Not Really a Slaughter...

One of the most acclaimed science fiction novels ever written is Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. It is also one of the most weird books I have ever read. The novel takes place in many different settings, and jumps back and forth between these places several times. Also, the novel is not written chronologically. The spasms between space and time can be very difficult to understand, and this does have a drawback on the strength of the novel.

Billy Pilgrim is an American soldier in World War II. Also, he randomly and uncontrollably travels through space and time. He could be inside a slaughterhouse as a prisoner of war in Dresden, and then be on the planet Tralfamadore inside of the zoo, and then be in his future as an optometrist, and then be in his past as a six-year-old. Because of this unpredictability, Billy as a narrator is often unreliable, and the reader never truly can separate fact from fiction.

Two of the major themes present in the novel are those of death and time. Whenever someone died on the planet Tralfamadore, the Tralfamadorians would say, "So it goes," suggesting that death was in the ordinary course of events. Vonnegut uses this expression as well. Whenever the novel says something about a death in the war or elsewhere, he says "So it goes." This is to lessen the pain of death. Another philosophy of the Tralfamadorians is that every moment has always existed, exists now, and always will exist. This is the fourth dimension that they can view. This is the basis for Billy's time travel, as he does not really go back in time, because every moment that has existed exists now.

Vonnegut had a very unique idea when he set out to write this story. The concept of traveling unwillingly and unexpectedly in time must have been a very unusual one at the time. The only fault with this (and it is a major one) is that it is too confusing. Vonnegut definitely did the best he could with the basic details, but it was not enough to make the novel more than a good attempt. While it is not a bad novel, it is certainly not as good as other classics of science fiction, such as Foundation and Ender's Game. Read this if you choose, but do not put it first on your list.

http://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Five-Novel-Kurt-Vonnegut/dp/0385333846/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259545959&sr=8-1

Grade: 6.5

With a Capital 'G'

While many classics in our time concern the lives and persecution of the lower class, a select few are about the ease of living in the upper class. F. Scott Fitzgerald's celebrated The Great Gatsby is perhaps one of the best examples of this genre of literature.

The narrator of The Great Gatsby is Nick Carraway, a man of the middle class who lives next door to the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a man who everybody seems to know but nobody seems to know anything about. In addition, his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband Tom, who live on the other side of the town, are wealthy. The novel is basically about the doings of Daisy, Nick, and Daisy's friend Jordan Baker, and Nick's fascination and envy of the easy life he sees so often in his friends.

Jay Gatsby holds parties every weekend at his mansion, and one day, Nick decides to go to one. There, he finds out that although everybody claims to know Gatsby, nobody knows what he looks like or, in fact, anything about him. While Nick is looking, an odd man presents himself to Nick as Gatsby. They soon become very good friends. Although one has all the money he could ask for and the other has almost nothing to himself, Gatsby enjoys spending time with Nick, and Nick is too fascinated to think otherwise.

The novel is excellently written. The characters represent the wealthy and carefree people of the 1920s. Nick represents the bourgeoisie, constantly looking up to the rich. As Gatsby's character is developed, we learn more and more of his past, and we see the reality of people in his position as well.

The Great Gatsby is a very interesting historical fiction novel of an important time in our nation's past. Its acclaim is well-earned. Gatsby is definitely Great, with a capital 'g.'

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Gatsby-F-Scott-Fitzgerald/dp/0743273567/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259531797&sr=8-1

Grade: 8.5

Neither the Best of Books, Nor the Worst of Books

Arguably the most famous literary quote of all time comes from A Tale of Two Cities, a novel about the French Revolution by Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison alone."

That one quote can quite possibly sum up the entire novel. While it has some amazingly intelligent parts and quite unforgettable characters, it also can be extremely boring in other sections. The action of the novel is often juxtaposed with a chapter of introspection and ambiguity. However, the good parts eventually outweigh the bad, and it results in a satisfying read, if not completely interesting.

While there is not a definite main character of the novel, there are many protagonists and antagonists who define the social classes of the French Revolution. The story opens with a drab banker, Mr. Jarvis Lorry, on his way to Dover. There, he is to speak with Lucie Manette, a beautiful young woman. Her father, thought dead, has actually been imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years, and he is finally being released. Dr. Alexandre Manette, though once a happy, young doctor, is now a near insane and socially awkward shoemaker. Soon brought into the story is Charles Darnay, a handsome man on trial for treason against the throne, and Sydney Carton, a depressed barrister who looks almost exactly like Darnay. These five people comprise the main protagonists of the novel, who live and work in London.

Meanwhile, across the English Channel, the Defarges live together in Paris. M. Defarge is a wine shop owner, who has moderate revolutionary ideas. His wife, Mme Defarge, is a violence-driven bloodthirsty revolutionary with no thoughts but to destroy the nobility and as many innocent Frenchmen as possible. These two, along with their various comrades, form the antagonists of the novel.

Dickens tells the story of the French Revolution as both parties mentioned become involved in it. His recurring themes of resurrection and redemption throughout the novel are very good means by which to tell the tale, although the delivery of it occasionally falls flat. The novel starts out slow, accelerates quickly, drops to a high level of monotony, and then becomes extremely suspenseful and exciting in the last hundred pages. While this is certainly not as entertaining as Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities is a fulfilling novel.

http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Cities-Charles-Dickens/dp/1448625025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257981704&sr=8-1

Grade: 7.5