Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut

After reading about Vonnegut for so many years, and dipping into essays by him, I finally decided to read one and picked this one.

Slaughterhouse-Five (S5) had made it to a few people's "one book to read list" so I decided that it was time. I think what surprised me the most was the sheer ease with which the book flows, the conversationality. I guess I had an unconscious image of having to plod through an 'anti-war' tome, but S5 is everything that a tome is not.

Vonnegut has used numerous literary devices to great effect, and writers may want to pay attention.

I especially liked his 'So it goes' chorus as I believe the literary device is called, the phrase follows almost every mention of death. It serves to underline the fact that death is such an integral part not only in war but also in daily life.

Been a long time fan of self-reference, and therefore I really enjoyed Vonnegut's 'meta-fiction.' He writes about this book in this book itself, writes about his trying to write it etc. (Vonnegut has done things which I mistakenly assumed that only Andy Kaufmann had tried in the movie 'Adaptation.')

Finally, I absolutely loved the way the author fragments a linear flow of time. All his seamless riffs on the present, past and the future and also to the planet Tralfamadore serve to create a great texture. (Again, I had mistakenly assumed that Tarantino's Pulp Fiction movie was the first to play with non-sequential narrative, but Kurt has done it a long time ago in this book.)

A word of caution: This book does contain harsh language, and I later found out that it has been on several 'banned books' lists. I understand that parents of young children may not want this book in their kids' hands, but I highly recommend it for everyone else.

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