So it goes.
Vonnegut’s anti-war masterpiece is told in a fractured, non-linear style that mirrors the psychological state of Billy Pilgrim, who has become “unstuck in time.” He experiences his life out of order: his childhood, his time as a prisoner of war in Dresden, his abduction by aliens from Tralfamadore, and his mundane post-war existence as an optometrist.
The novel is simultaneously about everything and nothing. It’s about the firebombing of Dresden—which Vonnegut survived—but refuses to describe it in conventional terms. It’s about trauma, but treats it with darkly comic detachment. It’s about death, but views it from a perspective where death is just another moment, no more significant than any other.
“So it goes” becomes the book’s refrain, appearing after every mention of death. It’s fatalistic, yes, but also oddly comforting. A shrug in the face of the incomprehensible.
This is the rare book that makes you laugh, breaks your heart, and changes how you see the world—all in under 200 pages.