Vonnegut is wonderful, and as time passes, I hope that this adaptation becomes iconic as well. The work to present this classic visually is just masterful - perfect companion to the beauty of Vonnegut's prose.

*Received via NetGalley for review*

I've never read the original Slaughterhouse Five, which is a shocking lack considering my love of science fiction. This adaptation is beautiful, with clear and interesting visuals, and really gets the feeling of the original across (from what I can tell).

Kurt Vonnegut Jr is my favorite author so anything that has to do with him I need to read. Slaughter house Five is probably his most loved and popular works and for good reason. I loved getting to re-read this in the graphic novel format. I think this is a great intro to Vonnegut's writing but I HIGHLY recommend reading the book and his other works.
I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly was disappointed with this one. I was hoping for the great Vonnegut book shown through a new medium but what I got was merely school aid. I felt this book is targeted at students who don't understand the book and didn't want to read it and want an explanatory tool instead.
I did like the graphics though.

I enjoyed this adaption, I think it stayed true to the spirit of Slaughterhouse Five. It's all over the place, just like Billy's life, but makes a sort of sense at the same time. The art is great, it conveys the feel of the story so well. I don't want to say anything about the plot- if you've read Slaughterhouse Five, you know what happens, and if you haven't, it's better if it just washes over you. Definitely recommended!

#SlaughterhouseFive #NetGalley

I loved this graphic novel! It's a great interpretation of the original novel and presented in such an understandable and enjoyable format. I feel like it would be a great companion for the original novel.

Really cool art & adaptation--I love everything Ryan North does! Definitely recommend for any Vonnegut fan, or even newbies who haven't read Slaughterhouse Five.

"Slaughterhouse-Five" is probably one of the most recognizable works of Kurt Vonnegut, next to "Cat's Cradle" and "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater". It follows the story of the life and death of Billy Pilgrim and everything peculiar that happened in-between.

Billy was sent to partake in the Second World War as an American soldier and later, as a prisoner of war, lived through one of the most traumatic events of the conflict, which is the bombing of Dresden. His life after coming back to the US became even more grotesque when he's abducted and experimented on by aliens and develops an ability to go back and forward in his memories.

Ryan North adapts Vonnegut's classic into a graphic form quite successfully. I would say that in its graphic adaptation, the story is easier to follow and understand. It is especially noticeable in the time jumps and how effortlessly the reader can adjust to them thanks to the change of tone and panels. Needless to say, the art style is spectacular and fits the story perfectly.

I've read the story a few years back and while I enjoyed it a lot, I was left a little bit confused and always wanted to revisit this modern classic. I never thought it will be in a graphic form exactly, but I'm happy this graphic novel found its way to me. I would highly recommend it to everyone, especially if you want to start reading Vonnegut.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this review copy!

I was hoping to use this as a support tool for students who need visuals, more clarification on the text, etc. I don't know if it really works to support readers since I think more information needs to be communicated in this graphic novel.

Hq muito boa. Boa adaptação da história original. Tema pesado, porém necessário. Comovente e com alívios cômicos. O quadrinho engrandece e complementa a história que deu sua origem.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Archaia Publications for sending me this brilliant and unusual novel for review.

If Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, is a biting satire on war, the graphic novel version by Ryan North, wonderfully illustrated by Albert Monteys, is even more striking. The visual images and the irreverent text seem perfect for a graphic novel. The horror of war, one of the very important themes of the novel, is more poignantly expressed in the present format.

It is difficult to adapt a novel from its original form to a graphic novel and always some criticism can be levied that a reader’s favourite episode has been excluded (as we often see in the film adaptation of a novel). But this graphic novel covers all the essential parts of the original novel. North makes the reader’s job easier by providing us with a chronology as well as a dramatis personae. Both are very important as the hero, Billy Pilgrim is “unstuck in time.” He travels through his life without any concession to chronological time. Hence, the chronology provided at the beginning of the novel is extremely useful as well as the dramatis personae as the novel is populated by a host of characters, both minor and major.

