Reading this graphic novel reminds me just how masterful, funny, mordant, and humane Kurt Vonnegut's writing was. Ryan North does a great job adapting the novel and keeping the tone pitch perfect (poo-tee-weet) and Albert Monteys' art is both cartoonish and realistic at the same time (matching the tone of the novel perfectly). This is a novel about the cruelty of man, the absurdity of war, the unceasing cruelty of time, and about how utterly inadequate the strategy of focusing on the good times really is. I need to go back and re-read all of Vonnegut asap.

In 1969, Kurt Vonnegut released what would become a world renowned, critically acclaimed science fiction, anti-war novel: Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade.

Released during the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's tale follows a man named Billy Pilgrim an American soldier fighting in World War II. Pilgrim experiences firsthand the horrors and travesties of war; the repercussions of which echo through time.

The novel was nominated for a number of literary awards in 1970 but was ultimately passed up. The literary community then rallied behind this book, making it a classic with a cult following. Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the few early novels that explore science-fiction in such a brazen manner. The book also is heavily laden with satire, rife with conceit, and a dizzying time paradox.

The graphic novel adaptation by Ryan North and Albert Monteys takes the brilliant literary writing of Vonnegut and transforms it into a livable experience, bringing to life not just the characters but the experience of Billy Pilgrim. It is said that Pilgrim becomes, "unstuck in time," in which he seems to travel back and forth in time.

What makes this time travel so inventive and unique is that Pilgrim doesn't just travel one way, he can travel both ways. This makes time seem less like a linear form of travel and more rounded, as though one's mind can exist in multiple forms, at multiple life stages, all simultaneously. This gives Pilgrim insight into war as it is occuring, post-war, and everything in between. Pilgrim even experiences war from the perspective of a species that has no war and finds earthlings a curious if vapid species.

I enjoyed the classic version, yes, but this version is magnifico (*Italian chef kiss*). Adapting this book into a graphic novel could have gone one of two ways: either a half-hazard rendition of the original masterpiece with pictures added, or a masterful retelling with images to accompany and further the storyline. With a five star rating I am sure you can tell which one it was.

What North and Monteys accomplish is less a regurgitation of Vonnegut's book, and more of a beautifully remastered and colorized black and white film. There is an effect that is created by having a graphic novel with a non-linear timeline be told in the form of consecutive pages, each turn revealing more of the story while also not always moving forward in the plotline.

I am not sure if this was intended, but there are certain transitions in which I get this feeling that the design is done in such a way that it reflects a soldiers PTSD. This is something that many have, for years, used as base for why war is so terrible. The mental implications are almost more harmful to society than the war itself. It is also one of the hardest disorders to explain and depict to others - something which North and Monteys do rather flawlessly.

There is a part in this graphic novel that I think is an allegory for PTSD. It is the night before the Dresden massacre and Pilgrim is in an underground meat locker after hearing an air raid siren. He is just sitting there against the wall, miserable, worn out. He turns to the person sitting next to him asking, "What are we going to do with you?" Pilgrim closes his eyes, weary, and says, "I don't know."

When he blinks his eyes back open he is in the car with his daughter. This a resumption of a scene that started 27 pages prior with the same weary, worn out, tired Pilgrim. This type of disassociation is commonly seen in soldiers with PTSD where they find themselves somewhere else, in a different time, and the merging of the past and present is almost seamless.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read the original version. It is an absolute joy to put images to such a visionary tale.

This was a fantastic adaptation of the classic novel. I felt like the graphic novel medium really lended itself well to the story - especially the time jumps. I love all the charts showing the timelines, the equipment that Billy wears into battle, and even the characters. It made it so much easier to keep track of everything. I felt much less confused reading this version compared to the original. Overall, even if you have read the original I think this is a great way to refresh yourself. If you've never read the original, this is a great place to start! Either way I would highly recommend checking it out.

This was an interesting read for me. The story started off a bit slow, but got going once this man began his peculiar journey through time. He also meet a strange race of aliens who showed him all kinds of things. While this tale moves along, this man finds out some shocking truths. Once this tale comes to a close, this man has a brand new perspective on life in general. This may not be a graphic novel for everyone, but some readers will enjoy it.

A worthwhile adaptation of a classic novel. Ryan North does an admirable job of adapting the text to a comics format. The art is serviceable with the standout aspect being the coloring and shading which help set the tone for each page. The story is largely unchanged except that Kilgore Trout has now stooped so low as to write for comics instead of just short stories. Great for fans of the book or as a gateway for those who haven't read any Vonnegut.

