Read Kurt Vonnegut's powerful masterpiece, which is as timely now as when it was first published.
Billy Pilgrim – hapless barber's assistant, successful optometrist, alien abductee, senile widower and soldier – has become unstuck in time. Hiding in the basement of a slaughterhouse in Dresden, with the city and its inhabitants burning above him, he finds himself a survivor of one of the most deadly and destructive battles of the Second World War. But when, exactly? How did he get here? And how does he get out?
Travel through time and space on the shoulders of Vonnegut himself. This is a book about war. Listen to what he has to say: it is of the utmost urgency.
Marvellous...the writing is pungent, the antics uproarious, the humour suitably black, the wit sharp as a hypodermic - Daily Telegraph
Mr Vonnegut knows a great deal about what is probably the largest massacre in modern history - the fire-bombing of Dresden in 1945. Slaughterhouse Five is a reaction to the event by one of our most gifted and incisive novelists. A work of keen literary artistry -- Joseph Heller, author of 'Catch-22' The individuality of Vonnegut's style is a curious yet perfect match for the pain of the emotional content. A humane, human book that always remains a work of art rather than biography, no matter how apparent the author's presence -- Kate Atkinson Unique...one of the writers who map our landscapes for us, who give names to the places we know best -- Doris Lessing There are writers who create a lot of readers, and there are writers who create a lot of writers, and Vonnegut was both -- Jonathan Safran Foer -
Author
About Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut was born in 1922 in Indianapolis. He studied biochemistry and anthropology at Cornell University, but his education was interrupted by the Second World War. He was a PoW in Dresden during the infamous firebombing of the city. Upon return to the US, he started writing, publishing his first SF story in 1950. Player Piano was his first SF novel, published in 1952. He gained popularity during the 1960s with novels such as God Bless You, Mr Rosewater (1965). After publishing his novel Hocus Pocus in 1990, he retired as a writer, declaring that he had nothing more to say – that is until 1997 when he wrote Timequake.
