I think the best way to adapt Kurt Vonnegut's novel is the graphic novel. When I read the original novel, it was difficult for me to finish it and understand its full meaning, however with the graphic novel the message has come to me much clearer. A great adaptation work by Ryan North and drawing by Albert Monteys.

A very solid adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five. I really felt like the graphic novel format made a lot of the more confusing, jumping around in space and time elements of the source novel easier to follow. I really liked how transitions were handled. The art was pretty good. The only major thing that I felt that was missing in this adaptation was a lot of the natural humor of Vonnegut's narration.

I got bored while reading this and had trouble wanting to continue to read this. I felt that the text was a little too small to read at times too.

My preface must include that I haven't read Vonnegut's book, so I can't compare it to anything other than a few summaries I read because the first few pages of the graphic novel had me a little thrown. Then I got into the rhythm, dark humor, artwork, and story and realized what I was reading. I get it.

Will I go and read the book? I might.

The colors and timeline jumps as well as characters and story all interlock to create a strong graphic novel presentation in general, regardless of how true it is to a retelling, though from reading some other reviews and comments that a generally difficult book to retell is in the capable hands of the adaptor. A whole mood is created that I got in to.

I have never read the American classic Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut so when I saw this graphic novel adaptation on @Netgalley I thought it was a good way to discover this book. At first, I wasn’t much into it but then I found it really interesting and I’m sure it would be a great comic to analyse in depth. The art style fits so well with the story; it adds to the tone and feel well the silences. I am not going to analyse the story as this comic is just an adaptation of the novel but from what I read, if you wanted to discover this book but was always scared of doing so because of the themes, this comic is for you. Because Billy, the main character, sees himself a lot in the future, the past and in another world even, I expect the book would be a bit difficult to follow. However, this graphic novel makes it really easy to read and to understand. I recommend it.

I will read anything Ryan North writes.  He is a brilliant, funny, insightful author.  I first came to know his work through The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, which is the best comic book series ever.  Period.  Full stop.  Subsequently, I sought out his other works, like his brilliant Romeo and/or Juliet and his self published book based off of his tumblr B to the F, where he recaps the bizarre novelization of Back to the Future page by page.  So when I saw that NetGalley had an eARC of his to request I jumped at it before I even realized what it was.  It turned out to be a hauntingly evocative graphic novelization of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I have never read any Vonnegut before - I think I had bounced off of his writing style back in high school.  But this graphic novel perfectly distilled the essence of the original book with perfect visuals. A comic is one of the best ways to tell a story about someone unstuck in time, because each panel is a frozen moment that still manages to convey movement.  Ryan North did a fantastic job here.  You should totally check this out!

Did you read Slaughterhouse-5 in high school?

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I admit that I never did, but was very interested when I saw that it was being adapted into a graphic novel!

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Thank you to @boom_studios and @netgalley for the gifted copy of the graphic novel adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and Ryan North.

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Synopsis from the publisher: The first-ever graphic novel adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great anti-war books. An American classic and one of the world’s seminal antiwar books, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is faithfully presented in graphic novel form for the first time from Eisner Award-winning writer Ryan North (How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler) and Eisner Award-nominated artist Albert Monteys (Universe!).

Listen: Billy Pilgrim has…

…read Kilgore Trout

…opened a successful optometry business

…built a loving family

…witnessed the firebombing of Dresden

…traveled to the planet Tralfamadore

…met Kurt Vonnegut

…come unstuck in time.

Billy Pilgrim’s journey is at once a farcical look at the horror and tragedy of war where children are placed on the frontlines and die (so it goes), and a moving examination of what it means to be fallibly human.

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While I can definitely appreciate the style that this story is written in as a way to make the reader feel the disorientation of suffering PTSD, it is not something I am really a fan of as a reader. With that said the graphic novel adaptation I think makes the jarring time hops, multiple side characters, and overall storyline easy to follow with the detailed and labeled graphics. The artwork really does bring the grim horror of war to life and does a great job of connecting the storylines together. This adaptation definitely conveys the importance of Vonnegut’s original story while almost providing a visual outline to the reader. Would highly recommend this who has already read the original or would appreciate a visual reference for characters and storyline connections while reading the original text.

