Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Skerdykla Nr. 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

12 reviews

jonwood's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I was quite disappointed with this boo and found it more gimmick than good. Sure, the nonlinear story telling may have been new at the time, but just because something is the first dose not make it the best. Perhaps Doctor Who and Christopher Nolan have spoiled me with a diverse selection of nonlinear story telling (both well and not so well executed), but even removing comparisons of executions, I didn't find that much substance buried within Slaughterhouse-5. I've read and seen much better reflections on tragedy and post-traumatic stress (just tune into MASH or China Beach). My take away is that the main character is losing his mind and that the aliens and time travel really aren't there, just metaphors and illusions, but I feel that is giving the author too much credit. There's a lot of disgusting things litter in the book, weather it's about people urinating/vowel movements, one character taking glee in describing tutor methods, or just how the narrator describes women (one example is of the narrator describing a woman as dull, but having a body that makes men want to fill her up with babies) that left a bad taste in my mouth.

 Frankly, I don't think there was much reflections going on. I suppose the theme is that there are moments in time we are powerless to change, and sometimes there's no fighting it, one person can't always make a difference, "so it goes." However, it would have been more interesting seeing that struggle play out and the character learn the lesson via failure (like Clark Kent in the 100th episode of Smallville unable to prevent tragedy completely, and altering events only made other things worst), but instead the narrator just tells us this and the protagonist, Billy, just accepts this form of "enlightenment" without ever trying to fight it. Also, I did not find this book all that funny, despite it supposedly being funny at the same time as being traumatic, the book just lack heart for me.

Between the lack of entertainment, and the gross nature of some of the narration, I highly doubt I'll want to try to read another Vonnegut novel, and am left wondering why he has the reputation of literally genius that he does.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Misogyny

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical content, Cursing, Sexism, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Medical trauma

ssoha's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Death, Grief, Violence, Gore, Blood, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Murder, Rape, and War

josieruby1's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Animal death, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal cruelty, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

reachingforstardust's review against another edition

dark funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Death

Moderate: Genocide, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexism, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal cruelty

cptnstphy's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

It took me a while to get into it, but I was pleased when it clicked for me. It went from “this is a bit too odd for me without enough reward to get over it” to “alright I see what Vonnegut is doing here! I’m on board” 
I found the main character Billy’s experience of time and space very interesting and worth contemplating, even if just to pull ourselves out of our always-linear understanding of time. I also enjoy some fantasy and worldbuilding, so his recollections of the alien planet were creative and well-received. 
I did also appreciate the moral undercurrent to things that he says that are expressed as casual but read as subtly poignant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Animal death, War, Animal cruelty, Genocide, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Pregnancy

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Confinement, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Gun violence, War, Death, Animal cruelty, and Mental illness

Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Gore, Ableism, Antisemitism, and Blood

Minor: Murder, Suicide, Sexual content, Animal death, Slavery, Medical trauma, Child death, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Excrement

marnash's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This one was at the top of my to-read list and my physical bookshelf for a good few years. It always seemed unapproachable to me, like something you keep saying you'll read but don't, like Catch 22 (for me). But after having read two Kafka books in December, it felt doable, so it was done. I liked the writting, but for some reason I feel like I missed some things. Maybe it's my lack of historical knowledge or the fact that I read it over a span of two weeks. Either way, like Kafka, I'll be looking up what I was supposed to understand from it from ThugNotes or some other video explanation. But it was enjoyable enough as is, despite the heavy topic. Things kept changing and shifting, there were multiple different settings and different years, and it kept me intrigued. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical trauma, and War

allidone's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Excrement, Violence, Animal death, War, Medical trauma, Bullying, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Sexism, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Transphobia, Racial slurs, Murder, Fatphobia, and Body shaming

ri_lei_gh's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Medical trauma, and Sexual content

Minor: Pregnancy

dortz_solivagantreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book has been sitting on my shelf for a year before I had enough courage to read it. I'm glad I have waited this long because I didn't have sufficient emotional resiliency back then. This book would have swallowed me whole and spit me back in pieces. Thanks to my book friends in Just Another Chapter book club for being there to help me process what I had just read.

I love it because it's masterfully written with the emphasis on needlessness of war, and its debilitating effects. One of the most haunting lines in the books is "So it goes", an acerbic refrain that comes up every time someone dies or when the author talks about death in the book. 

"there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want  anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds."

"So it goes."

"You know - we've had to imagine the war here, and we have imagined that it was being caught by aging men like ourselves. We had forgotten that wars were fought by babies. When I saw these freshly shaved faces, it was a shock." 'My God, my God - - 'I said to myself, It's the Children's Crusade."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Mental illness, and Medical trauma