Slaughterhouse-Five

–

Community score

no ratings

1969 · Kurt Vonnegut

Genrestime-travel fictionsatirical fictionblack comedywar fiction

+3 more

metafictionscience fictionanti-war fiction

Not enough ratings — The score appears after 5 ratings.

Category averages

Plot–

Characters–

Writing–

Pacing–

Originality–

Impact–

Your rating

Elsewhere

Scores from other sites belong to them; each link opens the source.

Synopsis

Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction–infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to his time as an American soldier and chaplain's assistant during World War II, to the post-war years. Throughout the novel, Billy frequently travels back and forth through time. The protagonist deals with a temporal crisis as a result of his post-war psychological trauma. The text centers on Billy's capture by the German Army and his survival of the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war, an experience that Vonnegut endured as an American serviceman. The work has been called an example of "unmatched moral clarity" and "one of the most enduring anti-war novels of all time". The book has been translated into at least 11 other languages, including German (twice), Italian (twice), French, Polish, Portuguese, Bulgarian, and Chinese.

Text license: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Details

Type: Book
Release date: March 1, 1969
Genres: time-travel fiction, satirical fiction, black comedy, war fiction, metafiction, science fiction, anti-war fiction
Created by: Kurt Vonnegut
Countries: United States