If I rated the original format of Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) a 4 star, I would rate this one a 4.5. If you don’t know much about the content of the novel, the main character is Billy Pilgrim, who time travels against his free will, back and forth through different moments of his life. Billy is an imperfect character that battles war-related depression and mental issues, adultery, lack of drive or care, and more. The story itself is an anti-war message in that it shares the horrors of the Bombing of Dresden in WWII and the awful treatment of humans during war. The graphic novel version stays true to the main themes, major events, and characters of the novel. With the use of visual imagery, the graphic novel format allows the reader to connect on a different level and immerse themselves in the wild ride of Billy’s time travel.

Themes included in this story are mental illness, war trauma, war, death, suffering, and free will (one could tie in religion here), among others. The graphic novel offers readers the opportunity to explore so much of human suffering and emotion.

“So it goes.”

Świetnie oddaje humor Kurta i ducha oryginalnej powieści. Polecam!

An absolutely fantastic adaptation! Bravo!

Vonnegut's novels are peppered with important but subtle tonal shifts that make them notoriously challenging to adapt, but Ryan North and Albert Monteys have absolutely triumphed with their take on his classic Slaughterhouse-Five.

The original Slaughterhouse-Five packed a punch the first time I read it, leaving me slightly stunned and awed afterwards by all the devastation and loss and love and the strangely fitting surreal sci-fi elements. The adaptation masterfully captures all of the elements of the original and adds a new layer of meta self-awareness that is probably not just beneficial for understanding by readers unfamiliar with Vonnegut, but essential to maintaining a feeling of the story's completeness in this new format.

Many very good graphic novels adaptations can't help but omit key pieces that feel glaring to fans familiar with the original, but I didn't have this problem with North and Monteys' handling of Slaughterhouse-Five. The visuals and meta narrative are employed cleverly to add layers to things you might not even have picked up in the original. Monteys' also employs very smart use of colour to shift between eras and settings so you don't feel disoriented by following a character who's "unstuck in time."

I can't say enough about how perfect this reading experience was. It sets a high bar for graphic novel adaptations in general, and as a Vonnegut fan I can only hope that it might lead to more courageous and clever attempts to adapt his other "unadaptable" novels.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
This was a great adaptation of a notoriously difficult-to-show story. I was pretty impressed. Shouldn't have been, I love Ryan North. But this story just worked well in this format. This will be a great introduction to a modern classic; I think it will be great for libraries.

Clever and well executed. The new medium is vivid in a different way, thereby rendering it more difficult and depressing (for me) than the original.