Remember this? I'm slowly, but surely, getting back to my old routines. Now that I'm done with school, I can get back to the best horror list!
I'm reading through
three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling andM.B. Partlow),
posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books,
see this post.) To see the books I've reviewed so far, you
can view the list at the end of this post where I rank them.
This week I'm reviewing Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut.
This is my first time reading a book by Vonnegut, and I may be hooked. His prose is quick and almost rhythmic sometimes. Fluid. There are quotable bits ("How nice--to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.") and other impactful parts that aren't as quotable.
In this book, we follow a character named Billy Pilgrim, a soldier in WWII who was present at the bombing of Dresden. The memories/scenes shared show the uselessness, hopelessness, and ineffectualness of war. There are no great battle scenes in this one. Instead, there are lost soldiers and quick captures.
The narrative jumps back and forth in time, ostensibly because Billy has become disconnected from himself and jumps to different time periods. At some point, he was kidnaped by aliens, or so he relates, much to his daughter's chagrin. The reader never knows where they'll be next, or what might cause the leap.
A satire on war, there are comic moments, but also deeply horrifying moments that are intentionally thrown out in a lackluster way. The words "so it goes" punctuate many of these moments.
The horror in this lies in the psychological aspects of war and what humans do to each other. Understated and almost comical at times, the horror is still there.
I'm glad I finally read this one after decades of hearing about it. It's definitely a lesson in writing horror that doesn't look like horror on the outside.
Have you read Vonnegut? What's your favorite book by him? Have you read this one? What did you think?
May you find your Muse.
5 comments:
This book has been on my TBR lit forever, and one day I'll actually get round to reading it. Vonnegut has been recommended to me as one of the very best.
Vonnegut is a powerful writer. I haven't read this book, but I read a few others by him, and they always impress. But he is not a comfortable writer; his stories dig deep into your psyche. Hence, I've never been tempted to binge on him. His books don't give pleasure or offer an escape from reality. So I need long stretches of time between his books to read something lighter.
Great book. I should probably re-read it. It's been a long time.
Slaughterhouse Five still haunts me, and I read it years ago!
I must have read 40 years ago. Thanks for reminding me what a great book it was.
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