I am really impressed by this book so far Vonnegut's Dry Humor and word-play endlessly amuses me. It's honestly one of the funnier books I've read, and he seems much more intelligent than me often leaving me to pause in between breaks simply thinking about the implications of what he just said.
I also particularly enjoy the way hes presenting the anti-war novel rather than using emotionally manipulative mean to show us the horrors of war he simply shows us war for what it really is and lets the horrors sink in this is so effective. It allows readers to come to their own conclusions but Vonnegut is able to subtly nudge them towards the ideas he wants, and sometimes not so subtlety using humor to mask the fact that he has effectively told us how he thinks and wants us to think. In particular his description of Bobby's wife the way in which he describes her is quite comical, yet allows no room for free thought you're going to come away thinking shes a a fat slob no matter what. But that idea is essential to the thought experiment that is the rest of the story, and the person bobby is.
The moment I began having such thought s was the moment when the Germans stumble across the fighting Americans in the clearing. Vonnegut immediately dispels your image of them as Nazis by humanizing the dog and eventually the rest of the squad. Moments like this are truly the strentgth in this book and I look forward to reading on
"Humanizing the dog" is a great phrase--he makes the dog be a *dog* in terms of what he is to people; dogs are very much a reflection of their role in human life, and Vonnegut even gives us a bit of this dog's biography. He, too, is "new to war"; he's "playing a game," and he wants to please the humans, as dogs do.
ReplyDeleteVonnegut is one of the great dog-writers: I love the simple way he has Billy taking simple pleasure in his dog, Spot, or Vonnegut himself in chapter 1 ("I let him know I like him. And he lets me know he likes me"). People are fickle and often brutal and stupid, in Vonnegut's world; but dogs are a ray of hope.