Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)

6/26/15

I have now read 80 pages of the highly enjoyable Slaughterhouse-Five, and will probably stop here. As with my Akira film experience, I feel that I know the work enough that it will be of higher reward to move on to something more complicated. Slaughterhouse was terrific though, and that was 100% to the credit of Kurt Vonnegut's writing style. Something very interesting about reading this: I imagine that the writing would be meaningless to someone who's not an intellectual, yet to an intellectual it is extremely effortless and accessible. It's as if once you cross that threshold, this book was made for you; it will now be the easiest intellectual experience you will ever have, and a very enjoyable one. I say this because his writing is very creative, quippy, fascinating, wise, but not difficult. It flows, despite its literal jumping and cutting. He is funny and imaginative while maintaining profoundness and wisdom. The essence of this book is its extremely talented writer, so I do not regret abandoning the work as if it were a rounded and complete entity. I grasped the style, and am now ready to try something more difficult.