Book Club Discussion: Slaughterhouse-Five (SPOILERS discussed)

[neglet]

Really, did it take you so long to read this? My copy's only 215 pages, and Vonnegut's style is so simple and conversational that it goes very quickly.

I love that style, btw. Simple, absurd, matter-of-fact. How else could you relate the crazy abominations of war? Of course, Vonnegut has the kind of talent that can sketch complete characters in just a few short sentences. Roland Weary, for instance: "He was a roaring furnace under all his layers of wool and straps and canvas. He had so much energy that he bustled back and forth between Billy and the scouts, delivering dumb messages which nobody had sent and which nobody was pleased to receive. He also began to suspect, since he was so much busier than anybody else, that he was the leader."

Brilliant stuff. And Billy Pilgrim is an interesting character. His war experiences and his traveling through time have caused him to become apathetic, even alienated, and yet he cries over the wounded horses, tells his wife he likes her just the way she is, and is patient with Montana Wildhack (love that name, btw). We can't help the big events, Vonnegut seems to say, but we can try to treat people kindly.

All in all, a book that deserves its reputation, I'd say.

[kah]

I have been trying to read it for weeks, but I find myself only reading it at the laundromat on Mondays. The way that it's written is difficult for me to absorb, especially with distractions (the boy, for instance).

Generally I prefer my books to have proper grammar and to make some sort of sense (since no one on tv or in person has the decency to speak properly), so it would be fair to say I'm a little disappointed.

I'm not finished yet, but I get this overwhelming feeling of sadness whenever I'm reading about Billy, even when it's silly. I'm not really enjoying the alien encounters, either. Basically, it's depressing.

I really wanted to love this book like I love Catch-22. I wish it didn't feel like such a burden to read.

[neglet]

Originally Posted by kah

I'm not finished yet, but I get this overwhelming feeling of sadness whenever I'm reading about Billy, even when it's silly. I'm not really enjoying the alien encounters, either. Basically, it's depressing.

I really wanted to love this book like I love Catch-22. I wish it didn't feel like such a burden to read.

Well, both books are absurdist comedies about war, but Vonnegut is dealing with a massacre that killed thousands of thousands of civilians, whereas Heller is focused more on the bureaucracy of the battlefield (an ironic contrast in itself). I'd expect Vonnegut to be more depressing.

I'd love to read Catch-22 next, though, just for the compare and contrast of it.

[kah]

I've bought Catch-22 four times. Each time I've loaned it out to someone and never gotten it back. I'd go out and buy it again.

I realize the scope and subject are different, but while I feel sad reading about Billy, it's not with the empathy (or sometimes sympathy) I should be feeling. It's sadness that this guy's life is a disaster, and has always been, only to be mutliplied 100 fold by the war. His whole existence is tragic, but not in a really meaningful way.

I haven't finished it yet, though, so I'm hoping my opinion will change.

[neglet]

Originally Posted by kah

I realize the scope and subject are different, but while I feel sad reading about Billy, it's not with the empathy (or sometimes sympathy) I should be feeling. It's sadness that this guy's life is a disaster, and has always been, only to be mutliplied 100 fold by the war. His whole existence is tragic, but not in a really meaningful way.

But isn't that the whole point of the novel? That no matter how hard you search, you can't find meaning in a war in which millions of people are gassed, bombed, shot, and otherwise slaughtered? Billy's alienation may be the only possible reaction to such a world.

[kah]

While you are absolutely right, it doesn't make it any easier for me to read.