Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

In perusing my Classics Club list a few days ago, I realized that despite reading over half of the novels on it, I hadn't yet cleared off any of the little categories I broke the list up into. I suddenly got a nonsensical urge to finish one of them off, so I looked to see which grouping was the closest to being completed. It turned out to be the "Modern Classics" category, which only had one book left to read on it, Slaughterhouse-Five. For that reason, and that reason alone, I picked up that book next.

The plot of the novel concerns a young soldier named Billy Pilgrim who becomes "unstuck in time" during his experiences in WWII. He moves backwards and forwards throughout his life in the text, like a time traveler. For example, he might go from being a soldier stranded behind German lines in one moment, to being a middle-aged optometrist in the next, and then back to his childhood in the moment after that. These time changes don't alarm Billy to any great extent, he just rolls with them, experiencing different bits of his life sporadically. Some of his time jumps reveal the curious information that he will be abducted by aliens in his future, and spend a great deal of time as an exhibit in a human zoo. He also learns how his life will end one day, which also doesn't worry him much. When he speaks with his family about this, they become deeply concerned for his mental well being, but again, Billy doesn't make a fuss and just goes along as if things are normal, flashing back and forth within his own life.

As the story continues on, it becomes clear that Billy was deeply affected by what he saw during the war, particularly his experience during the bombing of Dresden, a horrific event resulting in a great loss of human life. The reader is left to sort out what's actually happening to him on their own, as the time skips, absurd situations, and alien abductions start to feel more like symptoms of PTSD than reality. While no specific explanations are ever given for what's actually going on, the novel's overall message about the tragedy and waste of war is clear. It's left to the audience to decide how they want to interpret Billy's situation.

As I have discussed before on this blog, modern classics tend to make me nervous. Slaughterhouse-Five has all of the elements that I struggle with: unusual story structure, non-chronological use of time, and a blurring of fantasy and reality. Despite all this, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. Vonnegut's writing was a perfect blend of funny and serious, and I found myself completely engaged in Billy's strange adventures through time. I was interested in trying to sort out exactly what was going on, and I wasn't frustrated by the process of puzzling it out. The unusual parts of the novel were balanced with enough that was understandable to make the reading process more intriguing than confusing.

The antiwar theme of the novel was very well handled, with a lot more showing than telling throughout the text. Rather than state his position outright, Vonnegut describes Billy's war experiences in a simple, straightforward way and lets the reader digest the information. As the situations Billy encounters are horrifying, this technique of using simple. matter of fact prose, makes his experiences feel even more disturbing. After reading Uncle Tom's Cabin last week, a book that directly preaches its themes to the reader, I found it refreshing to read a novel that leaves more of the interpretation to the reader.

So even though I didn't pick up this book with any great expectations or excitement for it in my mind, I was very satisfied with my reading. This is one of the few more modern classics that I actually enjoyed, and I know that it will stick with me for a while. I have another Vonnegut work buried on my Classics Club list in the science fiction section, (Cat's Cradle) and I am excited to give that one a shot in the future.

Also, I am happy to be able to say that I have now officially finished the "Modern Classics" section of my Classics Club Challenge, an achievement that means nothing to anyone except myself. It is awfully satisfying to be able to say that a section of my list is done though. I might just finish it on time yet.


Challenge Tally
Classics Club (#9 on my list): 52/100 

Total Books Read in 2019: 58