num_pages: 215
description: It took Vonnegut more than 20 years to put his Dresden experiences into words. He explained, "there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again." Slaughterhouse Five is a powerful novel incorporating a number of genres. Only those who have fought in wars can say whether it represents the experience well. However, what the novel does do is invite the reader to look at the absurdity of war. Human versus human, hedonist politicians pressing buttons and ordering millions to their deaths all for ideologies many cannot even comprehend. Flicking between the US, 1940's Germany and Tralfamadore, Vonnegut's semi- autobiographical protagonist Billy Pilgrim finds himself very lost. One minute he is being viewed as a specimen in a Tralfamadorian Zoo, the next he is wandering a post-apocalyptic city looking for corpses. Slaughterhouse Five-Or The Children's Crusade A Duty-Dance with Death is a remarkable blend of black humour, irony, the truth and the absurd. The author regards his work a "failure", millions of readers do not. Released the same time bombs were falling on South East Asia, this title caused controversy and awakening. Essential reading for all. So it goes. --Jon Smith
language: English
title: Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children's Crusade, a Duty-dance with Death
titlecomplete: Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children's Crusade, a Duty-dance with Death
characters: Kilgore Trout, Paul Lazzaro, Eliot Rosewater, Barbara Pilgrim, Montana Wildhack, Roland Weary, Bertam Copeland Rumfoord, Billy Pilgrim, Valencia Merble, Robert Pilgrim, Edgar Derby, Howard W. Campbell Jr.
genres: Fiction, Classics, Science Fiction, Time Travel, War, American, Historical Fiction, Literature, Fantasy, Novels
ratings_count: 1330598
places: Ilium, Germany, The United States of America, Tralfamadore, Dresden
awards: awardedAt: 28800000
name: Hugo Award
category: Best SF Novel, awardedAt: -31507200000
name: Nebula Award
category: Best Novel, awardedAt: 28800000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 28800000
name: Chicago Publishers' Award
publisher: Turtleback Books