Latest news with #SlaughterhouseFive
Sydney Morning Herald
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Love, loss and found family among America's lower working class
FICTION The Emperor of Gladness Ocean Vuong Jonathan Cape, $34.99 Ocean Vuong achieved fame as a poet before his acclaimed debut novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, andthere's creative continuity in follow-up The Emperor of Gladness. Previously examined motifs undergo complex transformations so that it reads like the literary equivalent of a musical variation. Autobiography is grist to the mill for Vuong. His mother fled Saigon for the US, via the Philippines, when he was an infant. He was raised in Connecticut among an extended family of Vietnamese refugees. He's also openly gay. These experiences inspire but do not define his creative fiction, and if the vaunted lyricism of a particular style of American dreaming marks the opening of The Emperor of Gladness – a flashy choric invocation of a dead-end Connecticut town, its ghosts inviting suicidal 19-year-old, Hai, to escape by jumping off a bridge – it isn't long before sublime cadence and melancholy grandeur yield to a different kind of song. An old woman spies the boy in the rain, and roundly tells him: 'You can't die in front of my house, okay?' This is Grazina – a force to be reckoned with, having survived Hitler and Stalin in Lithuania during WWII, and now in a battle to preserve her independence against the onset of dementia. Hai moves in as an unofficial carer, to keep her out of a nursing home. Grim doesn't begin to cover their living conditions; the house is decrepit and built on a toxic contamination site and Grazina can't afford to feed them. So Hai lands a job (courtesy of his cousin Sony, named after the television manufacturer) at a budget restaurant chain. As Hai's friendship with Grazina grows, he bathes her, comforts her when decades-old war trauma resurfaces, and engages in role-playing historical battles with her to manage her sundowning. He reads Slaughterhouse Five and The Brothers Karamazov from her dead husband's library and, alas, stumbles across an unused bottle of serious painkillers … dire news for someone recovering from opioid addiction. At work, Hai rocks up to every shift pinned to cope with the drudgery. Genuine camaraderie and unlikely dignity are found among the motley crew who work there, despite some extreme weirdness. Long-serving Maureen evades grief in conspiracist thinking – she believes lizard men control the world, she speaks like a drag queen, and she harbours a Star Wars obsession. Manager BJ conducts herself with an almost martial pride – giving inspirational speeches, slipping cake mix into the cornbread to make it more appealing, and training to achieve her dream of making it on the commercial wrestling stage. Dreams are thwarted in this place – except perhaps for Sony; his unaffected desires, whether in crafting origami penguins or in his encyclopedic knowledge of the American Civil War, throw into sharp relief the miseries inflicted on other characters by unattainable ones.
The Age
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Love, loss and found family among America's lower working class
FICTION The Emperor of Gladness Ocean Vuong Jonathan Cape, $34.99 Ocean Vuong achieved fame as a poet before his acclaimed debut novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, andthere's creative continuity in follow-up The Emperor of Gladness. Previously examined motifs undergo complex transformations so that it reads like the literary equivalent of a musical variation. Autobiography is grist to the mill for Vuong. His mother fled Saigon for the US, via the Philippines, when he was an infant. He was raised in Connecticut among an extended family of Vietnamese refugees. He's also openly gay. These experiences inspire but do not define his creative fiction, and if the vaunted lyricism of a particular style of American dreaming marks the opening of The Emperor of Gladness – a flashy choric invocation of a dead-end Connecticut town, its ghosts inviting suicidal 19-year-old, Hai, to escape by jumping off a bridge – it isn't long before sublime cadence and melancholy grandeur yield to a different kind of song. An old woman spies the boy in the rain, and roundly tells him: 'You can't die in front of my house, okay?' This is Grazina – a force to be reckoned with, having survived Hitler and Stalin in Lithuania during WWII, and now in a battle to preserve her independence against the onset of dementia. Hai moves in as an unofficial carer, to keep her out of a nursing home. Grim doesn't begin to cover their living conditions; the house is decrepit and built on a toxic contamination site and Grazina can't afford to feed them. So Hai lands a job (courtesy of his cousin Sony, named after the television manufacturer) at a budget restaurant chain. As Hai's friendship with Grazina grows, he bathes her, comforts her when decades-old war trauma resurfaces, and engages in role-playing historical battles with her to manage her sundowning. He reads Slaughterhouse Five and The Brothers Karamazov from her dead husband's library and, alas, stumbles across an unused bottle of serious