How wonderful to check out a thing people rave about and then be in a position to rave myself. My lifelong best friend (Alex) and mother (Lyn) are both big into Vonnegut, so I always knew I'd read him someday, but it was startlingly good when it happened. I briefly tried out going with the audio book read by Ethan Hawke, but I'll be kind and just say of that experience that it was very... brief.
I don't go to 10/10 often. Neuromancer was an excellent novel and I gave it 8/10. If I give 10/10, basically I'm putting the book into my pantheon of top reads. So when you see that rating, expect gushing to follow.
This book is entirely carried by Vonnegut's writing. It deals with the insanity and inhumanity of war and the sadness which loss of life engenders, and it makes a case against that I find completely compelling. Vonnegut was, as you probably know, himself at Dresden following the famous firebombing of it by the Allies in WWII, and he actually writes himself briefly into the novel.
The book really broke ground for postmodern writing, as I understand it, and Vonnegut is considered, primarily on the strength of this book, to be one of the foremost writers of the postwar era. I wound up liking another of his books more (soon), but this one was breathtaking. I think Vonnegut has an ability unsurpassed by any other writer I have encountered to make you laugh hard and then suddenly feel deeply sad within a very small space of time.
The image of Billy Pilgrim watching war in reverse is one of the best images I have ever gotten from a novel. Vonnegut is a genius, and I can't say enough how much his writing spoke to me and continues to speak to me even when I am not reading it. Strongly, highly, totally recommended reading here.
So it goes.
Vonnegut paints a vivid picture of war, destruction and humanity in this epic. The character Billy Pilgrim represents every human and their need for freedom, peace and love. Vonnegut's writing style is infused with irony, humor and a real sense of knowing how to weave an intricate tale. I am not a fast reader but I finished this in only a few hours. I fell into this book and saw things in the pictures created by the words that I have never seen or seen since. I recommend this book to everyone as both a historical allegory and a study in humanity.
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