I just finished reading this, finally. I mean, war books can take a long time to get through, right? So it goes. Anyway, Slaughterhouse Five is largely about author Kurt Vonnegut's experiences fighting as an American soldier in World War II. His tone and phrasing throughout the book are full of dark humor. A commonly used expression in Slaughterhouse is, "So it goes." It is Vonnegut's unique writer's device, used to transition from A to B in his writing, and to explain the "why" behind unjust events. To me, it's Vonnegut's equivalent of saying "Shit happens," "And that was that." Here's an example of how he uses the phrase: "..they saw some other people moving down by the riverside and they shot at them. They hit some of them. So it goes."
Vonnegut mainly writes about the awfulness of one particular bombing, in which he was present after he'd been captured as a prisoner of war during the final months of World War II. It was the Bombing of Dresden, an air raid bombing in Germany in 1945, whose death toll and destruction Vonnegut implies, were greater than the death toll and destruction of Hiroshima, Japan. (Casualties according to estimates in the 1970s by comparison: Hiroshima - 71,379; Dresden - 135,000). (More recent estimates suggest the casualties from Dresden to be between 22,000-25,000).
The plot of Slaughterhouse Five, and the main characters, are presented in such a way that Vonnegut's timeline of events is extremely erratic. This disjointed storyline is perhaps a coping mechanism for Vonnegut the writer, or to represent a reflection of a soldier's nightmarish memories. OR perhaps a way to make the story more interesting and bearable for readers, or himself. It does make the story more full, more colorful, and much less horrible to read about the destruction and aftermath of the bombing. His erratic plotline, absurd events and darkly comedic commentary make me think that Vonnegut himself must have suffered serious psychological repercussions from having witnessed the firebombing of Dresden. So it goes. (and by the way, I generally found this book to be very entertaining, enjoyable and historically educational).
Favorite excerpts:
[after the author compares the wreckage of Dresden aesthetically to the face of the moon].
"Nobody talked much as the expedition crossed the moon. There was nothing appropriate to say. One thing was clear: Absolutely everybody in the city was supposed to be dead, regardless of what they were, and that anybody that moved in it represented a flaw in the design. There were to be no moon men at all."
"Billy got out of bed in the moonlight. He felt spooky and luminous, felt as though he were wrapped in cool fur that was full of static electricity. He looked down at his bare feet. They were ivory and blue."