painkillers … dire news for someone recovering from opioid addiction. At work, Hai rocks up to every shift pinned to cope with the drudgery. Genuine camaraderie and unlikely dignity are found among the motley crew who work there, despite some extreme weirdness. Long-serving Maureen evades grief in conspiracist thinking – she believes lizard men control the world, she speaks like a drag queen, and she harbours a Star Wars obsession. Manager BJ conducts herself with an almost martial pride – giving inspirational speeches, slipping cake mix into the cornbread to make it more appealing, and training to achieve her dream of making it on the commercial wrestling stage. Dreams are thwarted in this place – except perhaps for Sony; his unaffected desires, whether in crafting origami penguins or in his encyclopedic knowledge of the American Civil War, throw into sharp relief the miseries inflicted on other characters by unattainable ones.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
It's happening here: when book bans hit home
Some titles banned from the St. Francis High School library by the St. Francis school board's right-wing scoring system. Photo courtesy of Ryan Fiereck. If you're a reader, a student of history, or a writer, it's been appalling to watch book bans proliferate across the nation. As The Reformer reported last month, St. Francis High School and Independent School District 15 recently adopted a policy that defers to Booklooks, a website linked to the far-right group Moms for Liberty when evaluating which books to purchase or pull from shelves. The result: Hundreds of books are now either banned outright or will likely be pulled from shelves in the near future; this includes classics like The Handmaid's Tale, The Bluest Eye, and soon, perhaps the likes of 'Night' by Elie Wiesel and 'Slaughterhouse Five' by Kurt Vonnegut and hundreds of others. I graduated from St. Francis High School in 2001. I owe much of my career as a writer — I've written ten books and edited many more — to one of the soon-to-banned books. It was 'Slaughterhouse Five.' It was the year 2000. Frosted tips and Billabong shirts were everywhere. I picked up the book from a spinner in my journalism class. (That teacher was the best teacher I ever had.) I absorbed it, and I proceeded to read every other book by Vonnegut on the spinner, and then Ray Bradbury; soon I was reading Sylvia Plath and Richard Wright. A good book is a springboard to others; the best books lead to a lifetime of a reading. Rather than trot out generic arguments about why book bans are ill-advised, I want to talk about 'Slaughterhouse Five.' It's a fictionalized story, that like all truly great fiction, is, at its heart, true. Vonnegut was a G.I. in World War II. He was in the 106th Infantry Division and was captured during the Battle of the Bulge. To put that another way: The St. Francis school board wants to ban a novel written by an American serviceman and a member of the Greatest Generation. Vonnegut was forced to do manual labor in Dresden, and he survived the firebombing of the city in February 1945 by the Royal Air Force and the U.S. 8th Air Force. The resulting firestorm killed perhaps 35,000 people. 'Slaughterhouse Five' is superficially science fiction, but it's really about the insanity of war, the absurdity of surviving one, and more than anything, PTSD. Vonnegut's writing will last forever because he's irreverent, funny, and accessible, but he's also honest and fundamentally decent. That's why Vonnegut appeals to younger readers; kids aren't just picky eaters; they are picky readers. You have to meet them where they are in terms of attitude, interest, and style. By removing some of the most popular books among young people — classics and newer books alike — the district is depriving students of great books but also the love of reading and learning itself. And as a rule, if you're banning books, you're afraid of ideas: The Soviets were afraid of capitalism, religion, and freedom of speech. The Nazis loathed the Jews, 'inferior' races, modernism in all its forms, and were racist to their core. The Inquisition banned or targeted works by Copernicus and Galileo and Giordano Bruno because they feared their monopoly on cosmology was at an end. The ideas that Booklooks, and by extension, The St. Francis School Board, fear are plain. Even the most cursory look at its anonymous 'ratings' (available on Internet Archive) shows that the books it targets are by or about women, LGBTQ folks, Black and brown folks, or people who have a 'different' point of view. Like any attempt at censorship, it's an exercise in erasure. But I can promise you this: It won't work. As the packed school board meetings, recent student protests, and a pair of newly filed lawsuits against the district make clear, people care about the freedom to read, the First Amendment, and the books and characters they love. This misguided policy has already been an expensive debacle, and the district has made statewide news in the most embarrassing way. If the policy remains in force, it will continue to hurt the district's own students by depriving them of great works of art, and worse, giving them an incomplete, myopic view of the world.
