Slaughterhouse-Five

This book is about war and time travel and alien abduction. Well actually, I guess it really isn't about time travel and alien abduction, but those are in it. It's about war and the ludicrousness and inevitability of war. The Falmadorians teach us about the inevitability part. And it has death in it. So it goes.

I read Slaughterhouse Five many years ago and really liked it. Vonnegut's style struck a chord with me as a college hippie. Later I read Cat's Cradle, but didn't enjoy it as much as Slaughterhouse Five. Still later Breakfast of Champions was recommended to me, so I read it. I didn't much care for it. Recently, I read a collection of Vonnegut's short stories entitled Welcome to the Monkey House, which was the title of one of the stories. This was as good a collection of short stories as I have ever read, I think. Slaughterhouse Five had receded into the deep fog of my memory so I reread it. This is an off-beat novel about a terrible historical thing that he had lived through. His style of story telling in this novel is certainly well suited for a college hippie. I liked the book again, so maybe I'm still a college hippie at heart. I expect that I'll read some more of Vonnegut's work. Maybe I'll reread Cat's Cradle, but I think I'll pass on Breakfast of Champions.