Same, But Different

Slaughterhouse-Five manages to leave quite a bit to the imagination of the reader, an impressive feat with such a well-defined novel. Even though Vonnegut has given clear explanations of the events of the novel, the various unique aspects of the genius storytelling results in a story that varies wildly with interpretation. For me it is an interesting reversal of the effect of the novel. In Ragtime, the events were hard fact as defined by the book, but the author's meaning was left up to the interpretation of the reader. In Mumbo Jumbo, although the events were rather messy, you can't say that the Mu'tafikah didn't repatriate cultural relics or that Osiris wasn't chopped up into 13 pieces by Set. Even though you could have many different interpretations of the novel's meaning, you can't argue with the novel's facts. In both cases you can submerge yourself into a state of slight disbelief to make the plot seem believable, even perhaps just assuming that the novel takes place in a parallel universe where the entire book is hard fact, not a merger of history and fact as we had analyzed them. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut doesn't leave much wiggle room for interpretation.

So I held up my right hand and I made her a promise. “Mary,” I said, “I don’t think this book is ever going to be finished. I must have written five thousand pages by now, and thrown them all away. If I ever do finish it, though, I give you my word of honor: there won’t be a part for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne.
“I tell you what,” I said, “I’ll call it The Children’s Crusade.”
She was my friend after that. (Chapter 1)

Right off the bat, right in the first chapter, he reveals his outline and climax to the reader, completely different from the standard set by any classical novel. There should be no doubt in the readers mind as to the overarching goal of the book, pointing towards the futility and terror of destruction and war. The plot, on the other hand, can be viewed in many different lights. Depending on how you interpret the depiction of the characters, mainly Billy Pilgrim, the plot of the story can become completely different. For example, one view is that the entire novel is a autobiographical retelling altered by the delusions of brain injury or old age. Another possibility is to take the novel true to its word and accept everything for a total truth, resulting in a completely different read and perception of the characters. Either way, the reader has to mold their interpretation under the overarching idea of the novel already set by Vonnegut. The beauty of the novel is that you can read it many times and each time find a different story, but still receive the same message.