Mimslob’s Reviews > Slaughterhouse-Five > Status Update

I think it broke Billy—the night when Dresden was destroyed. He couldn’t make sense of such a horrendous event, so he figured out a way to protect himself from whatever it was. He went to the hospital to receive treatment for his mental health after the war, but I think he was never healed from his mental wounds, which I doubt anyone could have been after experiencing such a traumatic event.

“Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.” I find this part quite moving, even though I’m not sure exactly what it means or why it’s placed right where it is in the book. The World War II storyline is also more enjoyable for me once Billy enters the prison, as there are a lot of funny and interesting moments, such as the monograph part, which I still haven’t finished yet.

The time jumps are somewhat interesting, but sometimes it’s hard for me to follow the story emotionally. Maybe it will take some time for me to get used to the writing style, but right now I’m having a hard time enjoying the book—although I find some parts very clever and others genuinely funny. I now know for sure that this is a very weird war book.

The writing style is much more sophisticated than I expected. I can see some elements that remind me of Murakami, which makes sense since Murakami himself mentioned that he was inspired by Vonnegut. A lot of this is funny too, which gave me a little chuckle from time to time. Anyway, this seems like an interesting and different approach to a war story.