The first-ever graphic novel adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great anti-war books. 
An American classic and one of the world’s seminal antiwar books, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is faithfully presented in graphic novel form for the first time from Eisner Award-winning writer Ryan North and Eisner Award-nominated artist Albert Monteys.
This is so well done. North's adaptation is true to the original and Monteys' illustrations are in a style that is extremely appropriate.

When I heard Boom Studios had decided to make a graphic novel based on Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, I thought: One, that is a fantastic idea, as it would make it a lot easier for the reader to follow all the time jumps; and two, yeah, it's going to be complete madness to put Kurt Vonnegut's masterpiece in pictures.
Fortunately, both Ryan North's adaptation and Albert Monteys' art are simply the best I could imagine for a story like this.

As it happened with the original book, it is really difficult to summarize Slaughterhouse-Five (believe me, I tried, and each time turned up being something completely different), and Ryan North seems to be aware of this as well, because he takes advantage of all the tools a comic book can offer and puts them to good use. In the very beginning, he creates, not only a highly informative introduction but a very accurate timeline that serves as the perfect cheat-page for Billy Pilgrim's extraordinary life.

And once the story starts to unfold in all its levels, the three panel biographies, the use of color, some amazing landscapes and even the tiniest detail in a smile can help the reader's journey along and make them re-read the story two, even three times to catch all the details. Albert Monteys does a fantastic job, as always. 

Highly recommended to both lovers and haters of the original Kurt Vonnegut's story, to those who have never been around Tralfamadorians and to every single person that's not afraid of going through the worm-hole. 

And so it goes.

***ARC by Boom Studios through NetGalley. Very thankful for the opportunity.

So it goes . . .

Ryan North, you’ve done it again. This book is an expertly adapted graphic novel of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s book by the same title. This medium definitely compliments the story, with the jumps in time being easily established by scenery and wardrobe changes while the character’s pose stays the same. 
I really like how this graphic novel was crafted! 

(I was granted early access to this book through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)

I can’t really decide how I feel about this. I loved the art and cannot deny that this is a very hard work to adapt. I love the original novel but I just didn’t feel gripped by this? That being said, I think it’s a great adaptation and will definitely recommend it to patrons who I think may be interested. It just wasn’t personally anything breathtaking for me.

Okay so I will start with this: I have not read Slaughterhouse-Five, the novel. I did, however, read Slaughterhouse-Five, the graphic novel. What you are about to read is not a review on how accurate the translation is between the two mediums, or how faithful the artist/editor was at depicting the story in a new format. What you are about to read is a review of the graphic novel, and the graphic novel alone. 

wHICH I LOVED?????!!!

Slaughterhouse-Five (the novel) has always been on my TBR list, but only because it's considered one of the greatest books of all time. Even though I have recently done many cullings of said list, SH5 has always remained, because I just had a feeling it was one I wanted to read, but didn't feel in any rush or hurry to do so. I've been on a bit of a graphic novel binge lately, so when I saw this was available on Netgalley, I snapped it up, hoping it would bridge the gap between me and Kurt Vonnegut and maybe make me want to read the novel more. I'm so surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The story is perfect for the graphic novel medium. With classics such as SH5, especially sci-fi-ish ones like this, I often struggle with the description and content since it's not a genre I typically delve into. But the graphic novel version does an amazing job at making things accessible to the reader (maybe the novel does too, I don't know). I think almost anyone would enjoy this version, even if they didn't like the original. I really felt like I could connect and feel compassion for Billy Pilgrim, which shocked me as someone who normally doesn't feel that kind of emotion with male protagonists. I feel like this book has opened up a whole new world for me, and I immediately want to go out and buy Kurt Vonnegut's whole bibliography.

I have not read the novel and everyone keeps recommending it so I thought I'd give it a try. I liked the story and illustrations, and recommend this book to everyone.

