Slaughterhouse Five

[King Bob]

I recently decided to reread this because I read a couple of pieces saying it's about PTSD. My reaction this time was much different. After a long non-fiction intro where he talks some about his wartime experiences, chapter 1 starts with telling us Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time. Vonnegut elaborates for a paragraph and then add, "He says." So he undermines that narrative right from the beginning. He uses an omniscient narrator, but in some WWII episodes, he will interrupt his narration to say "I was there too." And again and again, usually after something tragic, he will say "So it goes." That bothered me last time, but this time I felt like he was making the point that tragedy happens to everyone, and is constantly happening. So it's sort of like his first noble truth. I also noticed that he brings in at least two characters from his other novels, and one phrase right out of Slapstick. It felt like I was becoming unstuck in literature, and the novels were bleeding together.

In all I liked it much better this time, although I doubt I'll read it again. But I'm not sold on the PTSD idea. Maybe you have to experience that to see it.