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The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five
The story of Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five, an enduring masterpiece of trauma and memory
Kurt Vonnegut was twenty years old when he enlisted in the United States Army. Less than two years later, he was captured by the Germans in the single deadliest US engagement of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. He was taken to a POW camp, then transferred to a work camp near Dresden, and held in a slaughterhouse called Schlachthof Fünf where he survived the horrific firebombing that killed thousands and destroyed the city.
To the millions of fans of Vonnegut’s great novel Slaughterhouse-Five, these details are familiar. They’re told by the book’s author/narrator, and experienced by his enduring character Billy Pilgrim, a war veteran who “has come unstuck in time.” Writing during the tumultuous days of the Vietnam conflict, with the novel, Vonnegut had, after more than two decades of struggle, taken trauma and created a work of art, one that still resonates today.
In The Writer’s Crusade, author Tom Roston examines the connection between Vonnegut’s life and Slaughterhouse-Five. Did Vonnegut suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Did Billy Pilgrim? Roston probes Vonnegut’s work, his personal history, and discarded drafts of the novel, as well as original interviews with the writer’s family, friends, scholars, psychologists, and other novelists including Karl Marlantes, Kevin Powers, and Tim O’Brien. The Writer’s Crusade is a literary and biographical journey that asks fundamental questions about trauma, creativity, and the power of storytelling.
Kurt Vonnegut was twenty years old when he enlisted in the United States Army. Less than two years later, he was captured by the Germans in the single deadliest US engagement of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. He was taken to a POW camp, then transferred to a work camp near Dresden, and held in a slaughterhouse called Schlachthof Fünf where he survived the horrific firebombing that killed thousands and destroyed the city.
To the millions of fans of Vonnegut’s great novel Slaughterhouse-Five, these details are familiar. They’re told by the book’s author/narrator, and experienced by his enduring character Billy Pilgrim, a war veteran who “has come unstuck in time.” Writing during the tumultuous days of the Vietnam conflict, with the novel, Vonnegut had, after more than two decades of struggle, taken trauma and created a work of art, one that still resonates today.
In The Writer’s Crusade, author Tom Roston examines the connection between Vonnegut’s life and Slaughterhouse-Five. Did Vonnegut suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Did Billy Pilgrim? Roston probes Vonnegut’s work, his personal history, and discarded drafts of the novel, as well as original interviews with the writer’s family, friends, scholars, psychologists, and other novelists including Karl Marlantes, Kevin Powers, and Tim O’Brien. The Writer’s Crusade is a literary and biographical journey that asks fundamental questions about trauma, creativity, and the power of storytelling.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published November 9, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
October 20, 2022
“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.”
I'm a huge fan of Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five; I picked up Tom Roston's The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five hoping to learn more about one of my favorite novels. While I enjoyed Roston's book, there wasn't really all that much new specifically about Vonnegut or the novel. Instead, Roston spends the majority of his book contextualizing Slaughterhouse-Five in the history and development of the public's understanding of PTSD. He also speculates about whether Vonnegut suffered PTSD from his well known experience at Dresden, something Vonnegut denied. For me, this did not bring a new perspective. Roston's book had begun with wilder speculation about Vonnegut hunting down one of his Nazi guards and how that changed Roston's own reading. I think continuing to follow this approach, the many ways Slaughterhouse-Five can be read, would have been a more engaging study. 3.25 stars
I'm a huge fan of Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five; I picked up Tom Roston's The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five hoping to learn more about one of my favorite novels. While I enjoyed Roston's book, there wasn't really all that much new specifically about Vonnegut or the novel. Instead, Roston spends the majority of his book contextualizing Slaughterhouse-Five in the history and development of the public's understanding of PTSD. He also speculates about whether Vonnegut suffered PTSD from his well known experience at Dresden, something Vonnegut denied. For me, this did not bring a new perspective. Roston's book had begun with wilder speculation about Vonnegut hunting down one of his Nazi guards and how that changed Roston's own reading. I think continuing to follow this approach, the many ways Slaughterhouse-Five can be read, would have been a more engaging study. 3.25 stars
December 26, 2022
“How nice—to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.”
Is Slaughterhouse Five less a work of pure science fiction and more of an autobiographical expression of post traumatic stress? Tom Roston’s reexamination of Vonnegut’s best known book makes a fairly strong case for the presence of PTSD.
This is not a hard sell. Vonnegut survived the fire-bombing of Dresden for christ’s sake—how could any rational human being with an iota of compassion not respond negatively to the mass incineration of women and children? How could memories like that not manifest themselves through a person’s creative articulations? Roston is a very good writer and I highly recommend his book, but one does not necessarily need to be inordinately persuasive when pointing out the elephant in the room.
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On a personal note, shouldn’t we drop the D from PTSD? The question isn’t why do soldiers suffer psychological fallout from their war experiences but rather, why doesn’t EVERY combat veteran exhibit some form of depression, detachment or guilt? Maybe it’s those who come away from the atrocities of war without some form of psychological baggage that should be scrutinized (imho). Having post-traumatic stress is the rule rather than the exception. Let’s eliminate the stigma.
Is Slaughterhouse Five less a work of pure science fiction and more of an autobiographical expression of post traumatic stress? Tom Roston’s reexamination of Vonnegut’s best known book makes a fairly strong case for the presence of PTSD.
This is not a hard sell. Vonnegut survived the fire-bombing of Dresden for christ’s sake—how could any rational human being with an iota of compassion not respond negatively to the mass incineration of women and children? How could memories like that not manifest themselves through a person’s creative articulations? Roston is a very good writer and I highly recommend his book, but one does not necessarily need to be inordinately persuasive when pointing out the elephant in the room.
__________________________________
On a personal note, shouldn’t we drop the D from PTSD? The question isn’t why do soldiers suffer psychological fallout from their war experiences but rather, why doesn’t EVERY combat veteran exhibit some form of depression, detachment or guilt? Maybe it’s those who come away from the atrocities of war without some form of psychological baggage that should be scrutinized (imho). Having post-traumatic stress is the rule rather than the exception. Let’s eliminate the stigma.
November 16, 2021
A book about one of my favorite books, by one of my favorite authors? I had trepidation. But look at this cover and title! What’s inside is absolutely wonderful, babies. It’s about the man, father, writer, and soldier, as well as a thorough study of Slaughterhouse-Five. Writing about the trauma of war can’t have been easy. I’m grateful for the years it took Vonnegut to complete his Dresden story. This is a must read for devout fans.
August 1, 2021
This book is many things. A biography of Kurt Vonnegut and how he wrote Slaughterhouse-Five. The author also tries to decide whether Vonnegut was suffering from PTSD from his WWII experiences especially in Dresden and following from this whether Billy Pilgrim has PTSD also. So there’s also a history of war trauma and the diagnosis of PTSD, and interviews with other soldiers who’ve become writers, with a look at war writing in general. I found it an interesting read.
October 31, 2021
In 1967 Kurt Vonnegut gave us "Slaughterhouse-Five", the horrors of the World War II Dresden firebombing as witnessed by Billy Pilgrim. This masterpiece is a mix of autobiography, satire, and science fiction. It took Vonnegut over twenty years to figure exactly how to present this saga on paper.
