Slaughterhouse-Five

De: Kurt Vonnegut

Narrado por: James Franco

Slaughterhouse-Five is the now famous parable of Billy Pilgrim, a World War II veteran and POW who has, in the later stage of his life, become "unstuck in time" and who experiences at will (or unwillingly) all known events of his chronology out of order and sometimes simultaneously.

Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence). The "unstuck" nature of Pilgrim's experience may constitute an early novelistic use of what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder; then again, Pilgrim's aliens may be as "real" as Dresden is real to him.

Struggling to find some purpose, order, or meaning to his existence and humanity's, Pilgrim meets the beauteous and mysterious Montana Wildhack (certainly the author's best character name), has a child with her, and drifts on some supernal plane, finally, in which Kilgore Trout, the Tralfamadorians, Montana Wildhack, and the ruins of Dresden do not merge but rather disperse through all planes of existence.

Slaughterhouse-Five was hugely successful, brought Vonnegut an enormous audience, was a finalist for the National Book Award and a best seller, and remains four decades later as timeless and shattering a war fiction as Catch-22, with which it stands as the two signal novels of their riotous and furious decade.

©1969 Kurt Vonnegut (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"James Franco is an inspired choice as narrator for this anti-war classic. While still young, he still manages to sound world-weary.... Franco has fun with the offbeat characters and Vonnegut's quirky text but keeps the overall tone thoughtful.... Franco's reading gives the 1960s classic a freshness that will appeal to both new listeners and Vonnegut's many fans." ( AudioFile)

Never let James Franco narrate

I knew little about this book other than it was apparently a must read. The story itself is unique if not confusing until you get the hang of it. Not as satisfying a tale as I would have liked but the flow and form of the story was enjoyable.

James Franco though... you'd think you'd get a decent voice performance out of a film actor. It was like having a high school junior drama student read it to me: apathetic tone, crappy fake accents, limited emotional range. There was barely an audible difference between characters and he sounded SO BORED the whole time. All in all, a real turd of a reading.

I'd recommend the book, just do yourself a favor and find a different narrator.

Unstuck in a Timeless Classic

Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden when it was firebombed during World War II. Despite his subsequent success as writer of short stories and classic novels, it took him nearly 25 years to recount the story he always wanted to tell about that experience.

We're lucky it took him that long. By the time he wrote Slaughterhouse-Five, he was free as an established author to write the book without constraint. Readers in the late 1960s were receptive to his anti-war screed, a contrast to the conventional war stories of the 40s and 50s.

On top of that, feeling his story about Dresden was not novel length, Vonnegut also satirized post-war America in a manner typical of 60s social commentary. As a science fiction writer, he liberated himself from a chronological narrative, his protagonist Billy Pilgrim becoming "unstuck in time," jumping back and forth through his life.

There is much to grab onto in this short but rich literary work -- contrasting Christian ideas with the fatalist philosophy of the fictional aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, viewing time as a full dimension through which one can move in every direction, critiquing history in the suppression of the Dresden bombing and literature via the experience of Kilgore Trout.

Vonnegut had already built a canon he could refer to, so he utilizes familiar characters from past and future works -- Eliot Rosewater from God Bless You, Kilgore Trout from Breakfast of Champions, Howard W. Campbell from Mother Night, Trafalmadore from Sirens of Titan, and the city of Ilium from Player Piano and other books.

The result is Vonnegut's best known work, a timeless classic, a staple in high school and college literature classes. I was among many first exposed to Vonnegut upon its initial publication. His newly and vastly expanded audience ate up his past and future work. I've read it a few times, have seen the excellent film adaptation many times, and can now add this audio version to my list.

James Franco chose to read the book in an understated manner. Compared to actors who botched the narration of other Vonnegut books (cf. John Malkovich in Breakfast of Champions) and considering Franco's potential for over the top acting, I found it to be a good choice, in keeping with Vonnegut's tone.

not how u thought it would be

I'm glad I listened to it. I didn't read anything about it, except it was a banned book. I enjoyed it but it took some strange turns, that I really enjoyed. I don't like reading reviews that give away the story, so I will leave it at that.

I also liked the narration, he sounds the way I would think someone in a war would sound. he sounds like someone who has seen a thing our two he wishes he didn't. I thing James Franko did a good job in narration of this book.

wow, incredible book, incredible narration!

very nicely done, I enjoyed it thoroughly! may give it another read in a few months. Definitely going to look more into what happened in dresden.

James Franco was the perfect reader for this book

I never read slaughter house five until a friend convinced me with his enthusiasm to give it a try. so glad I read this book.

Great book, annoying narration style

Nothing against Franco as an overall actor, but this was quite the lackluster performance. It seemed as though every line ended with the same tone.

still a classic. funny and poignant

still a classic book. written in 1969. based on Vanna gets true experiences. excellent performance and still laugh out loud funny as well as poignant.

Unstuck in Timeless-ness

Classical future literature amazingly read by Mr. Franco. 12/10. Worth every credit. Farewell, hello, farewell, hello.

Classic Vonnegut

When I rated past read books in Goodreads based on memory I gave this 5 stars. Why 4 stars now? What changed for me? As an anti-war book it wasn't hard hitting enough for me. As fiction, it's got an interesting story and some great characters. It also is a little bit gimmicky. It's an important novel nonetheless. It's got time travel, irony and dark humor, but then Vonnegut was excellent at dark humor and irony so I'm not surprised.

This is my 5th book listening to books by favorite authors that I read decades ago. I did knock it down 1 star, but I can't speak highly enough about James Franco's narration.

that was a very deep book.

I really like the storytelling aspect of it but I found the going back and forth in time a little bit confusing from time to time. for the most part this book was really great and I do recommend it to anybody over the age of 20.