Friday, May 16, 2008

Slaughterhouse 5

Comment and post your questions/comments/thoughts about Slaughterhouse 5 for your classmates to read and respond to this summer.

5 comments:

CYoung said...

Kurt Vonnegut is Genius! That's all I have to say.
I love how he makes fun of the consumerism boom of the 50's and 60's. It all ties in with the whole anti-WWII thing.

Unknown said...

Vonnegut is no doubt a class act. For those of you who dug Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle is another goody. A bit cynical but nonetheless quite truthful. I am partial to Slaughter, but Cat's is another quick read that will make you think.

Lara said...

You know, I really liked Slapstick and Breakfast of Champions... it's been awhile since I read either, but I remember enjoying them. I just read Cat's Cradle for the first time last year and I sort of had a hard time staying interested. I have no idea why! It just took me forever to read it when usually his books go fairly quickly.

Remind me to tell you about the time I met Vonnegut.

Unknown said...

I have fallen in love with Kurt Vonnegut. I just found my dads stash of Kurt Vonnegut books and I'm about to start Cats Cradle...I'm pretty pumped.

Unknown said...

The book is made of win, Jesus, unicorns, and all things good in this world. Seriously amazing. I finished it in one day (bonus points to Vonnegut for avoiding the Crime and Punishment gun-in-mouthiness).

I especially liked the capture sequence, when the four men are playing hide-and-go-seek in the woods. The two scouts leaving was, in my opinion, one of his best criticisms of the war. The young wannabe had just went back for Billy, following the leave-no-man-behind concept that Americans tend to cherish, and when he returns, they leave them. It's surprisingly true. When confronted with a tough situation, you're left with a choice. You can forget family, friends, morals, honor, and any number of other things in the blink of an eye; ordinarily, something that horrible would never cross your mind until it's your life on the line. Humans are selfish creatures, and for the vast majority of humanity, morality goes out the window when you're the one on the line. I loved how he showed that so bluntly.