In his new book, "The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five", Tom Roston asks if Vonnegut suffered from Post-traumatic stress disorder or if he only wrote Billy Pilgrim as a character who found his own ways to deal with it, in effect anticipating the diagnosis. Vonnegut denied suffering from PTSD and Roston does extensive biographical research on this. He also details Vonnegut's struggles with early drafts to make the story a catharsis to save his own life. According to Roston many other lives were saved by the Slaughterhouse-Five journey, an opinion Kurt's daughter Nanette voiced.
I remember reading Slaughterhouse-Five in high school and savoring the humor and creativity of time tripping and alien interaction, never connecting these as ways the character had of dealing with his trauma. Roston's book makes its case here, although I did find myself rushing through some of the PTSD data when Kurt was out of the picture. If you love Slaughterhouse-Five and you love Kurt Vonnegut there will be a lot for you in this book.
Thank you to Abrams and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy in exchange for review.
In his new book, "The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five", Tom Roston asks if Vonnegut suffered from Post-traumatic stress disorder or if he only wrote Billy Pilgrim as a character who found his own ways to deal with it, in effect anticipating the diagnosis. Vonnegut denied suffering from PTSD and Roston does extensive biographical research on this. He also details Vonnegut's struggles with early drafts to make the story a catharsis to save his own life. According to Roston many other lives were saved by the Slaughterhouse-Five journey, an opinion Kurt's daughter Nanette voiced.
I remember reading Slaughterhouse-Five in high school and savoring the humor and creativity of time tripping and alien interaction, never connecting these as ways the character had of dealing with his trauma. Roston's book makes its case here, although I did find myself rushing through some of the PTSD data when Kurt was out of the picture. If you love Slaughterhouse-Five and you love Kurt Vonnegut there will be a lot for you in this book.
Thank you to Abrams and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy in exchange for review.
April 25, 2021
I did not enjoy this book as much as I had hoped. I thought the title, sub-title, and book jacket blurbs were rather misleading, because there is no mention at all of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which features prominently inside the book from beginning to end. A more accurate title might have been: Is Slaughterhouse-Five a novel about PTSD? The author thinks so. He talked to people who agreed with this opinion, and people who disagreed. The book is also a casual, non-scholarly (meaning, no eye-straining footnotes) biography of Vonnegut.
The author himself agreed that looking at Slaughterhouse-Five through the lens of PTSD could make the book seem less profound than it is, and I agree that it does.
Perhaps for people who have PTSD themselves, or people who have a loved one with PTSD, or people who are interested in PTSD as a topic, this book might hold greater interest.
I received a free electronic galley copy of this book in advance of publication from Abrams Books via Netgalley.
The author himself agreed that looking at Slaughterhouse-Five through the lens of PTSD could make the book seem less profound than it is, and I agree that it does.
Perhaps for people who have PTSD themselves, or people who have a loved one with PTSD, or people who are interested in PTSD as a topic, this book might hold greater interest.
I received a free electronic galley copy of this book in advance of publication from Abrams Books via Netgalley.
November 18, 2022
not quite what i was expecting, but i'll eat up anything about vonnegut! this book takes a huge deep dive into ptsd and the role of trauma in v.'s journey to write slaughterhouse-five, which, i think, could have been alluded to rather more clearly in the subtitle, but i can't complain :-)
i've long been fascinated by kurt's experience during the war and this book had me by the LITERAL collar of my shirt when it was describing the men on whom the characters are based (may or may not have had another through the wheat moment thanks roston!) it was just a sliver in the overarching narrative of this book, but so important. roston performs a really necessary act of remembering by invoking michael palaia as the inspiration for edgar derby, b/c i mean... just think of how many people remember the latter but have no idea who the former is... it's so interesting & devastating to me how the forgotten dead get buried in these characters that are known & loved by so many, esp. in such celebrated books like slaughterhouse and catch-22..!
i've long been fascinated by kurt's experience during the war and this book had me by the LITERAL collar of my shirt when it was describing the men on whom the characters are based (may or may not have had another through the wheat moment thanks roston!) it was just a sliver in the overarching narrative of this book, but so important. roston performs a really necessary act of remembering by invoking michael palaia as the inspiration for edgar derby, b/c i mean... just think of how many people remember the latter but have no idea who the former is... it's so interesting & devastating to me how the forgotten dead get buried in these characters that are known & loved by so many, esp. in such celebrated books like slaughterhouse and catch-22..!
December 18, 2021
In my opinion, you don't have to be a Kurt Vonnegut fan, nor do you even have to have read Slaughterhouse-Five, to enjoy The Writer's Crusade by Tom Rosten. There is a whole lot more to this book than a dissection of Slaughterhouse-Five.
First, this book serves as a simple biography for Kurt Vonnegut. The reader is introduced to the main characters and plot points in his life. The reader can walk along with Kurt as he responds to some of those those people and events. It is interesting to watch Vonnegut's writing career evolve from pithy ad campaigns to successful novels.
Yes, there is a signifiant examination of the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, including a hard look at the main character (and possible stand in for Vonnegut) Billy Pilgrim. The author provides a tight summary which includes enough detail to give the reader access to the book and its meaning.
The book also includes an interesting and thoughtful look at PTSD. The author speculates about that diagnosis and does it apply to Billy Pilgrim in the novel? And, perhaps more interestingly, does it apply to Kurt Vonnegut himself? I appreciated the background on the development of the DSM entry for PTSD and the look at how the diagnosis can be both over and under used in our culture now.
Another fascinating section of The Writer's Crusade takes a look at war and war literature in general. It was valuable to read about some of the perspectives that other writers have focused on when it comes to telling war stories. Additionally, I enjoyed the discussion around writing novels and memoir in general and a brief birdwalk into the arena of writing technique.
I would recommend this book to any reader who wants to understand Vonnegut better or who is interested in the literature around war.
First, this book serves as a simple biography for Kurt Vonnegut. The reader is introduced to the main characters and plot points in his life. The reader can walk along with Kurt as he responds to some of those those people and events. It is interesting to watch Vonnegut's writing career evolve from pithy ad campaigns to successful novels.
Yes, there is a signifiant examination of the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, including a hard look at the main character (and possible stand in for Vonnegut) Billy Pilgrim. The author provides a tight summary which includes enough detail to give the reader access to the book and its meaning.
The book also includes an interesting and thoughtful look at PTSD. The author speculates about that diagnosis and does it apply to Billy Pilgrim in the novel? And, perhaps more interestingly, does it apply to Kurt Vonnegut himself? I appreciated the background on the development of the DSM entry for PTSD and the look at how the diagnosis can be both over and under used in our culture now.
Another fascinating section of The Writer's Crusade takes a look at war and war literature in general. It was valuable to read about some of the perspectives that other writers have focused on when it comes to telling war stories. Additionally, I enjoyed the discussion around writing novels and memoir in general and a brief birdwalk into the arena of writing technique.
I would recommend this book to any reader who wants to understand Vonnegut better or who is interested in the literature around war.
September 2, 2021
I was too young when I first read Slaughterhouse-Five. I was a sophomore in college, in a 400 level Modern Lit class on Black Humor. I loved the books and continued to read all the authors we studied. But I was so young and inexperienced and sheltered, how could I have understood a book that war veterans finds reflect their own experience? My response would not have been visceral, but intellectual.
