Book Review: Slaughterhouse-Five

Such a powerful book. I liked Kurt Vonnegut's writing style and loved the idea of being unstuck in time, especially from a veteran's perspective. I can only imagine what it is like to be a veteran although I might liken it to being unstuck in time as Billy is in Slaughterhouse-Five. I won't get into anything too deep about the book, but I will say that I really, really, REALLY liked the first chapter. I don't think anyone really thinks of the book title that much, but the first chapter made me think about it throughout the novel. If you've read it, think about it now: Slaughterhouse-Five, Or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death. Heck, the first chapter itself stuck with me the entire novel! What I mean is, Mary O'Hare's exclamation, "You were just babies then!" says it all - soldiers were unexperienced and unprepared for war (as if you could ever be completely prepared for war) and Vonnegut doesn't glorify them in any way. He makes it clear that soldiers were not as noble and/or rational as one would think. Rather, they are like babies, vulnerable and innocent in some ways. I love the quote bellow from the first chapter particularly because it made me think about the bombing of Dresden and the acknowledgment that innocent people were killed.

So then I understood. It was war that made her so angry. She didn't want her babies or anybody else's babies killed in wars.