Tom Sawyer is a classic
I finished reading Slaughterhouse Five during our mini-vacation at the cabin in Helen, Georgia. The book was different than I expected, but I still liked it. In particular, I didn't expect so much dark humor. Instead, I guess that I thought that it would have a lot of gory details of the aftermath of the bombing of Dresden. While there is a little of that, the focus of the novel isn't really on Dresden very much, unless I'm totally misreading it.
I saw a lot of similarities in the writing styles of Slaughterhouse Five and Still Life with Woodpecker, which I read earlier this year - particularly, the use of irreverence, author intrusion into the story, and dark humor. The tone just seemed the same. It wouldn't surprise me if Tom Robbins sees Vonnegut as a literary influence. Like The Time Traveler's Wife, Slaughterhouse Five's protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, doesn't believe in free will, and indeed doesn't appear to exercise free will. I find that interesting, as one of the "rules" of creative writing is that your characters must have free will, but are two successful novels that fly in the face of that convention.
Although I wasn't as emotionally involved in Slaughterhouse Five as some of the other novels I've read, it did make me think hard. For example, one passage is a stinging critique of classism in America, basically saying that the American idea that it's easy to make money if you try hard enough is a lie that causes the poor (represented by the commissioned soldiers) to blame themselves and gives the rich an excuse to hate the poor. And sure enough the solders we see are a sorry lot, so Vonnegut must be saying that this is a true view of America, right? Except that the source is a Nazi propaganda recording about America. What does that mean, then? That even the vile Nazis can see America's glaring flaws? Or does it mean that it's only a fascist views America in that light? I guess it''s such unanswered questions that make Slaughterhouse Five a classic.
Next up: Naked by David Sedaris