It took Kurt Vonnegut twenty-three years of experimenting with his material before he came up with Slaughterhouse-Five. Nearly a quarter of a century to process his war experience and transform it into a story that adequately said what he wanted to say. “I tried, he added,” but I just couldn’t get it right, I kept writing crap.”
Vonnegut had experienced the Battle of the Bulge, had been a prisoner of war during WWII, surviving the firebombing of Dresden because he was locked in a metal meat locker. He was one of the prisoners tasked with picking up the bodies of the citizens who died during the bombing. He had starved and been beaten and seen his fellow soldiers die, one executed by the Nazis for stealing food from the Dresden ruins.
Tom Roston writes about The Writer’s Crusade that “This book is about how an author was able to write about the trauma of war. And what we can carry from that. I looked at it from a psychological and literary perspective.”
His research took him into the many drafts of the book. He interviewed veterans who write about war, including Tim O’Brien (The Things We Carried) and Phil Klay (Redeployment, Missionaries). He talked to Vonnegut’s children. He studied PTSD.
Roston wanted to know if Slaughterhouse-Five could “be used as evidence of its author’s undiagnosed PTSD.” Considering the manifestations of PTSD, Roston could rate Slaughterhouse-Five’s protagonist Billy Pilgrim as having three out of the five symptoms, such as numbness and detachment. How could Vonnegut have written Pilgrim and not have experienced first hand the legacy of trauma?
Mark Vonnegut said of his father, “He wasn’t bitter. He wasn’t cynical. he was heartbroken by how humans treated each other. Maybe he had PTSD from just being alive. He saw too much, And he felt too much.”
If, as Vonnegut once said, all great literature is about “what a bummer it is to be a human being,” it is also its role to aid humans to deal with life’s trauma. And Slaughterhouse-Five, Roston proves, has been a bridge for countless veterans.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
It took Kurt Vonnegut twenty-three years of experimenting with his material before he came up with Slaughterhouse-Five. Nearly a quarter of a century to process his war experience and transform it into a story that adequately said what he wanted to say. “I tried, he added,” but I just couldn’t get it right, I kept writing crap.”
Vonnegut had experienced the Battle of the Bulge, had been a prisoner of war during WWII, surviving the firebombing of Dresden because he was locked in a metal meat locker. He was one of the prisoners tasked with picking up the bodies of the citizens who died during the bombing. He had starved and been beaten and seen his fellow soldiers die, one executed by the Nazis for stealing food from the Dresden ruins.
Tom Roston writes about The Writer’s Crusade that “This book is about how an author was able to write about the trauma of war. And what we can carry from that. I looked at it from a psychological and literary perspective.”
His research took him into the many drafts of the book. He interviewed veterans who write about war, including Tim O’Brien (The Things We Carried) and Phil Klay (Redeployment, Missionaries). He talked to Vonnegut’s children. He studied PTSD.
Roston wanted to know if Slaughterhouse-Five could “be used as evidence of its author’s undiagnosed PTSD.” Considering the manifestations of PTSD, Roston could rate Slaughterhouse-Five’s protagonist Billy Pilgrim as having three out of the five symptoms, such as numbness and detachment. How could Vonnegut have written Pilgrim and not have experienced first hand the legacy of trauma?
Mark Vonnegut said of his father, “He wasn’t bitter. He wasn’t cynical. he was heartbroken by how humans treated each other. Maybe he had PTSD from just being alive. He saw too much, And he felt too much.”
If, as Vonnegut once said, all great literature is about “what a bummer it is to be a human being,” it is also its role to aid humans to deal with life’s trauma. And Slaughterhouse-Five, Roston proves, has been a bridge for countless veterans.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
November 16, 2021
Although Kurt Vonnegut and his novel Slaughterhouse-Five are at the heart of this book, it ranges far and wide beyond its core subject and it’s a pity that isn’t made clear on the cover and in the blurb, as it may well restrict its appeal. Personally I found the exploration of PTSD and war writing in general even more interesting than the examination of the famous novel. The book opens dramatically with a (true? apocryphal?) story of Vonnegut killing one of the guards who had held him captive in Germany as a POW, and Roston goes on to explore the trauma of war and how it affected Vonnegut. Vonnegut came from an era when PTSD was hardly acknowledged, let alone widely discussed, and in fact the author suggests it is now too widely accepted as an excuse for certain behaviours. Roston explores the evolution of PTSD over the decades and how if it has always been acknowledged that soldiers have suffered from war trauma of one sort or another it has only recently been included as a psychiatric diagnosis. Roston discusses to what extent Vonnegut suffered – if indeed he did –from PTSD and how much this informed his writing. He himself always denied it but his children and many friends disagree, and certainly if Vonnegut himself didn’t then his protagonist Billy Pilgrim does. Roston writes with insight and empathy and avoids armchair psychology and easy conclusions. I found the book a compelling and thoughtful read, which will surely appeal to a wide readership.
April 1, 2022
This is a short summary of the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, in addition to an entertaining discussion of Vonnegut's great novel and whether he and it reflect PTSD. More veterans, writers, and Vonnegut family and enthusiasts are part of the well-written small investigation.
Roston succeeds in re-interesting me in the novel and the novelist, in supplying a context for continuing discussion of the morality of war.
Recommended for all readers.
I was sent a finished copy by the publisher for review.
Roston succeeds in re-interesting me in the novel and the novelist, in supplying a context for continuing discussion of the morality of war.
Recommended for all readers.
I was sent a finished copy by the publisher for review.
Want to read
November 15, 2021Giveaway Win!
June 1, 2021
An interesting exploration of PTSD and how it influenced the most acclaimed work of Vonnegut's career. There is discussion of successes and failures, along with a wild theory or two. The book gives some nice context to the decades long endeavor that resulted in Slaughterhouse-Five. Fans of Vonnegut, or at least Slaughterhouse-Five will find some value in reading this book.
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
February 6, 2022
I love Vonnegut and connected hard with the opening chapter so I jumped into this one on a whim. It ended up being as much about PTSD as it was about Vonnegut, which I guess makes sense but made the book feel a bit unfocused sometimes.
It had high highs and low lows. I almost quit during a particularly dry chronology of PTSD, but Roston found a great character in Mellina to bring some humanity back into the book just when I was getting ready to jump ship. I wish we got more on the old drafts of Slaughterhouse-Five that Roston says he studied deeply; some of the book’s best parts are when we learn about Vonnegut’s creative process — the drafts would’ve helped illustrate that.
The book thrived when it had someone to focus on, whether that person was Vonnegut or Mellina or anyone else, really. It’s just that for such a short book, this one spends a good chunk of time not focused on a person.
It had high highs and low lows. I almost quit during a particularly dry chronology of PTSD, but Roston found a great character in Mellina to bring some humanity back into the book just when I was getting ready to jump ship. I wish we got more on the old drafts of Slaughterhouse-Five that Roston says he studied deeply; some of the book’s best parts are when we learn about Vonnegut’s creative process — the drafts would’ve helped illustrate that.
The book thrived when it had someone to focus on, whether that person was Vonnegut or Mellina or anyone else, really. It’s just that for such a short book, this one spends a good chunk of time not focused on a person.
May 4, 2022
An interesting look at the classic Vonnegut novel through the lens of PTSD and trauma. Well worth reading for Vonnegut fans.
