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Slaughterhouse-Five
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Slaughterhouse-Five is the now famous parable of Billy Pilgrim, a World War II veteran and POW who has, in the later stage of his life, become "unstuck in time" and who experiences at will (or unwillingly) all known events of his chronology out of order and sometimes simultaneously.
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence). The "unstuck" nature of Pilgrim's experience may constitute an early novelistic use of what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder; then again, Pilgrim's aliens may be as "real" as Dresden is real to him.
Struggling to find some purpose, order, or meaning to his existence and humanity's, Pilgrim meets the beauteous and mysterious Montana Wildhack (certainly the author's best character name), has a child with her, and drifts on some supernal plane, finally, in which Kilgore Trout, the Tralfamadorians, Montana Wildhack, and the ruins of Dresden do not merge but rather disperse through all planes of existence.
Slaughterhouse-Five was hugely successful, brought Vonnegut an enormous audience, was a finalist for the National Book Award and a best seller, and remains four decades later as timeless and shattering a war fiction as Catch-22, with which it stands as the two signal novels of their riotous and furious decade.
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What the critics say
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What listeners say about Slaughterhouse-Five
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 2022-01-24
Not as good as I thought it would be.
While the narration was a bit monotone, it was clear and easy to understand. This book is on many 'must read' lists and after finishing it, I just can't see why. The story plays out without any truly interesting characters or events. The structure of how the story is told and the use of time travel to explain the personal and subjective experience of dementia is clever, but to move back and forth through such a boring life is to wade through a bog of tedium. The only thing that kept me going while I slogged through this yawnfest was knowing that this book is of no small fame, so it must get good at some point, right? Well no, it doesn't. As it ended, all I felt was relief that now I can move on to something more interesting.
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- Austin Fusilier
- 2018-09-13
Great Book, Decent Reading
First thing: once you get used to James Franco's cadence, things move along rather quickly - but the disaffected approach he seems to take is off-putting at the start.
The book is a classic, and worthy of that title: a powerful examination of death, war, and other inhumane behaviours, couched in madness, a touch of science fiction, and ambiguity. Masterful.
#Audible1
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- Alan A.
- 2022-12-06
Excellent classic Vonnegut well read
Vonnegut is joy to read, and James Franco’s familiar tones were a welcome guide through his dark funny prose.
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1 person found this helpful
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- K. Brainard
- 2023-04-20
monotone performance on an okay story
Admittedly, I love the idea behind how this book as structured but it's also hard enough to keep track of the constant time jumping without being lulled to sleep by the extremely lackluster performance. It feels like a high school kid being forced to read out loud to the class when he doesn't want to.
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- Douglas
- 2022-08-05
meh
it was good enough I suppose, I would have thought being a classic it would have more substance, no real story just recalling events in a strange order, aliens were cool though
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- Anonymous User
- 2023-07-18
Well done
Loved listening to this book. Although I sometimes started falling asleep while listening due to the monotonous nature of the audio I still really enjoyed the story
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- Karyn McKnight
- 2019-07-22
A Classic
This book had been recommended to me several times over the years, but I'd never read it. I'm glad I did! It's one of those books that will stay with you forever. Put it on your "Must Read" list. It's timeless.
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-08-14
Franco’s Fine, But Not Dynamic
The story is a classic must. But Franco’s particular stone tone and range makes it a bit of a drone. Though I would be lying if I didn’t think it fit the story.
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- Shahab
- 2021-03-19
Moving book
Beautiful book, and James Franco reads it out perfectly. Loved every minute. Just sad that it had to end, but, so it goes.
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- Brett Dupuis
- 2021-05-21
Franco is Fantastic
Great narration by Franco. He captures the dark satire of the novel well. Highly recommend
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