The Guardian
01-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Rightwing groups across US push new bans to limit ‘obscene' books in libraries
Rightwing groups around the US are pushing legislation that would place new limits on what books are allowed in school libraries in a move that critics decry as censorship often focused on LGBTQ+ issues or race or imposing conservative social values. Caught up in the attempts at suppressing books are classics like The Color Purple and Slaughterhouse Five. Opponents of such bills argue that they would actually hinder individual rights because the proponents would be imposing their beliefs on parents and children who do not share their views. Those campaigning for the restrictions say it would prevent children from being exposed to what they label sexually explicit and obscene content and increase parental rights. There are at least 112 proposed state bills concerning school – and public – libraries that seek to expand the definition of what is deemed obscene or 'harmful to minors' and to limit librarian staff's ability to determine which books are in their collections, according to the American Library Association. Judges have already declared some recent laws that banned books unconstitutional and if approved, the other legislation would probably face court challenges. The battle over school libraries represents another front in the culture war over how American society deals with race, sexual orientation and gender identity. 'Parents want to be able to have a certain way of making sure that inappropriate, sexually explicit books aren't being put in school libraries, and if they ever find these books in the school library, that they can easily and smoothly remove those books,' said Mary Elizabeth Castle, director of government relations for Texas Values, a conservative advocacy group that has tried to ban books that they describe as pornography and has pushed for creationism to be taught alongside evolution. While there have always been efforts to censor books, there has been a surge in recent years in legislation that concerns material in libraries. In 2014, there were 183 titles targeted for removal from public and school libraries; in 2023, there were 4,240, according to the American Library Association (ALA), which also states that it is not a complete list. 'There has been a coordinated effort by' groups like Moms for Liberty that 'because of their personal, political, moral or religious beliefs don't want young people to be reading certain books, and they want the publicly-funded schools and publicly funded libraries to reflect their views', said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the library association's office for intellectual freedom. In Texas, there are at least 31 bills – the most of any state – that would impair libraries ability to 'acquire and provide diverse materials, resources and programming', according to the library association. During the 2023-24 school year, there were 538 book bans in Texas, which trailed only Florida and Iowa, according to PEN America, a group dedicated to promoting free expression. Texas state lawmakers are now considering senate bill 13, which would require that local school boards – rather than librarians – approve all books added or removed from school libraries. They would have to establish a local advisory council, comprised mostly of parents or students in the district, that would recommend which books should be in the school catalog. And they would not be allowed to have 'indecent' or 'profane' content, including books with 'grossly offensive language'. Christin Bentley, a member of the state Republican executive committee who chairs a subcommittee, stop sexualizing Texas kids, has advocated for the senate bill because she is concerned about 'sexually explicit [books] and books that tell kids to go look at porn online', she said. 'It's sexually grooming children,' said Bentley, a mother of two who lives near Tyler in the north-eastern part of the state. Texas districts have also banned books such as Beloved and The Handmaid's Tale, along with newer novels like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Underground Railroad, according to the Dallas Observer. Bentley said she was most concerned about books like Blue Is the Warmest Color and A Game of Thrones graphic novel because of their sexually explicit content. 'A lot of the books that are sexually explicit or very indecent and profane, they are part of a genre called young adult, and that's relatively new,' Bentley said. While supporters of such legislation argue that parents need greater control over what their children are exposed to in schools, librarians already welcome parent input, according to Lucy Podmore, a librarian and former chair of the Texas Association of School Librarians. 'If a parent has a concern about their specific child's reading options, we have always been willing to have those conversations with parents to make sure that we tailor their reading options to whatever it is that the parents have decided,' Podmore said. Proponents of legislation to ban certain books in schools argue that students who want to read banned books can still obtain them in a library or store. But Carolyn Foote, a retired librarian in Texas, said there are towns throughout the state that do not have a bookstore or public library. 'Sometimes the school library is just the center for academic pursuits,' said Foote, who along with other librarians founded a group, Texas FReadom Fighters. 'Also, it assumes a certain amount of privilege that everyone has money and can just go to the bookstore.' Foote spent 29 years as a librarian and said she has experienced other 'waves of censorship', but she said the scale of those did not compare to the last few years. The Texas senate passed the bill on 19 March, and it now goes before the state house. Part of the bill could violate the first amendment's right to freedom of speech and expression, according to Catherine Ross, a professor of constitutional law at George Washington University. Determining what books are 'harmful' is 'incredibly subjective, and it would potentially sweep in much too much material that is protected, even for students in grades K through 12', Ross said. If the bill becomes law, librarians would also have a harder time adding books, and it would require a significant time commitment from volunteers who serve on the advisory committee to review all new books, Podmore said. But banning books because some parents think they are obscene means that other students can no longer access them in schools. 'If you don't want your child to read a book, they don't have to read it, but you're not allowed to tell every child in my campus that they can't read this book because you don't believe in it,' said Margarita Longoria, a Texas school librarian.
