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Nov 05, 2017
Even though Slaughterhouse Five was about the extremely brutal Dresden Bombing in the second world war, Kurt Vonnegut’s book isn’t depressing at all. Instead I found it quite funny because of Kurt Vonnegut’s ability to make weird but at the same time quite likable characters and the overall absurdness at almost every moment in the book. The main character Billy Pilgrim was especially absurd and broken from his experiences in the Dresden Bombing. Billy wasn’t much of a protagonist since he didn’t really confront anything like a normal hero would. Instead he was just thrown about through different scenarios, probably a commentary about how little an individual person could do when inside humongous events like wars. However, instead of recounting terrible stories of war Billy’s mind jumps between absurd memories of soldiers pooping so hard they thought they would poop their brains out to imagined trips with bizarre aliens. This makes the book a pretty enjoyable and easy read since Kurt Vonnegut's commentaries on war aren’t explicit so the book doesn't get very dark. -@CookieMonster of The Hamilton Public Library's Teen Review Board