Slaughterhouse number five is another of those books that you can't forget.

And
it is not because of the content it contains, at least not only because of it. Mainly
because of the form of communication used. For this reason, some will be a
delight with an innovative approach, while others will be disgusted with
lightness and non-obviousness.

Slaughterhouse number 5 starts as an autobiography. Book tells the story of

Billy Pilgrim, a private man, a scout in the US army. During the war, he goes to
German captivity in a labor camp from which he is transported to Dresden and,
together with other prisoners, closed in the basement of the title slaughterhouse
number 5, soon to survive the leveling of this city with the bombing. The war in
this book is portrayed comically. Although the author talks about the war, he
constantly jumps between different periods of the hero's life. At one time there is
a description of childhood, at other moments before the war, moments after the
war, those from a hospital stay. As well as the later ones when he became an
ophthalmologist, he had his own workshop, got married, and had children. He
survived an aviation accident and later his wife died. Such jumping may seem
chaotic, but thanks to showing the hero's whole life we can understand what is
wrong with this war. It's easy to identify with the hero because he is portrayed as
an ordinary person who could be our neighbor or friend. War does not please
him, he is lost all the time. Other people mock him, he never knows what will
happen to him.

However, what makes this story unique is the alternative reality created by the
author in which aliens from the planet Tralfamadoria kidnap Bill, and then give
him the ability to move freely in time to selected fragments of his life. Pilgrim
becomes an exhibit in the space zoo, where he relives episodes from his life

The book contains many humorous elements, however, it is sad humor. The
author shows his perspective, a picture of a brutal war in which there is no
importance or pathos. It just happens.