Buzz Feed
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
"It Made Me More Resilient And Made Life Seem Less Dire" – 11 Books That Changed People's Perspective On Life
Recently, u/UDSHDW asked r/booksuggestions, "What's a book that changed your perspective on life?" And we thought we'd share some of these recommendations. Sony Pictures Releasing 1. When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi Vintage "It gave me the courage to love despite the fear of losing." – Late-Elderberry5021 About the book: This life-affirming book chronicles the life of Paul Kalanithi, from being medical student, questioning how to live a meaningful life, to neurosurgeon, to becoming a father, and to being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. He discusses what it's like to face your own morality, and the relationship between doctor and patient, from someone who was both. 2. The Courage To Be Disliked – Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi Allen & Unwin "We have more control over our lives than we realise." – CountryAromatic About the book: This book, framed as a conversation between and their student, is a mindset-changing book that discusses the freedom of self-validation and how to achieve it. Including boundary-setting and fighting the urge to please others, this book reveals how lasting peace happiness can be something generated individually. 3. Parasite Rex – Carl Zimmer Simon & Schuster Ltd "A fascinatingly gross book about parasites. There's so little we know about them. Every living thing functions as its own little world. And even some parasites have parasites. It freaks me out and I can't stop thinking about it." – CityRhymez About the book: This book is a deep dive into the minuscule, marvellous, and sometimes mortifying world of parasites. We discover how they operate, survive, and travel, and the major impact they hold over the world around us. 4. A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson Crown Publishing Group (NY) "It's a statistical anomaly that we're even here, and we are such a small part of the history of the universe that it made me realise so many little things are really insignificant in the grand scheme of things." – redog92 About the book: This is an engaging, fun, and informative scientific look back through history that teaches us how we know things as much as what we know. This book covers a whole lot, from the Big Bang, all the way through the formation of civilisation and scientific discovery itself. 5. Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut "It was helpful for me as a teenager, right in the midst of that adolescent angst. It was a comfort, a widening of perspective. It made me more resilient and made life seem less dire, the weight of pressure to escape my circumstances seemed lighter and the future less loaded." – Junimo-Crossing About the book: This American classic anti-war novel follows the life of Billy Pilgrim, who draftee who is caught up in the firebombing of Dresden. Slaughterhouse Five combines historical and science fiction to recount what Vonnegut himself experienced as a prisoner of war. 6. Turtles All the Way Down – John Green Penguin "This book has changed my life, because I don't think people consider mental illness in the correct way; they may not be intentionally disrespectful, but I feel that many are simply just misunderstanding. Turtles represents how people should perceive those that think differently than others in a more accurate manner, in this case OCD. And as someone who was recently diagnosed with this exact disorder, the book has really opened up my mind to the reality of mental illness. It helps when the author also has OCD." – Nerdfighter333 About the books: Turtles All the Way Down follows Azra Holmes, as she and her best friend Daisy endeavour to solve disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett. The story is about their pursuit, their friendship, and how Azra is attempting to life and relationships whilst managing the spiral of her own thoughts. 7. Stoner – John Williams Vintage Classics "It really put into perspective that even what seems to be a mundane life can still make a story worth telling." – Smooth_Solid_6345 About the book: This delicately sad novel tells the story of William Stoner, a professor who's life is marred by a series of setbacks and disappointments in both his professional and personal life. What comes across is Stoner's quiet perseverance in the face of his continuous challenges. 8. Return to the Brain of Eden – Tony Wright Inner Traditions "I think about it every day. It is now embedded in the way I see the world." – saltedhumanity About the book: This book takes us, and specifically our brains, back to a time before hierarchical societies, and suggests that our cognitive functions were more peaceful and fundamentally different when humans lived more harmoniously with nature. 9. The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Rubin Canongate Books "Rick Rubin's book on creativity is outstanding. As a life long artist, so much of this work resonated with me. Also, it is very well written." – JeffCrossSF About the book: This is an inspection of creativity itself, Rubin sees creativity as its own force, existing in everyone and affecting the way we interact with the world around us. It suggests leaning into our creative, vulnerable, and instinctual processes. 10. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari – Robin Sharma Harper Thorsons "I wouldn't say it changed my life. It does make me think of some things in life differently. I highly recommend it." – ryrhino00 About the book: This book tells the story of Julian Mantle, who, after a life-altering incident, sets out of an mission to find enlightenment. His journey takes him to India, and teaches him lessons of balance, inner-peace, and finding purpose in his life. 11. The Road – Cormac McCarthy Picador "The stark portrayal of survival and the bond between father and son made me appreciate the little things in life and the importance of human connection." – darklightedge