December 1, 2023
I considered giving this book a three-star rating, but the book was extremely well-written and well-researched. The problem I had with it was that it wasn't completely what I *wanted* it to be, but that's my problem, not the book's. What I wanted was an in-depth look at Kurt Vonnegut and the writing of Slaughterhouse-Five. His motivations. The evolution of the idea. The evolution of his writing during the (more than) two decades it took for him to write it. And you know what? Author Tom Roston provides all of that. So really, there's no reason for me to be unhappy with the book. But then he goes well beyond that--I mean, there's only so much detail you can write about the things I mentioned--and spends more than half the book questioning whether or not Vonnegut had PTSD from his World War II experiences, and providing research and the experiences of others with PTSD. So really, half of the book is about PTSD. It turns out, and I never knew this previously, that many people believe the novel is about PTSD, although it was written at a time when no one really knew what PTSD was. In reading, the author makes a compelling case that Vonnegut did in fact have PTSD and that was very likely what inspired the novel.
Again, it's an exceedingly well-written novel, so I shouldn't complain. If anything, Roston gave me more bang for my buck; more than I had expected. I think as long as readers go into this knowing upfront that half of the book is really a study of PTSD, they'll be fine.
There is one very delicious tidbit shared in the book--conjecture about whether or not Vonnegut and a war pal tracked down a sadistic Nazi guard after the war and roughed him up or maybe even killed him. The story sounds far-fetched, and Roston believes that as well, but the story was one that Vonnegut and a friend shared with Vietnam vet who never knew whether they were serious or joking.
Anyway, all in all, this is a solid book and I would recommend it, even if I went into it as a blind fool. Roston is a very talented writer and an equally talented researcher.
Again, it's an exceedingly well-written novel, so I shouldn't complain. If anything, Roston gave me more bang for my buck; more than I had expected. I think as long as readers go into this knowing upfront that half of the book is really a study of PTSD, they'll be fine.
There is one very delicious tidbit shared in the book--conjecture about whether or not Vonnegut and a war pal tracked down a sadistic Nazi guard after the war and roughed him up or maybe even killed him. The story sounds far-fetched, and Roston believes that as well, but the story was one that Vonnegut and a friend shared with Vietnam vet who never knew whether they were serious or joking.
Anyway, all in all, this is a solid book and I would recommend it, even if I went into it as a blind fool. Roston is a very talented writer and an equally talented researcher.
July 23, 2022
This felt like a bit of 2 things - a long love letter about a favorite author and a deep look in to PTSD and whether said writer had it. The first frew chapters were catchy - talking about POW and murdered Nazi guards and I was curious as to what I was getting in to. I loved that Kurt's kids were also curious and gave their blessing for it be researched.
But the rest was heavy. It was a lot of war and what Kurt Vonnegut went through. It was a little history about the war, the time period. But from there it's a pretty deep dive in to PTSD, signs of it and other authors and their opinions. It was interesting but maybe not what I was hoping it would be.
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
But the rest was heavy. It was a lot of war and what Kurt Vonnegut went through. It was a little history about the war, the time period. But from there it's a pretty deep dive in to PTSD, signs of it and other authors and their opinions. It was interesting but maybe not what I was hoping it would be.
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
September 24, 2023
Pretty let down by this book. It claims to be a book about Vonnegut writing SH5, but it’s really just a book about PTSD disguised as a book about SH5. Which is disappointing, because if the book was framed differently, possibly as a book about writers who have been in the military and have PTSD, that would have been a more engaging read. Tim O’Brien’s interview segments are the most compelling. The first chapter about the history of PTSD was engaging, but the author’s conclusions about whether Billy Pilgrim and/or Kurt himself had PTSD are pretty unsatisfying and make me question if this needed to be an entire book or it could have been an article for a literary journal.
The following passage made me laugh out loud: “Those were the days when people attempted to speak to the dead through seances. Now we settle with looking at a deceased person's Twitter feed.”
I learned nothing new about Kurt or my favorite book of all time.
The following passage made me laugh out loud: “Those were the days when people attempted to speak to the dead through seances. Now we settle with looking at a deceased person's Twitter feed.”
I learned nothing new about Kurt or my favorite book of all time.
May 23, 2021
Broadly, this is about Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. It covers his planning to write it, writing it, its impact and legacy. There is much around Vonnegut's life relevant to the work, particularly his personal WW II experiences. There is much to learn there, including that Vonnegut (who witnessed the bombing of Dresden from the basement of a slaughterhouse as a prisoner of war) used The Destruction of Dresden as a source for the novel where he wrote that he emerged from the slaughterhouse to discover that "135,000 Hansels and Gretels had been baked like gingerbread men". The British author and Holocaust denier David Irving had inflated or at the least not verified the numbers. That's trivial in the big picture. That big picture is one of PTSD and how it affected Vonnegut personally and how his opus fits in a canon of reactions to this part of the human condition.
February 28, 2022
Though not quite the book I expected it to be, enjoyable and enlightening none the less.
December 5, 2021
Pretty fantastic analysis, I appreciate Roston’s honesty that it’s impossible to say for certain what kind of combat trauma specifically influenced Slaughterhouse 5, but it’s a fantastic dive into the novel.
April 13, 2021
Only a few miles from my home, there is a 38-foot tall mural of Kurt Vonnegut that adorns a downtown Indianapolis that serves as a constant reminder of Vonnegut's importance to his and my hometown.
Despite all his quirks and flaws (and there were many), Vonnegut remains one of Indy's most celebrated natives and certainly is near the top of Indy's lengthy history of celebrated writers.
"The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse- Five" explores the author's most critically acclaimed and popular novel "Slaughterhouse-Five," a novel born in the destruction of Dresden in World War II and written during the Vietnam War period.
“He was writing to save his own life,” his daughter Nanette has said, “and in doing it I think he has saved a lot of lives.”
It is well known that Vonnegut survived the horrors of Dresden as a POW during World War II. Author Tom Roston digs deeper in exploring the impact of Vonnegut's wartime experiences on his life and on his writing while also spending a fair amount of "The Writer's Crusade" on the developing recognition of the profound impact of what we now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" on soldiers past and present.
While a relatively new diagnosis in the annals of psychiatry, the presence of what is known as PTSD has been a long existing reality for soldiers yet a reality without words to name it.
"The Writer's Crusade" is as much a book about how books save lives as it is a book about Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut certainly exists within the book's bones, yet there are entire chapters of "The Writer's Crusade" that barely mention the author who serves as its foundation. "Slaughterhouse-Five" was Vonnegut's sixth book. It's likely his greatest moment as an author, though nearly all of his novels are on some level celebrated. This book has somehow become embraced by both anti-war movements and the veterans who have experienced war because, it would seem, that Vonnegut is simultaneously giving us one of the most incredibly authentic experiences of war while arming anti-war activists with all the ammunition they need to be able to say that "war is hell."
Indeed, Vonnegut's life post-Dresden is proof that war is hell and that somehow Vonnegut made it through hell largely because of his writing.
"The Writer's Crusade" is built upon research into Vonnegut's life and interviews with Vonnegut's family, researchers, writers, and psychologists. This is not a perfect book and I didn't always agree with Roston's assumptions and interpretations, but for fans of Vonnegut "The Writer's Crusade" is a worthy book to absorb and to assist in the interpretation of and appreciation for Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" and his writings before and after.
Much like "Slaughterhouse-Five," I'd dare say that "The Writer's Crusade" will be embraced by antiwar activists and military vets alike along with those of us who simply consider ourselves to be Vonnegut devotees.
