Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is just freaking weird!


One minute you're in a normal situation, following a WWII P.O.W.veteran, and then thrown into this madhouse of a plot about aliens. WTF? I'll reserve judgment for now.



All right now that I have had a lot of time to reflect on this book, I can officially say I'm on the fence of love and hate. It was nice getting so many recommendations for this, and the writing was well paced and shared a lot of emotions. Anyone who might have a relative whom is suffering from PTSD/TBI related to wartime should read this. (Also along with the book Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.) These two books will give you a better understanding of the military, somewhat.
I can say that I would hate this as an assignment, but I'm sure a good number of people have to read it in college.(Bummer for me, since I didn't go to college. Still, there's hope.) It wouldn't be enjoyable to speak about some of the topics in a group, but I do see the benefits of doing so.


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“How nice -- to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.”

“And so it goes...”

“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.”

“And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.”

“And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned into a pillar of salt. So it goes.”

“- Why me? - That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber? - Yes. - Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.”

“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register. Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”