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

2008-11-10 The Chosen One

I have recently embarked on a quest to read the fifty great American novels. (I'm on book thirty one) Slaughtehouse 5 was in good company - Portnoy's Complaint, Rabbit Run, In Cold Blood, Bonfire of the Vanities, The New York Trilogy, The Secret History, to name a few - but it emerged as the standout novel. It is a wondrous piece of storytelling and I can't wait to finish my quest (nineteen to go) so that I can return to Kurt Vonnegut and read everything he has written. He's the one!