"The Writer's Crusade" is due for release by ABRAMS in October 2021.
Despite all his quirks and flaws (and there were many), Vonnegut remains one of Indy's most celebrated natives and certainly is near the top of Indy's lengthy history of celebrated writers.
"The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse- Five" explores the author's most critically acclaimed and popular novel "Slaughterhouse-Five," a novel born in the destruction of Dresden in World War II and written during the Vietnam War period.
“He was writing to save his own life,” his daughter Nanette has said, “and in doing it I think he has saved a lot of lives.”
It is well known that Vonnegut survived the horrors of Dresden as a POW during World War II. Author Tom Roston digs deeper in exploring the impact of Vonnegut's wartime experiences on his life and on his writing while also spending a fair amount of "The Writer's Crusade" on the developing recognition of the profound impact of what we now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" on soldiers past and present.
While a relatively new diagnosis in the annals of psychiatry, the presence of what is known as PTSD has been a long existing reality for soldiers yet a reality without words to name it.
"The Writer's Crusade" is as much a book about how books save lives as it is a book about Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut certainly exists within the book's bones, yet there are entire chapters of "The Writer's Crusade" that barely mention the author who serves as its foundation. "Slaughterhouse-Five" was Vonnegut's sixth book. It's likely his greatest moment as an author, though nearly all of his novels are on some level celebrated. This book has somehow become embraced by both anti-war movements and the veterans who have experienced war because, it would seem, that Vonnegut is simultaneously giving us one of the most incredibly authentic experiences of war while arming anti-war activists with all the ammunition they need to be able to say that "war is hell."
Indeed, Vonnegut's life post-Dresden is proof that war is hell and that somehow Vonnegut made it through hell largely because of his writing.
"The Writer's Crusade" is built upon research into Vonnegut's life and interviews with Vonnegut's family, researchers, writers, and psychologists. This is not a perfect book and I didn't always agree with Roston's assumptions and interpretations, but for fans of Vonnegut "The Writer's Crusade" is a worthy book to absorb and to assist in the interpretation of and appreciation for Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" and his writings before and after.
Much like "Slaughterhouse-Five," I'd dare say that "The Writer's Crusade" will be embraced by antiwar activists and military vets alike along with those of us who simply consider ourselves to be Vonnegut devotees.
"The Writer's Crusade" is due for release by ABRAMS in October 2021.
September 10, 2021
Chapter 11 of The Writer's Crusade is titled "Diagnosing Mr. Vonnegut" with the intention of concluding, as the first line of the chapter declares, "He had PTSD." But fully half of its 22 pages are about someone named Lance Miccio. Yes, half a chapter about Kurt Vonnegut in a book about Kurt Vonnegut is about someone you nor I have ever heard of. Only seven pages are devoted to Vonnegut, with mixed results on his diagnosis, including his own lifelong denials that he had PTSD.
Halfway through the chapter, author Tim Roston presents the opposing point of view, one page worth: Billy Pilgrim having come unstuck in time in Vonnegut's seminal anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five and having been transported to Tralfamadore are primarily designed as artistic devices to frame Vonnegut's postmodern metafictional story structure rather than symptoms of PTSD.
If you're interested in PTSD in general and how it relates to Vonnegut in particular as well as other traumatized war veterans, then this book is for you. After spending the first half of the book writing a pretty good biography of Vonnegut through the lens of his long struggle to write the book that became Slaughterhouse-Five, the rest of the book is about PTSD, and not necessarily about PTSD as it relates to Vonnegut and his book, as the Chapter 11 page count epitomizes.
If you wish that Roston had analyzed the many early drafts of the story and discussed at greater length its evolution into the quintessential anti-war treatise that applied the horrors of WWII to what was then going on in Vietnam and by extension what has been going on in Iraq and Afghanistan the past 30 years, sorry, you're out of luck. Somehow Billy Pilgrim's status as quirky Everyman dealing with these horrors has morphed into Billy Pilgrim as Vonnegut's alter ego dealing with his personal trauma.
This book's description only hints that this is what it's about. It gives more of an impression that it's about the many facets of a complex classic. I was suckered in and, being among the dissenting group Roston discusses minimally in Chapter 11 who view this as a work of art not as a work of psychology or social work, I am seriously disappointed. Add to that the unabashed confirmation bias in which every little clue in favor of the PTSD analysis is spun into evidence while anything contrary, including Vonnegut's own protestations, is dismissed, and it gets downright infuriating.
Although this was a one star read for me, I'm going to rate it three stars because the first half is OK and other readers with a genuine interest in the PTSD angle may appreciate it more than I did. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sorry to have been this honest in my review.
Halfway through the chapter, author Tim Roston presents the opposing point of view, one page worth: Billy Pilgrim having come unstuck in time in Vonnegut's seminal anti-war novel Slaughterhouse-Five and having been transported to Tralfamadore are primarily designed as artistic devices to frame Vonnegut's postmodern metafictional story structure rather than symptoms of PTSD.
If you're interested in PTSD in general and how it relates to Vonnegut in particular as well as other traumatized war veterans, then this book is for you. After spending the first half of the book writing a pretty good biography of Vonnegut through the lens of his long struggle to write the book that became Slaughterhouse-Five, the rest of the book is about PTSD, and not necessarily about PTSD as it relates to Vonnegut and his book, as the Chapter 11 page count epitomizes.
If you wish that Roston had analyzed the many early drafts of the story and discussed at greater length its evolution into the quintessential anti-war treatise that applied the horrors of WWII to what was then going on in Vietnam and by extension what has been going on in Iraq and Afghanistan the past 30 years, sorry, you're out of luck. Somehow Billy Pilgrim's status as quirky Everyman dealing with these horrors has morphed into Billy Pilgrim as Vonnegut's alter ego dealing with his personal trauma.
This book's description only hints that this is what it's about. It gives more of an impression that it's about the many facets of a complex classic. I was suckered in and, being among the dissenting group Roston discusses minimally in Chapter 11 who view this as a work of art not as a work of psychology or social work, I am seriously disappointed. Add to that the unabashed confirmation bias in which every little clue in favor of the PTSD analysis is spun into evidence while anything contrary, including Vonnegut's own protestations, is dismissed, and it gets downright infuriating.
Although this was a one star read for me, I'm going to rate it three stars because the first half is OK and other readers with a genuine interest in the PTSD angle may appreciate it more than I did. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Sorry to have been this honest in my review.
September 27, 2021
Fans of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five may remember that the novel's subtitle, The Children’s Crusade, was born from Kurt's promise to a longtime friend’s wife, Mary O’Hare, that he wouldn’t glorify war or depict it in a way in which war would look wonderful. In the novel, Vonnegut later tells Mary, “I don’t think this book of mine is ever going to be finished.” Vonnegut, of course, did finish the book, and Slaughterhouse-Five has become a touchstone of America literature. Yet the journey to write the book was long and arduous.
In The Writer’s Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and The Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five, Tom Roston explores Vonnegut’s twenty-five year battle to transform his Dresden experience into a lasting work of art. This book moves beyond standard literary criticism to tell the story of Slaughterhouse-Five’s creation while addressing issues of PTSD, memory and collective trauma, and how a new generation of war writers struggle in their own crusades. Vonnegut fans should enjoy this "behind the scenes" look at how a great novel was written, but anyone interested in the creative process, and in the ways an author's life influences art, should enjoy this book. It's also recommended for anyone interested in how writers like Phil Klay and Matthew Gallagher have transformed their own recent war experiences into fiction.
