When I first decided to read Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, some people said it would be too hard for me, or a very challenging book. They were partially right, but I could still read it and get something out of it… Many of Vonnegut’s ideas are still around today, such as his unusual way of ordering the events in the book and how he used the sci-fi genre to convey a political message.

Slaughterhouse-Five follows a character named Billy Pilgrim, as he time travels to different points in his life. Vonnegut shows us many parts of Billy’s life, including his years in World War II and his job as an optometrist. Though the events don’t appear in chronological order, Vonnegut paints a clear picture of Billy’s story.

Billy Pilgrim as a young boy enlisted in the military and fights in World War II. While he was a soldier, Billy fought behind German lines, and survived the bombing of Dresden. After the war, Billy became a successful optometrist and gained a lot of money. Billy also suffers from post-traumatic-stress syndrome and has to go to a hospital for it.

One of the things I really liked about the book was how Vonnegut took a stand with his anti-war philosophy. He showed us a race of creatures called the Tralfamadorians, who believed that you should only concentrate on the good moments and ignore the bad ones. If people concentrated on the good things and not the bad, people would be nicer to each other and not take out their anger on others.

As I mentioned before, Slaughterhouse-Five is not in any chronological order. I found that kind of confusing at first. But a ways into the book, the story starts to piece together more. In the book, the Tralfamadorians have manuscripts that are just descriptions of different moments. When all the moments are taken in at once, it paints a beautiful picture of life. Vonnegut may be doing something similar in Slaughterhouse-Five.

Billy’s encounters and interactions with people during World War II were quite brutal. Many people thought of him as weak or embarrassing. And certain people thought of Billy as a disgrace to America. For example, when Billy was marching through Dresden, he was wearing a coat that was way too small on him. The residence of Dresden thought Billy was making fun of America, but it was actually a coat that the Germans put on Billy. I didn’t think Billy was mocking America, but I do think he could stand up to others more, because if he did, the Germans wouldn’t have thought they could get away with giving Billy the small coat.

One innovation I found interesting was that Vonnegut included himself in the story. Though he was only a minor character (and only in one or two chapters), Vonnegut’s character did say certain things that definitely changed my point of view of the story. One example: during World War II, when all the surviving teenage soldiers were in the prison camp, Vonnegut was next to Billy and he said: “My god, my god- it’s the children’s crusade,” which later became the subtitle of the book. After he said this, it showed me that the American soldiers were just kids trying to find their way in life.

Overall, Slaughterhouse-Five focuses more on knowledge and ideas than just trying to be engaging to the reader. I think that’s why higher level books are higher level. Even though its complicated, anyone who wants to read Slaughterhouse-Five would probably like it, regardless of age. I know I did.