“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt”

The American BOOM! Studios is teaming up with Ryan North / How to Invent Everything/ for the graphic novel adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s eternal classics Slaughterhouse - Five. 
The story is not in any way lacking because of the format but explores a new original way of telling Billy Pilgrim’s story as the most peculiar and unlikely of all anti-war heroes ever created. 
The narrator’s managed to maintain the typical sharp satire and not-everyone’s -cup- of -tea kind of humor Vonnegut’s famous for, combined with the panels, masterfully crafted by the Spanish Illustrator and comic writer Albert Monteys. 
The color palette used only adds up to the intended tone, while the beautiful and still quirky art is a great addition to the overall enjoyment of the book. 
Recommended to all readers, who are not only fans of the original work, but also to those who like their well-known stories retold with a pinch of originality.
Undoubtedly the format would appeal to readers who are normally reluctant to read classic literature. 
Slaughterhouse-Five will definitely have new fans this fall, after the expected publication of the book in September.

Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, a science fiction classic, is now a bold creative graphic novel.!

This graphic version not only retells the story in brilliantly drawn illustrations but also provides readers with charts  about characters, timelines, and equipment worn into battle by Billy Pilgrim’s wartime buddy. 

Love having the option of providing my students text in different genres and will definitely be adding this to my classroom and school libraries. 

Thank you BOOM studios and Net Galley for the e-ARC.

I volunteered to read this book, through netgalley in exchange, for an honest review. The artwork is very good.  This is a classic work of art. It was written well.  The characters are described well. I did like this book and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Having read the original novel I thought this was going to an impossible conversion into comic. However, the way the transitions between timelines and places are so good that you never feel lost. That is an absolute masterclass on how to do this without making the reading impossible. 
Albert Monteys, well known from his excellent Universe comic, changes quite significantly his style, much more realistic and it reminds me to a mix between Jason Lutes and Paco Roca. It was quite nice as well to see him drawing the Tralfamadore planet and its habitants, what reminded me to the aliens he draw in Universe.
Absolutely recomend it. Even if you have not read the novel I sincerely think you will not feel lost at any time.

Rating 3.5: Turning a classic such as Slaughterhouse-Five into a graphic novel is no easy feat though I do feel that Ryan North has truly done it justice. I will say the unique structure and time skips of the classic are something that I was concerned about within a graphic novel as the lengthy descriptions present in a novel aren't really an option in the form of a graphic novel. However this graphic novel does the novel justice by creating visual guides to help the reader throughout the story and to follow the timeline of the plot. I will say that there were times where I got lost in terms of the plot which was bound to happen in a novel as complicated as Slaughterhouse-Five but was made even more confusing in a medium such as graphic novels. That being said, while I won't say that reading Slaughterhouse-Five in a graphic novel format makes it any easier a pill to swallow, Ryan North does do a fantastic job of translating a difficult novel into a new literary format where it may reach readers and fans who never would have touched the novel otherwise. 

Thank you to Netgalley, Ryan North and Kurt Vonnegut for the advanced read of Slaughterhouse-Five: The Graphic Novel in exchange for this honest review.

***eArc provided by Netgalley & BOOM! Studios in exchange for an honest review***

Slaughterhouse-Five is my favorite novel. It has been since I read it in high school and every single time I've re-read it since, I've always had this reaffirmed. It's a great story. It's rich. It's colorful. It's beyond emotional. 

Ryan North and Albert Monteys have done a properly great job at adapting the novel into a comic and making it come to life, visually. North doesn't change anything in the adaptation process, not really, but it's amazing to see what things he found important and worthy of being the anchor points to tell the story. Adaptation is a hard thing, and they've done it marvelously. 

The art is gorgeous, the Tralfamadorians are wonderfully realized, and the spare (but deeply interesting) use of Vonnegut as a character (something lightly used in the novel) is realized with such authorial intent you'd think that's how it was written in 1969. 

This is a version of Vonnegut's work that is worthy of being in any fan's collection - I know it's going in mine the second it's published.

This is a cleverly made adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five, the time shifts are handled really well and the graphic novel stays true to the tone and plot of the book. You can tell that those involved really cared about the original story and wanted to do it justice. I'd highly reccomed this to fans of the original, even if you're not this is a great way to experience a classic in a contemporary way.