Slaughter-House-Five

>>9939394
Definitely agree on the comedy. Vonnegut just has a naturally joking style of writing that I love (and it only gets better as you read more of his stuff). I prefer Cat's Cradle for my Vonnegut fix, as it has some great jokes (and manages to effectively get 'The Children's Crusade' aspect of SL5 across better than SL5 did in a single page of speech) but SL5 is fantastic.

I will say that the emotional impact of the book is lesser now than it was at the time, though. More powerful books about the horrors of war have come out (and some preceded it) since SL5's release. I was fortunate enough to read it before Catch 22, and I have to say that I feel that Catch 22 achieves what Vonnegut attempted just that much better. Not to say that this renders SL5 bad, it covers another aspect of the trauma of war, but Catch 22's gut punches landed more solidly for me.

Finally, I like it as a sort of introductory work to postmodernism. The style, the unreliable narrator and general tone are perfect as a launching point into Pynchon.

>>9939432
I just realised I shortened Slaughterhouse Five to SL5 and not SH5. Shit.

Also, to elaborate on the feeling of his writing: when I say joking, I mean that it feels almost like listening to someone talk, like he's there shrugging and saying 'So it goes' when someone dies. It's a trend that you find throughout his writing, and he's probably the only writer who can do it consistently well.

>>9939506
Yeah I know what you mean. He takes on a very frank and conversational tone with the reader which makes it a lot easier to deliver jokes. The reason some of his jokes were so funny is because he's being so open and honest with the reader, like the scene in the latrine where he says "yes that was me, the narrator. I was shitting my guts out." It's short, concise and to the point yet so memorable. I really loved the way he set up these little moments.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.