Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

17 reviews

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

buzzybuzzybeefudge's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad fast-paced

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

5.0

this book is an absolutely brilliant example of nonlinear storytelling. i was hooked the entire time and extremely immersed in every scene. the humor caught me off guard many times and i almost laughed out loud on the metro while listening. and yet the book is so heavy and heartbreaking. i would recommend this to everyone, living or dead. so it goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Torture and Medical content

Minor: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, and Vomit

kaznar342's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

mylazybones's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.75

what can a person say about it that hasn’t already been said. it’s a perfect example of anti-war novel, from he mouth of a veteran. amongst the themes of death and hungry and depravity are still themes of sci fi and i enjoyed Vonneguts take on humanity and religion

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Murder, and War

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

visionsoforchids's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Antisemitism, and Car accident

pershie13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

I tore through this book in less than 24 hours and absolutely loved it. When I picked up this classic, all I knew was that it was anti-war and centered on the destruction of Dresden, which piqued my interest immediately. What I didn't know was that Kurt Vonnegut would use science fiction and time travel to drive his point home. This book is semi-autobiographical and draws off of his experiences as a real-life prisoner of war in Dresden during World War II, which was interesting to consider while reading this book. While the characters were not real, they were based on people he knew, and that made it all the more interesting to consider what happened in the book and the toll that war took on these characters. The Tralfamadorian philosophy in this book was interesting to consider and clashed with a lot of the ways I was thinking about the story, and considering that way of thinking can provide a numbing viewpoint to the concept of war, especially a large destruction like the one that occurred in Dresden near the end of the war. This book was challenging and got me thinking about the philosophy of war, free will, and death all at once. I now understand why this is such a popular novel and a classic that will live on for so long. I loved the writing style and both the humor and darkness behind the book. I appreciate Vonnegut writing this novel over two decades after his real experiences as a POW, and I was surprised to see the portrayal of PTSD symptoms in the post-war sections as well. It is difficult to discuss the book, as it occurred in a non-linear fashion and constantly tore me all across Billy Pilgrim's life, but as you travel throughout the decades, the main themes start to come out and portray the big picture that Vonnegut is portraying. This is one of my favorite classics that I have read, and it makes me want to consider dipping into science fiction more frequently. I was pleasantly surprised by my love for the book, and not for the reasons why I initially decided to read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Murder, and War

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Deportation

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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

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

joharrismay's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

5.0

Thank you lauren crocco for telling me to read this it’s so good top 10 books of all time. I loved the characters and Kurt Vonnegut’s writing style is amazing.
Will probably read another Kurt Vonnegut book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

josieruby1's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

Minor: Pregnancy