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dreamer_deceiver 's review for:
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
It appears that Vonnegut struggled for quite a while with how to capture his Dresden experience, but he copes by turning the story into an absurdist experience, expanding on the already absurd nature of war. The author's framing narrative of the "fictitious" story keeps the reader connected to the author's personal experience. Nonetheless, the book is actually quite funny and light in tone despite its extremely heavy subject matter.
There are many themes, metaphors, and analogies layered into the text, and I can easily see why this is a staple literary work for the classroom. The theme that most stuck with me was captured by the main character's "time travel" : that we are, in our present moment, everything that we have been, and everything that we will be. Furthermore, the concept of fate and the inevitability of death is explained by the protagonist's alien abductors. All deaths are followed by the saying "and so it goes", as if the event were a predefined and unalterable moment, and time continues to move forward regardless of these events. Since there is no use attempting to change them, we must define what is unavoidable and let go. Grasp life's most precious moments, and hold tight as fate travels through its inevitable events. While this may just be Vonnegut's coping mechanism for dealing with tragic events, I still think it's an important philosophy in order to continue living our lives in spite of the suffering around us.
I'm very excited to add some more Vonnegut books to my "To Read" list.
There are many themes, metaphors, and analogies layered into the text, and I can easily see why this is a staple literary work for the classroom. The theme that most stuck with me was captured by the main character's "time travel" : that we are, in our present moment, everything that we have been, and everything that we will be. Furthermore, the concept of fate and the inevitability of death is explained by the protagonist's alien abductors. All deaths are followed by the saying "and so it goes", as if the event were a predefined and unalterable moment, and time continues to move forward regardless of these events. Since there is no use attempting to change them, we must define what is unavoidable and let go. Grasp life's most precious moments, and hold tight as fate travels through its inevitable events. While this may just be Vonnegut's coping mechanism for dealing with tragic events, I still think it's an important philosophy in order to continue living our lives in spite of the suffering around us.
I'm very excited to add some more Vonnegut books to my "To Read" list.