Roston writes with insight and wit. This is a serious book about serious topics, yet it's often fun to read, as Roston is an informed and entertaining guide. I was fortunate to read an ARC through NetGalley and highly recommend the book.
In The Writer’s Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and The Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five, Tom Roston explores Vonnegut’s twenty-five year battle to transform his Dresden experience into a lasting work of art. This book moves beyond standard literary criticism to tell the story of Slaughterhouse-Five’s creation while addressing issues of PTSD, memory and collective trauma, and how a new generation of war writers struggle in their own crusades. Vonnegut fans should enjoy this "behind the scenes" look at how a great novel was written, but anyone interested in the creative process, and in the ways an author's life influences art, should enjoy this book. It's also recommended for anyone interested in how writers like Phil Klay and Matthew Gallagher have transformed their own recent war experiences into fiction.
Roston writes with insight and wit. This is a serious book about serious topics, yet it's often fun to read, as Roston is an informed and entertaining guide. I was fortunate to read an ARC through NetGalley and highly recommend the book.
April 19, 2024
I love the first third of this book. Roston has clear affection for Vonnegut, and he sees him through the exact same lens I do: as a writer haunted by the trauma of Dresden who managed to articulate his pain and bewilderment in Slaughterhouse Five.
Roston sees this so much in the same way I do, that I worried for a time he’d undo my own current project. I mean, why write something if someone has already written it?
There are big differences, though, some that I think speak to an excellence in his work that I can’t imagine touching and some going in directions that I think ultimately work against his claims.
To start with the good, I love the deft way he pulls off what he calls “Kurt Vonnegut, Nazi Slayer!” In that chapter, Roston explains that he heard from someone who might have heard from someone who might have been with Vonnegut that the eventual pacificist had hunted down and killed one of the Nazi guards who’d terrorized him during his imprisonment.
It’s an intriguing story, and it would – as Roston says – reframe much of what we know about Vonnegut. It would also, as he allows himself to daydream, have given his book a tabloid hook that would likely have generated real sales.
But, much to Roston’s credit, he determines the story is almost certainly false. Rather than dispense with it, though, he uses it as a lens to reflect on the way we view Vonnegut (and, really, all writers) through the lenses of fictions that they lay down and we readers amplify. For Vonnegut, who wrote so much in something like the first person, that seems all the more part of the equation.
For Roston, then, Vonnegut is himself a story. His life is something we have license to read since he chose to weave so much of it into his novels.
As I say, good stuff. And, since this also opens less as traditional literary criticism and more as readers-memoir, it sets it up a compelling record of the way Roston has read this book over the years.
But, then, I think the second part of this undermines that fine beginning. Roston spends much of that time defining PTSD in the clinical and historical sense – showing how the DSMs have broadened their understanding of the pathology – and then he sets out to apply it.
He works, first, to diagnose Billy Pilgrim. I can see how he thinks that might be insightful, but it crosses a line I have to draw often for my students. That is, a novel is its own world. The question shouldn’t be whether Billy has PTSD according to the DSM but rather how the novel tells us he is suffering. Vonnegut gives us terms to use within the novel, and that’s the ultimate question. For me, importing a concept into the fiction violates the premise of fiction. It’s valid to read this through a New Historical lens, one where we consider what the culture of his time understood about what we were coming to call PTSD, but I don’t think it helps anyone to see whether Vonnegut presented a character who would adhere to the standards we’d arrive at over 50 years later.
Then, he attempts to diagnose Vonnegut with PTSD. I suppose a full-scale biographer might begin to pull it off – and, to Roston’s credit, he seems to have read everything by and about Vonnegut – but even that seems to me superfluous. I’d rather a picture of Vonnegut on Vonnegut’s terms, or at least the terms of his contemporaries. There are helpful interviews from Vonnegut’s kids here (another prop to Roston), but even they seem to be guessing about a yes/no answer.
So, my thinking here is that Roston knows and loves his subject, which is all good. But, just when he sets himself up to read this work through the passion he clearly has, he puts on a set of psychological spectacles that turn his gaze to issues that lack ultimate punch.
Roston sees this so much in the same way I do, that I worried for a time he’d undo my own current project. I mean, why write something if someone has already written it?
There are big differences, though, some that I think speak to an excellence in his work that I can’t imagine touching and some going in directions that I think ultimately work against his claims.
To start with the good, I love the deft way he pulls off what he calls “Kurt Vonnegut, Nazi Slayer!” In that chapter, Roston explains that he heard from someone who might have heard from someone who might have been with Vonnegut that the eventual pacificist had hunted down and killed one of the Nazi guards who’d terrorized him during his imprisonment.
It’s an intriguing story, and it would – as Roston says – reframe much of what we know about Vonnegut. It would also, as he allows himself to daydream, have given his book a tabloid hook that would likely have generated real sales.
But, much to Roston’s credit, he determines the story is almost certainly false. Rather than dispense with it, though, he uses it as a lens to reflect on the way we view Vonnegut (and, really, all writers) through the lenses of fictions that they lay down and we readers amplify. For Vonnegut, who wrote so much in something like the first person, that seems all the more part of the equation.
For Roston, then, Vonnegut is himself a story. His life is something we have license to read since he chose to weave so much of it into his novels.
As I say, good stuff. And, since this also opens less as traditional literary criticism and more as readers-memoir, it sets it up a compelling record of the way Roston has read this book over the years.
But, then, I think the second part of this undermines that fine beginning. Roston spends much of that time defining PTSD in the clinical and historical sense – showing how the DSMs have broadened their understanding of the pathology – and then he sets out to apply it.
He works, first, to diagnose Billy Pilgrim. I can see how he thinks that might be insightful, but it crosses a line I have to draw often for my students. That is, a novel is its own world. The question shouldn’t be whether Billy has PTSD according to the DSM but rather how the novel tells us he is suffering. Vonnegut gives us terms to use within the novel, and that’s the ultimate question. For me, importing a concept into the fiction violates the premise of fiction. It’s valid to read this through a New Historical lens, one where we consider what the culture of his time understood about what we were coming to call PTSD, but I don’t think it helps anyone to see whether Vonnegut presented a character who would adhere to the standards we’d arrive at over 50 years later.
Then, he attempts to diagnose Vonnegut with PTSD. I suppose a full-scale biographer might begin to pull it off – and, to Roston’s credit, he seems to have read everything by and about Vonnegut – but even that seems to me superfluous. I’d rather a picture of Vonnegut on Vonnegut’s terms, or at least the terms of his contemporaries. There are helpful interviews from Vonnegut’s kids here (another prop to Roston), but even they seem to be guessing about a yes/no answer.
So, my thinking here is that Roston knows and loves his subject, which is all good. But, just when he sets himself up to read this work through the passion he clearly has, he puts on a set of psychological spectacles that turn his gaze to issues that lack ultimate punch.
September 8, 2021
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Abrams Books for an advanced copy of this literary study.
Tom Roston in The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five has written a biography of an author, his book, and his main character, with a meditation on war and atrocity and its after effects on the human psyche. There is a lot going on and Mr.Roston does a very good job of keeping it together, though there are some pacing issues that slow the book down.
