‘Over the years, people I’ve met have often asked me what I’m working on, and I’ve usually replied that the main thing was a book about Dresden. I said that to Harrison Star, the movie-maker, one time, and he raised his eyebrows and inquired, “Is it an anti-war book?”
Billy Pilgrim
“Yes,” I said. “I guess.”‘
This week I am reviewing Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘timeless’ anti-war novel, which catapulted the author towards the literary spotlight; it goes without saying that it lives up to its reputation as a very unique and satisfying read. It is a book worthy of literary analysis, and one that has been studied by many, but at its core it is just a fun read. I have a few minor issues with the book, which I’ll touch base on, but as a whole I rated it highly. On to the review!
Slaughterhouse Five is a book that defies a clear and coherent summary, it is hard to pin it on any one thing. On one level it is a book about the fire bombing of Dresden during the climax of the second world war, which the author witnessed first hand during his military service, but on a much larger level it is a twisted science fiction/psychological cross breed about time travel, aliens, philosophy, war, perspective, time, life, and of course death, so it goes. If I had to give the book a rating (which I don’t) I would give it a 5 out of 5 for its unique writing style, story and approach; it is very readable, and though short, it leaves a long lasting impression. I would also say it’s a book you could read twice – which is always a good thing – as there is a lot of depth scattered throughout its pages for the readers who like to highlight, take notes and dwell on the book’s themes and messages.
Kurt Vonnegut employs a very economical writing style and yet still manages to make great use of symbolism, colours and motifs by sprinkling them over his short and punchy sentences. The author has popularised the saying ‘So it goes’ through Slaughterhouse Five’s layers upon layers of (well executed) repetition – these three words hold an enormous power in the context of the story, and will no doubt conjure in the reader’s mind a fascinating philosophy that underlines the whole book, like a world war 2 trench.
The story centers/scatters around a time traveling man called Billy Pilgrim who served in the Second World War, witnessed the fire bombing at Dresden, and was abducted by aliens who helped him to understand his time traveling experiences. He also ends up, at some point in the novel, as a POW in a slaughterhouse – numbered 5, obviously. These are all minor details that I will not expand upon, as you will have to read it for yourself, but rest easy in the comforting knowledge that I am not spoiling the book for you. The story is not written in chronological order and allows you to glimpse at all these occurences and more very early on in the book. The author, even tells the reader how the book will end at the very beginning.
And so on.
Now I will share with you all, a ‘moment’ in the book which really resonated with me, as I feel it is my responsibility as a reviewer of this book, to demonstrate a fragment of its writing power. I hold it up as one of the finest paragraphs ever written, especially considering how powerful its message is in the context of Slaughterhouse Five’s philosophy on time, and how this philosophy relates to war and death.
“Billy… turned on the television. He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewman. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation. The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragmets from the crewman and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people, named Adam and Eve, he supposed.” (p.60-61)
In my opinion, that paragraph alone warranted the book 5 stars, but not really, it needs more than one sweet paragraph, thankfully it has many, and they are all spun together as intricately as a spider’s web. The only gripe I have with the novel is that while there are lots of memorable characters, such as Wild Bob, and Edgar Derby, the main character Billy Pilgrim is a bit of a sap, and if it weren’t for the narrator carrying his shoulders he would be a total non-character. You never feel like rooting for him, but then again you have no reason to, as you and him both know exactly how and when he is going to die, thanks to his time traveling. I almost got the sense that Billy Pilgrim was a weird, abstract version of Albert Camus’ existential Meursault from his novel The Stranger (1942). This is not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes I just wanted to jump inside the novel and slap his stupid little face.
