Slaughterhouse 5

Slaughterhouse 5 is another entry on my combined reading list and came in at 11. Could the book live up to such a high ranking? It is definitely an interesting read. I don't know of too many anti-war world war II books with a science fiction twist.

The author, Kurt Vonnegut is a World War II vet that survived the bombing of Dresden in Germany, and that is the rough setting of this novel. The main character Billy Pilgrim is at Dresden as well. Only something has caused Billy Pilgram to jump around all over his life. One minute he is about to be captured by Germans, the next he is back home at Optometry school.

Another interesting part of the book is that Billy Pilgrim thinks he has been abducted by an alien race and put in a zoo on their planet. They eventually add a beautiful porn star to be his mate. He occasionally jumps to a time when he is with these aliens.

The book never quite explains if these adventures are in his head because of the horrors he saw at Dresden, or are really happening. There are some subtle clues each way. The narrative while sometimes jarring is pretty light and this book is an easy read. It has that kind of humor that makes you smile, but isn't laugh out loud funny. The characters come off somewhat shallow, but in a shorter book like this it is really the events around them that is the star of the book.

Although you will know everything there is to know about Billy since you will see almost every point in his life as he jumps around. Luckily very little in his life ever seemed to be dull.

This is a real classic and deserves its high perch on the list. This is such an easy read I could see myself going back to this for several more readings. This is an easy 5 out of 5.