Kurt Vonnegut was a very complicated man, or maybe he was being human. Funny, prone to blow ups, maudlin near the end of his life, he probably drank to much and for sure saw too much during his service in World War II. Mr. Vonnegut's life and experiences led him to write Slaughterhouse-Five over a 23 year period, probably his best and most important work. This and the afterlife of becoming a writer of note, some of his later works and his death by dogwalking are also covered.
Billy Pilgrim, the lead character of the work is also given the biography treatment. Pilgrim's experiences are compared to real characters, his life, his end his actions all change as Vonnegut wrote and rewrote trying to find his story in all that had happened. This part I found most interesting. How the book started, stopped, lurched one way than another, Key inspirations are given to other characters, scenes moved, fates changed. Not by the whim of the writer, but all in service of what Vonnegut needed to tell. The research for this has some funny stories from Mr. Roston, as he talks about the many difficulties he had in just getting to look at Mr. Vonnegut's papers in the library.
There is also a section on PTSD and its effects on both Billy and Mr. Vonnegut. This section was a bit awkward, but still very worth a read. Mr. Roston gives a history of the effects of war and battle on men, how the military tried to address it, and the difficulties many veterans have today. The section includes many interviews with authors who write or wrote of their experiences at war and while interesting, seemed to slow the book down. There is a very good book to be made of modern war and writers.
I first read Slaughterhouse-Five in high school, and the book has stayed with me since. This is a very good book on Vonnegut and his creation, one that fans will enjoy. This book would also be perfect for those who like to read about how art is created, or for those who want to read about how people deal with the monstrous things that happen in life, and continue on.
Tom Roston in The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five has written a biography of an author, his book, and his main character, with a meditation on war and atrocity and its after effects on the human psyche. There is a lot going on and Mr.Roston does a very good job of keeping it together, though there are some pacing issues that slow the book down.
Kurt Vonnegut was a very complicated man, or maybe he was being human. Funny, prone to blow ups, maudlin near the end of his life, he probably drank to much and for sure saw too much during his service in World War II. Mr. Vonnegut's life and experiences led him to write Slaughterhouse-Five over a 23 year period, probably his best and most important work. This and the afterlife of becoming a writer of note, some of his later works and his death by dogwalking are also covered.
Billy Pilgrim, the lead character of the work is also given the biography treatment. Pilgrim's experiences are compared to real characters, his life, his end his actions all change as Vonnegut wrote and rewrote trying to find his story in all that had happened. This part I found most interesting. How the book started, stopped, lurched one way than another, Key inspirations are given to other characters, scenes moved, fates changed. Not by the whim of the writer, but all in service of what Vonnegut needed to tell. The research for this has some funny stories from Mr. Roston, as he talks about the many difficulties he had in just getting to look at Mr. Vonnegut's papers in the library.
There is also a section on PTSD and its effects on both Billy and Mr. Vonnegut. This section was a bit awkward, but still very worth a read. Mr. Roston gives a history of the effects of war and battle on men, how the military tried to address it, and the difficulties many veterans have today. The section includes many interviews with authors who write or wrote of their experiences at war and while interesting, seemed to slow the book down. There is a very good book to be made of modern war and writers.
I first read Slaughterhouse-Five in high school, and the book has stayed with me since. This is a very good book on Vonnegut and his creation, one that fans will enjoy. This book would also be perfect for those who like to read about how art is created, or for those who want to read about how people deal with the monstrous things that happen in life, and continue on.
October 13, 2021
Both an excellent analysis of and introduction to Kurt Vonnegut's renowned novel, "Slaughterhouse Five."
Now is probably as good a time as any to admit: no, I haven't read 'Slaughterhouse Five." Imagine my surprise when Tom Roston, with one of the punchiest beginnings to a nonfiction piece I've seen in years, lays out one of the key pieces of the novel: an account, based on Vonnegut's memory, of how he survived the Dresden bombing and its aftermath as a WWII POW. Powerful stuff. Which is why, fellow Vonnegut newbies, I recommend that you try picking this book up before reading the novel. Or at the very least, you shouldn't hesitate to do so.
Tom Roston does an incredible job discussing the life of the author and how his career and personal development led him to draft, rework, and eventually publish "Slaughterhouse." He places it in the context of other veteran accounts at the time (and even those long before Vonnegut was born) and how Vonnegut's style found its place among other authors (which is basically how Vonnegut made the leap from the oft-neglected science-fiction drawer to the esteemed literary bookshelf). Along the way, Roston recaps the treatment of PTSD, what exactly that diagnosis has signified over the years, the slow rise of WWII veteran accounts as America began to grapple with war and its trauma with every additional conflict. It's a history of Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse, and the anti-war veteran narrative all wrapped in one volume.
I particularly appreciated how Roston mostly shied away from easy answers to questions like "Did Vonnegut have PTSD?" and "Was Vonnegut anti-violence or even against guns?" There are a lot more issues covered, too, thanks to Roston's interviews with veterans from other military conflicts of various types.
Overall, this was a tough but interesting read. I don't think I realized what a punch it packed until I was dwelling on some of the stories of grief and death included, though they never seemed gratuitous. Maybe that's why they had such an impact.
Recommended for anyone interested in Vonnegut, how a famous author's publishing career developed in the late 20th century, and the history of how men have coped with and expressed (through writing) their experience during and after war.
Thank you to Abrams Press and Netgalley for sending me a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Now is probably as good a time as any to admit: no, I haven't read 'Slaughterhouse Five." Imagine my surprise when Tom Roston, with one of the punchiest beginnings to a nonfiction piece I've seen in years, lays out one of the key pieces of the novel: an account, based on Vonnegut's memory, of how he survived the Dresden bombing and its aftermath as a WWII POW. Powerful stuff. Which is why, fellow Vonnegut newbies, I recommend that you try picking this book up before reading the novel. Or at the very least, you shouldn't hesitate to do so.
Tom Roston does an incredible job discussing the life of the author and how his career and personal development led him to draft, rework, and eventually publish "Slaughterhouse." He places it in the context of other veteran accounts at the time (and even those long before Vonnegut was born) and how Vonnegut's style found its place among other authors (which is basically how Vonnegut made the leap from the oft-neglected science-fiction drawer to the esteemed literary bookshelf). Along the way, Roston recaps the treatment of PTSD, what exactly that diagnosis has signified over the years, the slow rise of WWII veteran accounts as America began to grapple with war and its trauma with every additional conflict. It's a history of Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse, and the anti-war veteran narrative all wrapped in one volume.
I particularly appreciated how Roston mostly shied away from easy answers to questions like "Did Vonnegut have PTSD?" and "Was Vonnegut anti-violence or even against guns?" There are a lot more issues covered, too, thanks to Roston's interviews with veterans from other military conflicts of various types.
Overall, this was a tough but interesting read. I don't think I realized what a punch it packed until I was dwelling on some of the stories of grief and death included, though they never seemed gratuitous. Maybe that's why they had such an impact.
Recommended for anyone interested in Vonnegut, how a famous author's publishing career developed in the late 20th century, and the history of how men have coped with and expressed (through writing) their experience during and after war.
Thank you to Abrams Press and Netgalley for sending me a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 4, 2022
This book feels like the author, who is very obviously a fan of Vonnegut, really wanted to write a book about him, but so many people already have that he felt he had to force an angle.
