Slaughterhouse 5

This is my intro to Vonnegut's work and my, what an intro. If you're just brisking through, the story might seem all over the place, what with all the time-travel stuff. But underneath all that sci-fi, is a pretty stoic person's life(just got off, a couple of days ago, reading Obstacle is the Way, so I have my glasses tinted with stoicism) Vonnegut has brilliantly weaved in the Dresden bombings with the Tralfamadorians' outlook of time. That which is to happen will happen, has already happened, is happening. The dead are always living and the living are always dead. So it goes.

And another thing about this book, if you're the least bit creative, this will turn the gears in your head like a mofo and will beg you to create stuff, because if this guy can blend in WWII, Time travel, Aliens, Philosophy and a optometrist-veteran's life-story into just 175 pages of cohesive awesomeness, you can at least start.


Update 2024: the above review was written in 2017 when I was just a budding writer. Now in 2024 I'm a budding writer 7 years in the making. My depression aside, this book still slaps. All the above points made by the 25 year old me are still valid but I don't know about the stoicism thing. Billy as a main character feels to have a very flat arc. Sure he's supposed to be the everyman who goes on extraordinary adventures whom you can paste yourself onto but still I would've liked some semblance of a personality. Let's see. Only hope is I see this review in 7 more years and at the bare minimum, still am a budding writer. For the alternative, I fear, is much much worse. Happy reading