Vonnegut had first hand experience of the war and he took two decades to process the reality into fiction. The futility of the Dresden bombing is highlighted. Through stunning visual images, we see Dresden in all its glory and splendour before the bombing and the horrifying picture of it after the event. Vonnegut wryly remarks that he is the only one who benefited from this event through the sale of his book.
In addition to being “unstuck in time,” Billy Pilgrim is an unreliable narrator. He constantly uses phrases like “more or less” and “and so it goes.”

The novel begins in 1944 with Billy Pilgrim tramping through the snow along with his mates. The first time he gets “unstuck” he moves from pre-birth (depicted as red light and a bubbling sound) to post-death (illustrated as violet light and a hum.) The novel moves from 1928 to 1960s, back to 1957 and then even further back to the war with his being captured by the Germans. He is even kidnapped by a flying saucer in 1967 and transported to Tralfamadore where Billy learns the concept of time and the fact that one has to accept life as it is because there is no free will.

The horrors of war are superbly illustrated, especially the long and arduous train journey without any sanitary facilities. In 1948, we see sad images of Billy suffering from PTSD.

Vonnegut is very critical of the young men (“babies”) who have lost their lives in this meaningless war and has aptly subtitled his novel as The Children’s Crusade.

A remarkable graphic novel which does full justice and more to its source.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a literary classic much beloved, but does propose a challenge for a graphic novel format. There are a lot of moving plots and timelines in the novel and that's hard to translate to an illustrated format. This graphic novel was an ambitious undertaking because there is such time travel and inter-dimensional depth to the story. It would work well in conjunction with the written novel, but as a stand alone graphic novel, it does tend to get confusing. Arguably, this book is meant to confuse and cause doubt in the reader; however, in illustrated form, some of the thought provoking and heart wrenching moments of the novel get glossed over (pun intended).

This graphic novel was an ambitious undertaking. I applaud the effort that went into to even begin to imagine how this novel would look as a graphic novel. For what is is, it is great. The art is done well and the color palette reflects the spirit of the novel well. The transitions with time and space are done better than I could have imagined. And some of the gut wrenching war scenes are tastefully shown.

Recommended for: graphic novel fans and history buffs.

I loved this adaptation and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was moving, funny, and satirical all in one as I imagine the actual novel is. Being in a graphic novel format engaged me in a different way than a normal novel and really helped being it to life. I highly recommend reading this, whether you have read the novel or not.

A unique and slightly sci-fi take on WWII and, more specifically, the firebombing of Dresden. The story unfolds itself through the well drawn and colored panels in an appropriately non-linear way.

Well it turns out a comic book is the perfect way to adapt an unadaptable novel. The time jumps work perfectly and are easy to follow. The horrors of war come through delicately. Even an alien abduction doesn't seem too absurd for the story of a man so horrified by war he becomes unstuck in time.

"Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time."

All I can really say about this is that it's an amazing graphic novel adaptation that only adds to the original. Also, it's really dark. So it goes.

I enjoyed this, though not as much as the original book. It would've been difficult for the graphic novel to disappoint anyway, but I did enjoy seeing the story in this format. It makes you think about the story a little differently and it's interesting to see what's left on the page (and what's excluded). Still an intense and deep story, but of course you feel the main character differently in novel form than in graphic novel form. The illustrations are spectacular here too and the dull coloring matches perfectly with the book.

It doesnt support or open after I download the pdf version of it. It's also not showing in my shelf in netgalley and I cant open it to read Please look into the issue and if you can send me the pdf in my mail ID- taniagungunsarkar@gmail.com I cant read the book from here. Please look into the issue

I've never read the original novel, so I thought this book would be a good opportunity to read it in this alternative format. I thoroughly enjoyed this book both for the story and the art!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved the graphics in this graphic novel, the fit the book well and the subtle variations in color and style really and enhanced the mood (and flowed with it). I don't think this adaptation replaces the novel and I don't think it is attempting to, but as a supplement to read along with the novel or to enjoy as additional enrichment after the novel, it is great. Avid readers who are also visual people will get a lot out of both.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.