Reviews

Az ötös számú vágóhíd by Kurt Vonnegut

celery's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sedgewren's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

Vonnegut does a great job at explaining how war affects people's psyche and shows how things that happen during and after war are so absurd. It was a dark read, with vignettes of death being downplayed in a way that is jarring and also numbing. An interesting work, but not a pleasant reading experience so I'm glad it was short.

sammy_ajani's review against another edition

5.0

It is a very different read. And there is a finality in the book in every sentence. The book is about Billy Pilgrim who travels back and forth in time wrap stretching from World War Two to a different planet. Even though it is a book about a war it is non-descriptive and has been written sans emotions. Thats where the finality comes from. It happened, so it was & so it will. After every death or destruction in the book, the author & the protagonist says; So it goes.

So it goes. You either hate the phrase or you absolutely love & live by it. For me it has been the latter. Those three words make a lot of sense where pages & paras & feelings wont even go near to the reality.

Apart from So it goes, There are some amazing quotes in the book. I know that i will be quoting them for a long long time.

jjellyy's review against another edition

funny reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

rakshit087's review against another edition

5.0

this is such a good book! funny and sad at the same time.

jcoryv's review against another edition

5.0

Just re-read this for the first time in 20 years or so, and it's still an all-time favorite. It's such an odd little book... from aliens who see in four dimensions and the new perspective they bring to the horrors and oddities of war. So it goes.

lauren_h's review against another edition

2.0

“I️ have this disease late at night sometimes, involving alcohol and the telephone.”

I️ wanted to like this book...especially since this is year of Vonnegut in Indianapolis. But... it didn’t do it for me. I️ alternated between finding moments or lines in the book that I️ really enjoyed and thinking this book was terrible and that I️ couldn’t wait to finish it and move on. I️ found I️ didn’t care what happened to the characters, which I️ think was Vonnegut’s intent but that made me feel disconnected from the story. I’m glad I️ read the book just for the sake of knowing where some of Vonnegut’s famous quotes originated. Ultimately the bad outweighed the good for me hence the 2 stars. So it goes.

edgehannah's review against another edition

3.0

2.75 out of 5 stars

This was a short and reasonably enjoyable read, but I felt it fell short compared to The Sirens From Titan. This story shared characters and themes (time travel) from that novel, but with the introduction of an anti-war theme.

Presumably because of Vonnegut's choice of narration style (constantly jumping back and forth between present, past, and future time periods), I had a hard time picking up the sentiments that make this one of the greatest anti-war novels of all time. There were obvious messages about the loss of life in war, but that really didn't feel unique or meaningful. If anything, I felt the story made light of many of the deaths. So it goes.

aj_patterson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

neroangelo333's review against another edition

dark funny reflective medium-paced

4.5