Comments | ryutsuki: "high on clouds of sunlight floating by"

ryutsuki

"high on clouds of sunlight floating by"

Jan 13, 2008 01:24

I just spent the evening reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. An excerpt from the summary is as follows:Unstuck in time, the hero of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five -- an unforgettable Everyman named Billy Pilgrim -- is never sure what part of his life he is going to have to act in next ( Read more... )

wowio

Comments 7

wrongly_amused January 13 2008, 06:41:08 UTC

SH5 is...amazing. The prologue tends to have me in tears by the first chapter. I think it's really the pinnacle of his work, though I really recommend getting into his other stuff. I'm reading God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater right now, actually. He's my favorite author for a reason. <3

ryutsuki January 13 2008, 19:41:30 UTC

Hahahahaha well I didn't like it THAT much! It was more the end with me, because it not only spoke of the war (specific) but everything (general). Like someone reviewing the book inside the book said; it's funny but you can't laugh at it, and it's sad but you can't cry at it. The second I finished the book, I was just in agreement. Sort of a blankness and nodding in reverence.

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
Mr. Rosewater was the guy who showed Billy Trout's work in the hospital right? Is it the same one or a different guy in the book?

wrongly_amused January 13 2008, 20:28:22 UTC

WHAT NO STFU LIES HE IS THE SHIT. >:O

:-P

What touches me the most about Vonnegut is his disappointed love for humanity that permeates all of his stories. There's sort of a reverence for the irreverent because he's seen so much of the ups and downs, and it's not that he doesn't get it - he really does! - he's just adamantly opposed to just letting things be.

Hnn...what else to recommend you. Well, I love almost all of his stuff, but the big ones most people know of after SH5 is Breakfast of Champions (which is sort of his...semi-abstract ruminations on authoring and self-consciousness and the nature of God-playing type of deal, I think you'd like it), Cat's Cradle (his apocalyptic examination of human folly, which is the closest to scifi as he's come, despite it being his original major, heh), and I'd also recommend Mother Night, though that's a bit darker than the other two.

Mr. Rosewater was the guy who showed Billy Trout's work in the hospital right? Is it the same one or a different guy in the book?I think so, it's getting ( ... )

ryutsuki January 13 2008, 21:01:36 UTC

What touches me the most about Vonnegut is his disappointed love for humanity that permeates all of his stories. There's sort of a reverence for the irreverent because he's seen so much of the ups and downs, and it's not that he doesn't get it - he really does! - he's just adamantly opposed to just letting things be.
Eh, that's not what really got me about Vonnegut. What I liked most was his consistency with ideas, and how...the piece really felt whole. Nothing forgotten or left out, and what was forgotten and left out wasn't meant to be there anyway. And his voice was fantastic.

According to the PDF file I was reading, it took him 165 pages to tell me of the fragility and futileness of the human condition and how the good times are what carry us on. He could have said that in a sentence, but it wouldn't have meant as much. It's not a telling but a realization. I haven't read any of his other stuff, but Vonnegut was very talented at that in SH5.

At least, that's what it was to me.

Thread 5

paulnolan January 13 2008, 16:16:43 UTC

I love that book! Vonnegut is one of my all-time favourite authors :)

ryutsuki January 13 2008, 19:44:10 UTC

Yeah, Vonnegut is very good, and this book is definitely one of my favorites now...