Adapting a work of art from one medium to another is not exactly a piece of cake, thankfully this one is really successful.


The themes of the original haven't been altered, the art is an excellent addition that doesn't take away from its prose. Highly recommend for high school or college literature classes.

Thanks NetGalley for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t think it would be possible to turn Slaughterhouse-Five into a graphic novel but this was the best novel to graphic novel adaptation I’ve ever read! I’ve been a Ryan North fan for years and this surpasses his other works. I was impressed by how comprehensive this novel was. I was also surprised that, and this may be blasphemous: the graphic novel was easier to follow than the novel itself.

The art style was pleasing, especially the cover which appeals to my love of minimalist graphic cover pages. I think the cover perfectly summarizes the story and can be very much used to judge the content of the book.

A fantastic format for this classic novel, the visual medium is great for the back and forth time skipping and for leading into it from one panel to the next artistically. It honestly works better in this format than written

This is a great breakdown of the classic book.
I always enjoy reading the graphic novel version of books I tried to read but could not get into.
This is an easier read than the classic book.
The main character is in a war where he remembers his life as he experiences war.

I received an advanced copy of this graphic novel from NetGalley for an honest review.

This graphic novel is a great adaptation of the original book that I read years ago. The art makes the story come alive. I recommend that you read the original book before or after you read this graphic novel. You will enjoy both.

This excellent version of Slaughterhouse Five house will be a perfect read for those who love the original text and want to see it visually.
However, it will be even more important for those who struggle with the text but want to understand the story. A look at war, post-traumatic stress, life, and death Kurt would be pleased.

*
See that asterisk* above? That’s the first thing I used to draw on the board to introduce Kurt Vonnegut to my seniors. I used to do the whole English teacher thing where we’d read Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” and I’d pour it on thick about theme, and symbolism and author’s intent, and yada, yada, yada. Then after all of that explication, I’d draw that asterisk and say: “But then again, this is the same guy who drew a butthole at the beginning of one of his most popular novels, so who knows?” I wanted my kids to see that a writer could be brilliant and worthy of years of analysis as well as being a goof who would do a take directly at the camera and say “It ain’t that serious, y’all.”

This duality is what makes Vonnegut so important, and it’s this duality that Slaughterhouse-Five: a Graphic Novel Adaptation taps into so masterfully. Adapted by Ryan North with Albert Monteys doing yeoman’s work on pencils, colors, and lettering, this adaptation near perfectly encapsulates the spirit and voice of the original.


In case you haven’t read either iteration, Slaughterhouse-Five is a rare bird in that it combines elements of satire, sci-fi and semi-autobiography to tell the story of fictional Billy Pilgrim, a prisoner of war who, along with the decidedly non-fictional Vonnegut, survived the Allied forces bombing of Dresden that resulted in the deaths of over 25,000 people. But it’s more than that. It’s also a story about time travel, alien abduction, and the permanent impermanence of life.

It’s this last bit that is particularly suited for the comics medium. Time travel in fiction is often convoluted with rules that rarely make sense or leave the plot riddled with plot holes. Here, the visual representation of Billy Pilgrim’s life as explained by the Tralfamadorians is both a masterful reproduction of Vonnegut’s vision as well as evidence that comics is the perfect medium for this book.


Ryan North is the perfect pick to adapt the text with his flair for humor and absurdity, and Monteys’ art manages to visually embody the clean and simple syntax of Vonnegut’s style without losing anything. In fact, something about how this team’s adaptation allows for more of a connection with the characters. In many of Vonnegut’s stories, I find the reading experience to be almost like looking at bacteria in a petri dish. They are infinitely interesting bacteria, but bacteria nonetheless; I am interested in their stories, but I am observing them from a distance rather than being personally invested. In this version, Monteys humanizes even the most hateful of characters which grounds the text and gives the reader something to grab onto in a story that is easy to get lost in.

The visual medium also serves to hammer home the anti-war mission of the book. The depiction of war is without heroes, and absent of all glory. This is where the book and original text is most synergistically aligned: our time here is both infinite and fleeting and yet we spend our time inflicting misery on one another. So it goes.

THE VERDICT…
It’s for all the reasons above that I would definitely recommend this for the classroom and for readers in general. There are some sexual situations, language, and implied nudity, but overall, if you would teach with the original text, you should be fine here. The only problem with this book is it makes me want to read all of Vonnegut’s books as graphic novels now.

This is an easy 10/10.

I’ve had a few days to compose myself and I’m ready to actually review this graphic novel. I read Slaughterhouse Five years ago and I’d be lying if I said I remember too much about it beyond there being a human zoo and a terrible war. But that seriously does seem to sum this up, but the meaning and heartbreak is so much more.

