biografii_angl_i_amer_pis / ProductDescription

ProductDescription: Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classicSlaughterhouse-Fiveintroduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Don't let the ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional, or simple, novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..."Slaughterhouse-Five(taken from the name of the building where the POWs were held) is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is as important as any written since 1945. LikeCatch- 22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority.Slaughterhouse-Fiveboasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it a unique poignancy--and humor.

 Just brilliant

I read Slaughterhouse-Five three times and enjoyed every part of it those moments that I occupied myself with the book. Vonnegut is an amazing writer, so creative, brilliant, clever and witty that some of his words are difficult to forget. This was the first book I read by Kurt Vonnegut, and it was recommended to me by a friend. While I was reading it the first time, I tried to understand why it had become so much of a talked about read. At the end of it, I understood. As someone who witnessed the Dresden bombing, the author portrayed his insight of war through the character of Billy Pilgrim, who was serving the US army during World War II a private. It is a fantastic anti-war book, or more a book with a sobering effect on war mongers. The overwhelming destruction of picturesque and artistic Dresden, by Allied bombers is at the centre of the book. The alien part of it was marvelous. This book is easy to understand, the setting is great and the pace is fast, confirmed by the fact that I lost my attention for a minute while reading the book until the last words. This book and ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, TRIPLE AGENT DOUBLE CROSS are interesting reads to recommend to any reader who accepts the realities of life.

 Slightly left of center

"Slaughter House five" by Kurt Vonnegut a story about a Writer attempting to write a story about his experience as a prisoner of war at Slaughter house # 5 and the bombing of Dresden during World War 2. By page 29 or so He finishes his book and from this point you read his book. It is about Billy Pilgrim who was also in a POW in Dresden but Billy believes that he was abducted by aliens who experience life in the fourth dimension, translation, they experience time like a photo album, hence they feel all points of time are always in existence, time doesn't really pass, they can live at any point in their existence at any time. Billy learns to view time in this way and is constantly waking up at different points of his life. Of course he may just be going crazy. Many of his "Time traveling" and "alien abduction "ideas are quite similar to stories from a Sci-Fi novelist who he befriends after returning from Dresden. The Good: The book is well written, making it easy to read. Not a lot to expand upon, it was easy to read, wasn't boring even when a lot wasn't going on in the story. The Bad: Vonnegut (or his characters in this story) is a little left of center for me and this view came across in the book. Not that it ruined it but it was noticeable to me (which is to be expected as it is considered to be an anti war book). Lines like "I have also told them (his sons) not to work for companies which make massacre machinery, (Military equipment) and to express contempt for people who think we need machinery like that." If you are a pie in the sky lefty who thinks like that you will eat this thing up. I noticed that the horror of Dresden was constantly mentioned. How they couldn't understand why the Amreicans had bombed it, but very little mentioned of how bad the German's and their concentration camps were. The story was a little sporadic as it bounces around from time to time but it didn't confuse as it explains what's going on. Overall not a bad read with the exception of its political standing (may be down your alley though). Was enjoyable and worth reading though I wasn't inspired to run out and read more of Vonnegut.

 Poetry

Reviews are linear, SF is not, and so writing a review here is much like trying express van Gogh's color scheme in a mathematical formula. But I'll share what I experienced. Slaughterhouse-Five is much more a poem than it is a novel--simply because it respects itself in such a way. Vonnegut has created a kind literary constellation--much like Kant did with logic, and Hunter Thompson did with journalism (which, thanks to him and Tom Robbins, became an art). SF is illustrative of the degree of imagination necessary to craft a writing that is individual, and not victimized by changing social principles and varied political or cultural atmospheres. "Billy Pilgrim" is a cooing phoenix disguised as a dove-like, poo-tee-weeting emissary of truth, value, and the human condition. A warm autumn beachhead with an existentialist undertow, this novel will corrode faith in half-actualized values fashioned subconsciously to soothe the minds of the social beast-thief. Now, time to get academic. When I stated above that SF was more a work of fiction than a novel, I meant that the author was able to view this circumstance as a singularity--a creation that was paradoxical but nonetheless itself, a beginning, middle, and end all simultaneously: it is it. As the Tralfamadorians say, "We see where the stars are, where they have been, and where they are going all at once." By not allowing this story to have a linear, BS structure of 'rising action', 'falling action', Vonnegut owns it, pets it, feeds it as a living thing under the control of the human mind and imagination. Sure, the story could have been at least published in a linear fashion, had Vonnegut written it in such a way, but then it would not be Vonnegut's story. It would be just like most other stories or events: very quick processes of ideas bouncing off of frame devices, one-dimensional characters with specified purposes, a general belief of objectivity as the savior, the enabler. Then, this story would not exist, in every philosophical sense of both the concepts of 'story' and 'existing'--a story isn't a story if it's grounded in fact, just as a house or shelter isn't a house or shelter if it's floating on water. In repetition of my introductory statement, I say that this collection of words compiled together to express perception--true perception, mind you, of a true thinker--is.