So it goes

Welcome back, friends. I’m going to try and do two reviews in one, and to try and remember the books because it’s been a while since I’ve read these books. And they are great books. Good use of dead trees. So it goes.

Slaughterhouse-Five or the Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death

Think of Slaughterhouse-Five as a science fiction anti-war book. In it we’re introduced to Billy Pilgrim. It’s about his experiences during the firebombing of Dresden, and after the war. It really grabs me right from the start, because I like the fact that Billy is an unreliable narrator. You are thrown right into the thick of things, because of time travel.

“So it goes”. Every time someone dies, or death is mentioned, the refrain – “So it goes” is said. For me, I believe it just accepting death and what’s happened. You find that you barely even notice that you’re reading “So it goes” after a while. “So it goes” is written 106 times in the book.

I had never read Vonnegut before, I really enjoyed the Sci-fi aspect of the novel. I never had to deal/worry about being drafted into the military, but this book really helped me to begin to understand war, violence, and death associated war. So it goes.

Cat’s Cradle

According to Wikipedia, Cat’s Cradle is satirical postmodern novel, with science fiction elements.

What? Again like the Slaughterhouse-Five, it’s completely foreign to me. It’s a completely different time. Over a generation apart from my time. For me, it was making fun of religion. Sure, there’s other things going on, but on just one reading, religion is what i took away from it.

Bokononism the religion secretly practiced by the people of San Lorenzo. It’s a very complete and well thought out religion. Example:

Pool-pah: a shit-storm, wrath of god.

Both of these books grabbed me right from the beginning, and kept my attention all the way through. It’s cliche, but I seriously laughed, and cried. So go out to the library, bookstore, wherever, and pick both of these up.