I guess my other problem with the novel is its fatalist message that war is inevitable and there is no point in trying to change its course, while this may be true, the world would be a terrible place if it were filled with dopey characters like Billy Pilgrim who sighed ‘so it goes’ any time someone was slaughtered in front of them. Seriously though, these are just after thoughts that I’m having now; I feel this book is tough enough to handle a little criticism amidst its high praise. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Slaughterhouse Five, and I will always hold a special place for it in my bookshelf. 🙂
A Quick Taste of the Book
Opening Paragraph:
‘All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn’t his. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. And so on. I’ve changed all the names.’ (p.1)
Memorable Passage:
‘Weary was as new to war as Billy. He was a replacement, too. As a part of a gun crew, he had helped to fire one shot in anger – from a 57 millimeter antitank gun. The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the zipper on the fly of God Almighty. The gun lapped up snow and vegetation with a blowtorch thirty feet long. The flame left a black arrow on the ground, showing the Germans exactly where the gun was hidden. The shot was a miss. What had been missed was a Tiger tank. It swiveled its 88-millimeter snout around sniffingly, saw the arrow on the ground. It fired. It killed everybody in the crew but Weary. So it goes.‘ (p. 28)
A Look at Some of the Themes
Slaughterhouse Five is overflowing with themes. Obviously the nature of time is a big one, and so is perspective, as the Tralfamadorian’s/Billy’s concept of time changes their perspective on reality. There was that beautiful passage in the book where Billy Pilgrim watches the war documentary backwards, and the whole meaning changes: this suggests that if you change your perspective, the world changes, so therefore you have total control over the construction of the world as it only exists through your perception of it. I also found it interesting that Billy was an ‘optometrist’ by profession, considering their job is to correct people’s vision (perception).
There was the theme of the cyclical nature of reality, which was referenced a lot, but most notably in the beginning: ‘My name is Yon Yonson, I work in Winconsin…’ And so on to infinity’
You could also argue that post traumatic stress from war was a theme, as there are consistent motifs that occurred throughout the book which suggested that Vonnegut made everything up, or at least had a very hard time distinguishing post war experience from reality – with this interpretation in mind, Billy Pilgrim becomes Kurt Vonnegut’s dissociated alter ego, or split personality, which has emerged out of deep trauma from his war experience. For example, the references to the ‘Three Musketeers candy bar’, the barking dog (‘somewhere a big dog was barking’), the orange and black striped train that held the POWs compared to Billy’s black and orange striped tent at home (p.55/57), Kilgore Trout’s science fiction novels, which all allude to experiences had by Billy in the book – it’s worth noting that Kilgore Trout is a writer, just like Kurt Vonnegut; there are many similarities drawn between the two. There was also a zoo in Dresden, and Billy was dressed strangely while a prisoner there, and the soldiers thought he was very entertaining due to his physical appearance, this is paralelled by the Tralfamadorians who find Billy very amusing while they watched him in their zoo.
Finally there was a passage which compared Billy’s entering the POW camp to entering the Tralfamodorian zoo: ‘He came to in what he thought might be a building on Tralfamadore. It was shrilly lit and lined with white tiles. It was on Earth, though. It was a delousing station through which all new prisoners had to pass. Billy did as he was told, took off his clothes. That was the first thing they told him to do on Tralfamadore, too. (p. 68)
There were also a lot of references to Christianity. Especially Jesus Christ and his gory wounds: ‘Billy had an extremely gruesome crucifix hanging on the wall of his little bedroom in Illum. ‘A military surgeon (my emphasis) would have admired the clinical fidelity of the artist’s rendition of all Christ’s wounds – the spear wound, the thorn wounds, the holes that were made by the iron spikes. Billy’s Christ died horribly. He was pitiful. So it goes.’
My interpretation of this had something to do with Jesus’ crucifixion being an unnecessary and gruesome sacrifice, just like the many American soldiers who died fighting other people’s wars. My emphasis on ‘military surgeon’ was to make the connection between religion and the military, as they both operate on similar merits and appreciate the same details, at least in regards to human sacrifice, or martyrs – sacrifice one for the many (you can also make a connection between The Three Musketeers here: ‘one for all, all for one’) Finally, the way Billy describes Christ’s crucifixion and his death as pitiful, and ends the passage with So it goes, suggests that even spiritual beings or Gods, are still subject to the gory deaths that any one made of flesh and bone are. Everyone operates on the same spectrum, we all die, and yet life still goes on.
There are obviously way more themes found within this book, but I don’t have any intentions on writing a study guide – these are just some less talked about themes that I picked up on and found interesting.
★★★★★ 5 stars