Bill has gone to sleep a senile widower and awakened in his wedding day. He has walked through a door in 1955 and came out of another one in 1941. He has seen birth and death many a times and pays random visits to all the events in between. ...So it goes....
‘SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5’ is the story of BILLY PILGRIM and the special thing about Billy is that he has come unstuck in time. He is a kind of time traveler who keeps visiting his past and the future events. In one page reader finds BILLY PILGRIM in Dresden, Germany, among the American soldiers, as prisoner of war, witnessing the destruction of the city by US Air Bombers; and on another one reader finds BILLY PILGRIM in a strange planet called Tralfamadore, kidnapped and kept their in a kind of zoo, in the company of an American actress, again kidnapped by Tralfamadorians; and on yet another reader finds BILLY PILGRIM in his present – very hard to distinguish the present though – living in Ilium as a successful business man, an old widower. But BILLY PILGRIM has no control on his travels and they aren’t always funny. But the good thing is he doesn’t disappear from any of the world as he moves from one time frame to another – as all the time he spends in another time frame, forms just a moment in the time from which he disappears.
There is no plot followed as such, in fact if one thinks from plots perspective it’s a very haphazardly written book. Language is very simple, witty and full of humor, so humorous that a reader needs to concentrate upon to get the satirical aspect of the book, especially the parts that cover the WW2 episodes. Without being too preachy on Anti-war theme, Kurt, in a very funny way has depicted the futility of the war and the imprudence of the people associated with it. There are many incidents covered in this book, wherein a normal narrative would have brought tears in the eyes of a reader but the way Kurt did it, it brings upon a smile. After all, all acts of Humanity leading to destruction of Humanity and the Nature, deserves to be laughed at for the sheer idiocy of our race.
Then, there are BILLY PILGRIM’s visits to Tralfamadore, put there on display in a zoo in the company of a female. The Way, they are provided with all the necessities of life, and made to act for the amusement of the natives of the planet is quite funny, esp considering the fact the BILLY PILGRIM is quite aware of his Kidnapping even before it really happens. This is what I call, surrendering to the Life, and live it as it comes. A man who knows not only his past but future as well, will hardly get exciting situation and will surely not be that depressed on difficult ones. That’s exactly how Billy behaves, which makes him quite a character among the people he lives in, but a reader can better understand him.
Kurt Vonnegut, the author was himself the POW in Dresden, Germany during WW2 and what he has covered in ‘SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5’ is a beautiful amalgamation of his own experiences with his imaginations, esp. the concept of the Time Travel, really succeeds in bringing in Humor and Satire. There is one part where in Kurt covers Billy’s Time Travel in reverse direction; Billy sees bombs forming from explosion and then moving back into airplanes who then take them back to their bases; from bases they are taken to factories where in all the dangerous ingredients of it are separated from each other by women workers and then taken to different location. How good it would have been if world could think from that perspective as well, at times.
The first chapter of the book covers Kurt’s part of the story. During the action itself, in War, he was looking forward to writing a book on his experience but when he came back and sat to write, he hardly found words. In a very simple but effective manner’s he covered the difficulties he faced during the writing of this book and how he went back to Germany to see those places again to get the material right.
‘There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because of the people in it are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters.’
It’s a humorous book with lots of funny moments and characters, and it’s the brilliance of the writer who has managed it so, as the subject it talks about is not that amusing. In a length of 275 pages it is told in short snippets with hardly few of them going into further pages, ‘SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5’ forms a very easy read. Its quite easy on the mind of the reader as well, providing few laughter’s or funny moments every now and then. I can’t say whether I liked the book or not as far as plot is concerned. But I really liked the way it is written, by which I majorly mean Attitude. Attitude with which Kurt has written it and Attitude with which Billy lives his life knowing it all beforehand and still moving on with it, one moment at a time. I will remember this book for the ease with which I read and finished it, which mostly means hardwork at the hands of the writer. Kurt really had a unique style of writing. I will remember it for the character of Billy Pilgrim and for the way it covers the meaninglessness of the WW2. There are some really impressive and unforgettable characters other than Billy that really leave their marks all along.
This is where I will end this review with one quote from the book which is quite better than many I found in so many books that I have read so far:
God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference.
So it Goes........
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PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA................