Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegutby Kurt Vonnegut
Shares rank 40 of 122 novels by recommenders
People recommend it for its self-referential opening and its fictional take on fatalistic thinking about time, and it is widely assigned as required reading.
People recommend it for its self-referential opening and its fictional take on fatalistic thinking about time, and it is widely assigned as required reading.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Self-referential, effective opening
“there's something effective about the way the book begins, and continually references other parts of itself”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “Judge a book by its first pages” Commonly assigned required reading
“I have to thank an English teacher who had us read Slaughterhouse-Five for steering me clear”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “SlutCon” “Slaughterhouse-Five is required reading.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “The most banned books in U.S. schools” Fictional take on block-universe thinking
“my favorite fictional take on this kind of thinking is still Slaughterhouse-Five”
Comment from 22 Mar 2026 in “Welcome to the Block Universe”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Poor cover quality
“kinda shitty in terms of cover quality and whatnot”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “The enshittification of Amazon paperback books”
Other novels people recommend
The four most recommended other novels, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crime and Punishmentby Fyodor Dostoevsky | 39 | 9 | 81% | 6 | — | Approved |
| The Brothers Karamazovby Fyodor Dostoevsky | 28 | 8 | 78% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Infinite Jestby David Foster Wallace | 26 | 5 | 84% | 9 | 10 yrs6 owners | Approved |
| The Great Gatsbyby F. Scott Fitzgerald | 24 | 9 | 73% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Slaughterhouse-Fiveby Kurt VonnegutThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I have to thank an English teacher who had us read Slaughterhouse-Five for steering me clear”
“there's something effective about the way the book begins, and continually references other parts of itself”
“my favorite fictional take on this kind of thinking is still Slaughterhouse-Five”
“kinda shitty in terms of cover quality and whatnot”
“Slaughterhouse-Five is required reading.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.