I recently read (well listen to book on tape during a drive) Slaughter House 5, and I loved it. I thought it was brilliant in both style and substance. Do any DDers have strong feelings about it?

Kurt Vonnegut is such an amazing writer. Whenever I read him I get incredibly depressed because of the fact that he's so cynical and yet so intelligent. His last book (I think) before he died was "A Man Without a Country" which was basically him ranting about how much BS the United States is these days. What's really great about Vonnegut is how accesable his writing is. It makes you think and it's so inspiring, but at the same time it's really hard to actually form an optimistic view about the world after reading his books. Maybe it's just my own lack of intelligence. I don't know.

One of the major topics of Vonnegut's writing is laughing in the face of death. It's something that makes his writing so hilarious. You should also read Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions to get the full Vonnegut experience.

I'll try to read those books when I can get them.
*edit*I just got a hold of Breakfast of Champions. My parents had it on a book shelf. (I love having a mother who is a librarian.*/edit*


I did not think Slaughter House 5 was a pessimistic book. Some of the the main ideas were that death isn't the end, because they still exist in the past, which to me, is fairly comforting. I will admit to the pessimistic view on war, but I wouldn't want that book to have been pro-war.

make sure the copy of breakfast of champions you read has the pictures in it. player piano is another good one.

My copy has pictures.
I'll start tomorrow hopefully.

Slaughterhouse 5 is a fantastic book.

As an english major I always regretted not taking more 'contemporart lit" classes. I never needed to read slaughterhouse 5 in any classes, and, had I not needed to read cats cradle in my highschool english class I probably wouldn't've read slaughterhouse 5 at all.

Makes me think of how I haven't made time to read anything new in a while... I have a week vacation coming up, I should try to use a couple days of it to try to finish Don Quixote

Does anyone know if the movie is any good? I'll be watching it soon, but I don't really know what to expect.

I saw it a LONG time ago, all I remember is that it was very Kubrician. Or maybe it wasnt, I was around 12 when I saw it.

Haha, ok thanks :) When I skipped fast through it a little bit it looked quite...old. But the story's still interesting.