This made it an unpleasant read for me. Although I appreciate what it is conveying, I don't think I will reread it nor recommend it in good faith.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Antisemitism, Genocide, Grief, Death, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, and War

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

deannamartin113's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• 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

*I have Thoughts*

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

ambercchen's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

4.25

a really intriguing depiction of ptsd and anti war that literally no one in my ap lang class talked abt! the motif of interconnection and “everything was beautiful and nothing hurt” is so lovely but i fear vonnegut fell into the trap of old men talking abt young women in a weird way :-/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Physical abuse, Grief, Blood, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, and Violence

booknerdbetty's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Violence, Misogyny, Mental illness, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Car accident, and Animal death

emilysbookishlife's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Grief