Slaughterhouse Five- A Banned Classic

Not a review but the essence of an anti-war book that is NOT depressing, yet so powerful

“You know what I say to people when I hear they’re writing anti-war books?

I say, ‘Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?’ ”

Kurt Vonnegut’s dark humour makes us laugh so that we don’t cry.

I was reading an old review of Slaughterhouse Five in the New York Times,

It was by a military veteran.

While serving in Iraq, his troop observed an old couple in a small white car on a street. It was an otherwise empty street, as the US Army informed the citizens of Tal Afar, Iraq to evacuate or risk getting caught in the crossfire. Through the magnifying lens of his machine gun, he saw that the man was in the passenger seat, and the woman was behind the wheel. They were scared and through the window they were waving a white flag in peace; which was visible even without the 4x zoom of the gun.

Everyone even in the US Army knew that a couple, that old, was in no way a threat. Probably just someone who got delayed evacuating due to- medical emergency or confusion, who is to say?

Just as the writer was flagging this couple as a non-threat, some other military personnel from an opposite building opened fire on that car. The machine gun rounds tore through that car and both the old man and old woman were dead.

And since that day, the old couple has been dying in his mind every single day, for the last 14 years. And probably will do so, for the rest of his life.

And this is a just a glimpse of PTSD a soldier might experience.

He has a happy family now, and he tries to believe that he is a kind man. But every now and then, he gets ‘unstuck in time’, and his past comes back without any invitation, making him wonder if he is the bad guy, or if he could have done something different to save that old couple.

This is the kind of unending trauma which Billy Pilgim, the protagonist of Slaughterhouse Five, lives with.

I was avoiding this book for the longest time, as I had read too many WWII and Holocaust books, and I know that it takes me a long time to recover after that. But every now and then this book came up.

Finally I succumbed. And I’m glad I did!

And I’m glad I didn’t read this book any earlier because I would have lacked the mental maturity to truly understand it, had I not equipped myself with books and writings of other deep thinkers.

Slaughterhouse Five is…,

Something that cannot be explained.

It only needs to be experienced.

Is it fiction, is it non-fiction?

who is to say?

It’s probably a mind-bending mix of both!

The genre of this book is semi-autobiographical anti-war science fiction. Ever heard of a genre like that?

It affects you in ways you don’t even realise, making you experience PTSD symptoms in the most first-hand way possible. This is probably as close as you could get to the mind of a PTSD sufferer.

BUT it is NOT a serious and depressing book!

On the contrary, the intense events are underlined by dark humour which is so uniquely Kurt Vonnegut.

A tough read, not because of the complexity of words or the length of the book; but purely because of the depth the simple words of this book carries.

Despite being hugely popular, the book is banned in many US schools and there is a never ending campaign for getting it banned elsewhere, even 50 years post its release.

This is one of the most impactful anti-war books one could ever read! Most could only dream of reaching the moral high ground the author stands on. Infact, in order to not glorify war in anyway, the alternate title of this book is – The Children’s Crusade; because that is exactly what a war is – fought by children who are barely adults – following instructions from men far removed from the ground realities.

Imagine World War II.

Now imagine the atrocities done by, or done on to, innocent children.

Replace those faces with baby faces.

That’s exactly what wars are.

Men who have barely hit puberty, are fighting on behalf of countries, for people who are far removed from the situation on ground.

Why then would such a book be banned?

The calls for bans are by people and companies who benefit from wars. Some believe it is anti-American and anti-Christianity.

Good deeds have always been suppressed by the powerful in this world.

“And so it goes..”