Slaughterhouse-Five: The Graphic Novel Hardcover – Illustrated, September 15, 2020

Slaughter House Five a.k.a The Children's Crusade is a very poignant story no matter the format.This graphic novel does the story proud.The illustrations perfectly match the mood of the story.Im quite the fan of graphic novels.At times graphic novels can add an unique point of view to the story and this graphic does it so well.Please be advised that this story deals with extremely mature content.Scenes of War,death and nudity are in this.It also contains profanity.this graphic novel is extremely emotionally moving,well written and one of the most down right blunt stories ever.

This is the pinnacle of what a Graphic Novel adaptation can be. I have never read the original, yet the fact that this story, adapted in graphic novel format, hits as hard as it does must be an achievement worth as much praise for Ryan North and Albert Monteys, as for Kurt Vonnegut. If you want to understand why people love Vonnegut but prefer reading graphic novels, you will not hurt yourself by reading this story.In review of Vonnegut’s story aside from its format, it is profoundly powerful with a protagonist in Billy Pilgrimin, significant as an individual only in that he is the perfect observer of an absurdly somber existence. It hit as hard as when I read Catcher in the Rye when I was young, or like the first time I watched To Kill a Mockingbird on TV. Whether relayed on film, or theater, book or through a graphic novel, at heart is the STORY, and this may be the best one I’ve ever read. Subjective of course, but if you love literature and art, and if you’ve been burned before by some lousy graphic interpretations of classics before, have no fear with this one. The art is perfect for this, it is as creative and zany as the story. This book is absolutely incredible. This is a graphic novel masterpiece.

I really love the art in this, and how they’ve portrayed a lot of elements of the original Slaughterhouse V. How the aliens interpret time is shown in a rather clever way, and there’s a few moments in the from half of the book that simply hit harder in comic form.

Maybe Ryan North, who scripted the graphic novel adaptation to "Slaughterhouse-Five," should be credited with reimagining classics for the later generations. The original, penned by Kurt Vonnegut about his experiences in World War II, was first published in 1969 when Iggy Popp was just getting started (or maybe inspired) and the flower power stickers on the random VW were beginning to wear. It must have blown collective minds. It came to my attention in 1980 and took me several years to recover from. I read and reread passages as North must have when trying to whittle down an already tight novel into narrative and thought bubbles in a beautiful and otherworldly illustrated world created by artist Albert Monteys. Again, this version, which debuted in November 2020, took me back into the tale of Billy Pilgrim, who observes so much darkness the Tralfamadorians thought him perfect to pluck and plunk into their zoo many millions of miles and galaxies distant. "So it goes" is a refrain widely used throughout the novel. It incorporates the somewhat incomprehensible, at least to human reflection, that everything has happened and always will. Those from Tralfamadore speak with their minds and observe time all at once. They passed this trait along to Pilgrim, who bounces through his life an episode at a time. He knows when things will happen. When he dies. When he returns to the alien planet. When he sets foot in Dresden, Germany after the Allies bombed it beyond recognition and killed about 25,000 people. Pilgrim doesn't exist as the regular protagonist. He's an observer. He rarely reacts. When he does, he's usually discounted. He's a metaphor. He's a symbol. He's nobody. Like the novel, I worked my way through North and Monteys' creation. I participated in a Zoom call they did with the Junior Library Guild. They made the story relevant. Kids at my library will read it. Hopefully they'll ask me about it. Our 12th-grade English teacher just made them read 1984. Those who finished it now know what it means to finally love Big Brother. Hopefully, some of them will learn that it means to understand the detachment Billy Pilgrim had for the horrors of war.

My son (11th grade) was assigned the novel. When I went to order it, I saw this graphic novel. The story is non-chronological and swings between reality and not: "...somewhat in the telegraphic schizophrenic manner of tales..." is very true. Having read the graphic novel, I jumped to the book immediately afterwards and enjoyed it much more than I believe I would have not knowing the skeleton tale told through the illustrations. I recommended my son read the graphic novel to bridge understanding - I have yet to see if he takes that advice... I highly recommend the graphic novel!!