Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death

Written by Kurt Vonnegut

A book for readers in grades 9 and up reviewed by Amin

        

Slaughterhouse 5, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut begins as the author reflects on his time in the war and the period after that. His inspiration to write the book unfolds in the following chapter. The book jumps around the life of Billy Pilgrim, its main character. It goes from his youth to his time in the army and war, then to his post-war life.

During his post-war life, Billy experiences the harsh debts that the war has laid upon his well-being. He imagines himself getting abducted by aliens and living a life with another woman to then come back to reality. Due to Billy’s biased personal accounts, no one knows if what is happening is real or not (although it probably isn't). Whether or not he is telling the truth or lying is ambiguous, but it sure does make for a great story.

Slaughterhouse 5, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death’s jumpiness can be jarring for many. But, when I was caught up with all that was happening, it personally kept me wanting more and was entertaining. Kurt Vonnegut’s language and tone are very casual, so it makes up for the confusion in the timeline of events. The book is comparable to accounts from veterans, war films (not those cheesy ones like Rambo, but ones like 1917 and Dunkirk that are more realistic), and other biographical war novels. This book introduced me to the world of Vonnegut's literature, and I will always remember it for that reason. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give it a solid 9.