Wow, I've never read anything like it. Fascinating little book. I love the writing style. Perfect commentary of a soldier who experienced the horrors of war. ( )

The language in this short novel is nonchalant, casual, and free; the narrative is chaotic, schizophrenic, and non-linear. I did not enjoy reading this book, mostly because I felt at the end that most of the sentences were an unnecessary waste of time. What message was it sending? I had trouble finding the meaning in it all.

But maybe at least that was part of the point, that much of the life we live is meaningless; at least for those who witness the death and destruction of war. This book is a fictionalized memoir. It begins with Vonnegut telling us he witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden, then moves to tell us the story of a fellow named Billy Pilgrim, who I assume is a stand-in for Vonnegut. He goes to war, gets captured by the Germans, then suffers at their hands. But he develops a skill for time travel, which allows him to jump forward and backward in time when he closes his eyes. He is then abducted by aliens and placed in an Alien zoo. The aliens teach him how to use his time traveling skills.

This is where I think the clearest message is given: the Aliens tell Billy Pilgrim that those who can see the future can do nothing about it. We live our lives to the fullest, and take what the future gives us. This deliberate paralysis helps Billy Pilgrim deal with the horrors of war. Later, he tells an audience he knows when and how we will be killed. People ask him why he doesn't do anything about this, and he relates what he learned from the Aliens: you don't do anything about the future, you just live it.

It's maybe a cynical view of life, and not an uplifting one. I can see how Kurt Vonnegut, who truly was a prisoner of war and did witness the firebombing of Dresden, came to appreciate the awful meaninglessness of life. This strong existentialist message is present in the novel, and is what I took away from it. ( )

It took me this long to read Vonnegut’s classic time travel novel – about Billy Pilgrim, who has become unstuck in time – and of course I now wonder why I wated. I was inspired to finally pick up this novel by the episode of Lost in which Desmond similarly becomes unstuck in time, but I was surprised to find that this novel is not only an exploration of time travel but also a potent anti-war novel and even a fair piece of Zen Buddhist musing. After all, if every moment in your life happens simultaneously and no moment can be changed, living in the moment and accepting all states of life – including death – becomes the only option. ( )

reviewing this book is difficult. its a win tho.

many concepts in it. innovative structure. extremely unique.

what happens when u construct an alternative reality in an effort to accept the randomness of war and slaughter? you get aliens, dodging time travel, humor, indifference. id say its outlook is far more sophisticated than catch22's. it doesnt just travel along the same theme, not a single point.

seems brethren of joseph heller, anti-war satire. satire for lack of a better word. plenty o' misery in it.

also, vonn. weaves himself into the story, both within the intro, main body, and closing. very interesting spin on fiction.

sorry, but a quick review of this book just isnt possible ( )

A wickedly funny take on the absurdity of war. It is very thought-provoking even now, so it must have been quite an impact at the time of the Vietnam war.

Billy Pilgrim's adventures in the war zone take place when the "real" war with its "real" soldiers has all but ended. It is a sad scene where nobody is really fit for war, nobody knows how to "play the game". This is the less heroic part of war, no great generals and ingenious battle strategies.

Billy's time travelling and visits to Tralfamadore were fun to read. I always enjoy a bit of fantasy mixed in with "serious" fiction. This was my first Vonnegut, and I'm eager to read more.

By the way, I found the overviews of Kilgore Trout's novels very interesting. And Howard Campbell's writings about American prisoners of war. One could say something like that about the modern Finnish society too. ( )