Willkommen im Schlachthof fünf! 'Slaughterhouse-Five' by Kurt Vonnegut is a thoroughly bizarre book written in his simple, scattered and non-linear style. We follow the life of Billy Pilgrim, an optometrist, alien abductee, prisoner of war and time-traveller. The book is anti-war and is one of the principal works that discussed the fire-bombing of Dresden by the allies towards the end of World War II. As such the themes of the book centre around the atrocities of war as well as the fatalism of the protagonist.
I summarised the book as follows. "It's a book that is non-standard in just about every way possible. It takes an awful topic like the holocaust of Dresden and masks it with humour and a ridiculous philosophy. Personally I found the story a bit too out there for my taste and struggled to find an emotional connection with Billy, the protagonist. However I highly rated 'Cat's Cradle' by the same author so this could just be a personal preference rather than a critique of the author or this book in particular."
As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!
Timeline:(0:00) - Synopsis(2:24) - Atrocities Of War: No side is guilt free(6:05) - Fatalism: Nihilism without the despair(9:16) - Personal Observations(11:46) - Summary(13:03) - Pragmatic Takeaway: Study German harder and go to Dresden

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