Slaughterhouse-Five

For the special attention of: Marcus, Khalid, J, Sal, Jyoti, M, Eye and Nihau. And anyone else who loves to read.

As I mentioned a week or so ago, I have found a treasure chest of books through some of the other teachers at the Centre I teach English at. I started reading a Dean Koontz book at first, but found it decidedly lacking in the literary detail I usually demand from my fiction novels. Since then, a fellow teacher's lending of Slaughterhouse-Five has engaged me most keenly and has resulted in an over-stimulaion of my reading cells.. something I hope to translate into this piece via my writing cells. And yes, I know, the eloquence this update has garnered upto this point will surely have dissappeared by the last few lines. So it goes.

Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most respected, highly acclaimed and trailblazing novelists in American literature, or so says the back cover of the book. Slaughterhouse-Five is a book that I would slot into the comedie-noir category ie. that the topic it deals with is horrific, but how the author deals with it and relays the story is almost comical, light-hearted and seemingly effortless in narration. This is the most magnetic aspect of this book, that it tells a complex story with numerous deviations without being too laborious and earth shattering; this is even more amazing once you consider the grim, dull and grey background the whole story is set in. I am eing evasive on purpose, this is not a book I wish to reveal many details about. It's 7.99 on paperback.. so do yourself a favour and buy it. Its a classic book, and if you don't get into it, you can give it to a friend who will surely pray for your well-being soon after.

This is a good book. I don't go as far as saying that books should be 'must reads' because I understand that in comparison to movies, books take much more time to read and not everyone likes the same thing. But those reservations must be put aside when it comes to certain books and one of them is this one. When I do tell people to definitely read something I tell them so because the books boast amazing complex stories that say a lot about our world while also making the reader feel bad about laughing to themslves at something that in all honesty is horrific. Not many books can do that, and that is a just one reason why this novel is a definite must read.