Slaughterhouse-five
(Kurt Vonnegut)
When Billy Pilgrim became unstuck in time, the very same thing could be said for anyone reading this classic novel from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. In classic Vonnegut style the author introduces the reader to the possibilites of time travel and ultra-intelligent alien societies interwoven with the personal exploits of Billy Pilgrim's during World War II and his civilian life after the war. While reading this novel, the reader is transported to the dark days of Billy?s captivity in a prison camp in Dresden, Germany; to the unbelievable extraterrestrial human zoo on the planet Tralfamadore, where Billy is put on public display with his ?mate?; to the ordinary and almost mundane life of Billy Pilgrim the optometrist in Ilium, New York, where Billy resides with his wife. Throughout the book, Billy swings from one reality to the next, never knowing when he?ll be transported or where he?ll land. In one instant he is laughing at the antics of his fellow optimetrists as they fly to a convention, and in the next he?s limping his way through the snows of Germany, behind enemy lines and looking for someone to whom he can surrender. Billy doesn?t understand why this is happening to him. He suspects he is going insane. Because of these unexpected arrivals and departures to and from random moments in his life, his reactions to events cannot be predicted and may be inappropriate for what the situation demands. Laughing when he should be crying, happy when he should be sad, his reactions are as unstuck in time as Billy. It is Billy?s extraterrestrial captors and new friends who explain the concept of time travel to Billy, as well as their concept of time itself. They teach Billy that time is not linear, as Earthlings believe. Instead, according to the Tralfamadorians, time is continuous, made up of many, many moments that are trapped like bugs in amber. The Tralfamadorians believe that when looking at the moments in one?s timeline, it isn?t necessary to examine the moments that are bad; it is much more pleasant to look at the good moments, trapped like bugs in amber. In Slaughterhouse Five Vonnegut weaves a tale with a mixture of satire, ironic wit, sadness and pure delight.
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