Poor Billy’s life is not great and while he experienced a whole hell of a lot of shit, he also experienced some seriously amazing stuff too. The main focus for the majority of the story is the war, how awful it was, and how awful it still is. Billy’s part in it is not substantial besides being a prisoner and having to see so many vicious things happen to people around him.

What makes his story unique is that he becomes “unstuck” from the time he’s in and begins to experience his life jumping from one moment in his life to another. It’s fascinating and confusing to see him go through this. Things get even more interesting when he gets abducted by aliens.

Anyway, all of that really isn’t even the point. Billy could be lying in a hospital bed in a coma for all the reader really knows or believes, but you start to feel just how disjointed a person can be after having the horrific experiences that Billy had. Not even just with the war, but life in general. It almost feels like there is no point to his whole life, which is absolutely heartbreaking. I feel like it goes from, what’s the point of sending these children to fight these wars, what’s the point of wars, what’s the point of life at all. Of course, that’s just how I felt while reading this.

So while I very much did enjoy this graphic novel, it is much more serious and depressing than I do recall. It does bring to life the “unsticking” of Billy’s life, which is interesting. I recommend this to those who have read Slaughterhouse Five in its original form because this can bring a new way to view the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Archaia for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Amazon review pending approval.

I read the original many years ago. I'm trying to expand the reading experience for my grandson who reads graphic novels at the speed of light. He was not positive when I first approached him about reading this book. But, after a little coaxing, he read, then reread, the book, enjoying every page. He said " If you can find more like that, I'll read them." That is very high praise indeed for a teen.

Slaughterhouse Five is one of my favourite books and so I was really intrigued to see how it translated into the graphic novel format. This wonderful book did not disappoint and I thought that the artwork style really captured the essence of the narrative. Slaughterhouse Five is ostensibly a novel about war, focusing on Billy Pilgrim, who finds himself a prisoner of war in Dresden during the firebombing in 1945. What I love so much about the book is the way it jumps around in time, giving the reader a way to experience the madness of war themselves through the dislocation and confusion caused in the narrative jumps. The graphic novel accomplishes this really well, both by jumping around in time in the same way of the novel but also by varying the art style. I loved the art style for Billy and the other characters and overall, thought this was both a great adaptation of the original work and also a really fun way for new readers to discover this fantastic story.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is the first ever graphic novel interpretation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. Created by Ryan North and Albert Monteys, this adaptation makes the original work easily accessible while retaining the conceptual abstractions that made the book a classic. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a starting place in Vonnegut’s work. To those looking specifically for their next graphic novel, I would say this was an enjoyable read but the focus was more on telling the story than on pushing the boundaries artistically.
If this sounds like something you would enjoy it is officially available for purchase tomorrow!
Thank you to @netgalley and @boom_studios for the galley!

This book was given to me by the publishers via netgalley, all opinions are mine.

After reading this book i can agree that if all classics were adapted into graphic novels, maybe people would read more of it.

Slaughterhouse-five is an anti war book that's loosely based on the author's life. It follows young Billy Pilgrim who is a prisoner of war and also an alien abducted human who becomes unstuck in time. This Unstuck in time( ness) allows him to see his life at various points in time.

This book is brilliant. And i think it was adapted very well, old fans of Slaughterhouse five would love it and new fans would find it easily digestible with wonderful art. The art is stunning and it depicted the time of the book well and the unstuck in time ( ness).

I've been meaning to read Kurt Vonnegut's work for some time, and I thought this graphic novel adaptation would be the perfect opportunity.

This book is about a war, it's repercussions and aliens. It seemed like a weird combination, but it works. There is time traveling involved, which I enjoy, and I really liked how the aliens were incorporated into the story. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.

In terms of the graphic novel, the colors used were spot on the environment and made it easy to distinguish the environments. Everything was cohesive.

So it goes.

This is my second book to graphic novel adaptation, my first being Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was so very complete and amazing. This graphic novel was a bit brief at times, I would compare my copy of the book to the comic so I could see what parts were either left out or skimmed over. The story is there to a certain extent just not as good as the book in my opinion. The comic does follow in the same series of events as the original novel. The illustrations are very good but a tad cartoony for my tastes, and the coloring is very good as well. I liked the lay out of the frames but I think the lettering could have been a bit larger, at least in my eBook ARC, maybe this could be different if you're reading the graphic novel.

A great adaptation of a beloved work. North took the source material and make a lovely structure for a brilliant re imaging. Hope to see more Vonnegut graphics in the future!!