The best parts of this book are about the versions of Slaughterhouse Five that Vonnegut chose not to go with, as well as the biographical tidbits. However, once the author makes it a point to convince us that maybe Vonnegut had PTSD and that he wrote the book as a way to deal with his war trauma (which is an interesting point), he gets a bit lost and stays there for a while. There are large swaths of the book that don't mention Vonnegut once, but are only about PTSD's history in the US military. Which is fine if that's what you want to read about but the title of the book is misleading: the many lives of Slaughterhouse Five. The book is not totally about that.
It is also disappointing to find out that the people one admires are assholes. And Vonnegut definitely seems like one (whatever the reason, maybe PTSD, childhood trauma, etc) and often this is glossed over. One of the main reasons I felt this, was that when Vonnegut got a teaching job in Iowa, he was happy "to have the opportunity to get away from his family for a couple of years." The author writes nearly these exact words and then moves on. I'm sure the family he was so eager to get away from was very thrilled for him.
I guess, overall, there were parts of this book I enjoyed and others that I felt were a stretch or self-indulgent. It definitely made me want to reread Slaughterhouse Five again, and I'm going to do that right now. So that's something.
The best parts of this book are about the versions of Slaughterhouse Five that Vonnegut chose not to go with, as well as the biographical tidbits. However, once the author makes it a point to convince us that maybe Vonnegut had PTSD and that he wrote the book as a way to deal with his war trauma (which is an interesting point), he gets a bit lost and stays there for a while. There are large swaths of the book that don't mention Vonnegut once, but are only about PTSD's history in the US military. Which is fine if that's what you want to read about but the title of the book is misleading: the many lives of Slaughterhouse Five. The book is not totally about that.
It is also disappointing to find out that the people one admires are assholes. And Vonnegut definitely seems like one (whatever the reason, maybe PTSD, childhood trauma, etc) and often this is glossed over. One of the main reasons I felt this, was that when Vonnegut got a teaching job in Iowa, he was happy "to have the opportunity to get away from his family for a couple of years." The author writes nearly these exact words and then moves on. I'm sure the family he was so eager to get away from was very thrilled for him.
I guess, overall, there were parts of this book I enjoyed and others that I felt were a stretch or self-indulgent. It definitely made me want to reread Slaughterhouse Five again, and I'm going to do that right now. So that's something.
November 25, 2021
*I received an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
This book is a lot of things and I think it suffered for it. As the title says, the book is about Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five and as the blurb goes on to say it is using Slaughterhouse in both its final form and its many drafts as a comparison to Vonnegut's real life in order to determine if Vonnegut had PTSD. It does all of that, but it also goes into kind of the history of war literature and how Slaughterhouse has impacted veterans and allowed them to recognize their own PTSD in the novel.
I guess I should preface by saying Slaughterhouse-Five is one of my favorite novels and Vonnegut in general is one of my favorite authors so I loved the in depth analysis of the book and seeing how aspects of Vonnegut's real life made it into the novel. I also enjoyed the parts about how Slaughterhouse became a touchstone for veterans of three different wars at the time it was published and remains one to this day for veterans of modern wars; however, I think the way those two aspects of the story were integrated felt a little choppy to me.
I think as a whole, I would have liked this book more if I went in knowing that it would be more of a wider look at war trauma rather than an in depth look at how the drafts of Slaughterhouse became the iconic novel that we know today. For example the last paragraph of the blurb asks, "Did Vonnegut suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Did Billy Pilgrim?" which I thought would be the basis of the book but was instead reduced to one chapter.
This book is a lot of things and I think it suffered for it. As the title says, the book is about Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five and as the blurb goes on to say it is using Slaughterhouse in both its final form and its many drafts as a comparison to Vonnegut's real life in order to determine if Vonnegut had PTSD. It does all of that, but it also goes into kind of the history of war literature and how Slaughterhouse has impacted veterans and allowed them to recognize their own PTSD in the novel.
I guess I should preface by saying Slaughterhouse-Five is one of my favorite novels and Vonnegut in general is one of my favorite authors so I loved the in depth analysis of the book and seeing how aspects of Vonnegut's real life made it into the novel. I also enjoyed the parts about how Slaughterhouse became a touchstone for veterans of three different wars at the time it was published and remains one to this day for veterans of modern wars; however, I think the way those two aspects of the story were integrated felt a little choppy to me.
I think as a whole, I would have liked this book more if I went in knowing that it would be more of a wider look at war trauma rather than an in depth look at how the drafts of Slaughterhouse became the iconic novel that we know today. For example the last paragraph of the blurb asks, "Did Vonnegut suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Did Billy Pilgrim?" which I thought would be the basis of the book but was instead reduced to one chapter.
August 8, 2023
First of all, I hate self inserts. Nobody cares about you or how you wrote your book.
Second of all, why are there 3 mentions of Ariana Grande? All dismissive and flippant. Little girls died at her concert and hundreds were injured. She experienced a terrorist attack, she’s allowed to speak about her PTSD as ineloquently as she wants to. Hell, I don’t even like the girl, but I’m not going to dismiss her trauma.
He later goes on to talk about men who cope with their trauma through humor, but apparently that’s acceptable. But heaven forbid a girl refer to her CT scan as a “brain thingy.”
He also says that all trauma’s can’t be treated equally. Great, but what he doesn’t seem to acknowledge is that all brains can’t be treated equally and what might not phase one person could be incredibly damaging to another. Instead he seems to almost whine that large amounts of people are being diagnosed with PTSD outside of the military. It’s a nasty world. People get traumatized. They should be going to the doctor. What’s your damage?
Finally, I liked the parts of the book that were about Vonnegut. But there wasn’t a lot about Vonnegut. Out of the 220 pages I found myself mostly skimming, waiting for his name to pop up again. He spent an entire chapter trying to assess whether or not the lead of Slaughterhouse Five had PTSD… yeah, duh he did. Listen, Roston, if you don’t have enough material about Vonnegut to write a book then just don’t write the book. Now go get some sleep and stop obsessing over Ariana Grande.
Second of all, why are there 3 mentions of Ariana Grande? All dismissive and flippant. Little girls died at her concert and hundreds were injured. She experienced a terrorist attack, she’s allowed to speak about her PTSD as ineloquently as she wants to. Hell, I don’t even like the girl, but I’m not going to dismiss her trauma.
He later goes on to talk about men who cope with their trauma through humor, but apparently that’s acceptable. But heaven forbid a girl refer to her CT scan as a “brain thingy.”
He also says that all trauma’s can’t be treated equally. Great, but what he doesn’t seem to acknowledge is that all brains can’t be treated equally and what might not phase one person could be incredibly damaging to another. Instead he seems to almost whine that large amounts of people are being diagnosed with PTSD outside of the military. It’s a nasty world. People get traumatized. They should be going to the doctor. What’s your damage?
Finally, I liked the parts of the book that were about Vonnegut. But there wasn’t a lot about Vonnegut. Out of the 220 pages I found myself mostly skimming, waiting for his name to pop up again. He spent an entire chapter trying to assess whether or not the lead of Slaughterhouse Five had PTSD… yeah, duh he did. Listen, Roston, if you don’t have enough material about Vonnegut to write a book then just don’t write the book. Now go get some sleep and stop obsessing over Ariana Grande.
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