
Slaughterhouse-Five
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Narrated by:
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James Franco
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By:
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Kurt Vonnegut
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.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
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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.
Never let James Franco narrate
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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.
Unstuck in a Timeless Classic
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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.
not how u thought it would be
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wow, incredible book, incredible narration!
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James Franco was the perfect reader for this book
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Great book, annoying narration style
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still a classic. funny and poignant
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Unstuck in Timeless-ness
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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.
Classic Vonnegut
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that was a very deep book.
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