I'd heard of the book before, and I was vaguely aware there was a movie made once, but I never read it, and except for the main character in CAN'T HARDLY WAIT, know no one else who has read it. In fact, I can't think of what motivated me to pick it up. I think there was a comment on an old Dunesteef episode where somebody mentioned this as one of their favorite books, but I found it at the library, and I grabbed it (and a collection of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales, but that one I put down fairly quickly).
"Slaughterhouse Five" is actually quite amusing, even though it is a rough, dark, almost mean-spirited novel. That surprised me, since I have such an old-fashioned view on the past it's almost embarrassing. A lot of it takes place during World War II, and it constantly surprises me that things like vulgarity, porn, a-holism, and the f-word existed in those days.
The repeated phrase "So it goes" impressed me at first, then I felt like it got repeated too much, and then, after it had been repeated a dozen more times, I started to laugh whenever it was used.
From back in the Horror Film Compendium days, I had set aside two major compliments for a movie. The first one doesn't really apply, since books tend to be much better written than horror movies, but the second one totally works for "Slaughterhouse Five." When it ended, I was disappointed, because I was enjoying it so much I could've stood for more.
Rish "Billy Pilgrim" Outfield
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