Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Billy Pilgrim is a very interesting man. A sizable chunk of the populace believes he is certifiably insane, including his own daughter. A soldier-turned-optometrist residing in Ilium, he has the ability to come "unstuck in time". Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse Five', also known as 'The Children's Crusade', is a book about war, but not really about war. It chronicles the supremely intriguing life of Billy and his unique adventures that no one seems to want to believe. Training as a chaplain's assistant, he is drafted into World War II, and it's this seemingly normal event that completely changes the course of his relatively normal life. The war and the experiences he has as a German POW, change him irrevocably. A terrible bombing that he is a living witness to, plays a significant part in him discovering alien lands, and aliens.

It is widely believed that Slaughterhouse Five is a modern classic, and in my personal opinion, it lives up to this tag on account of its "schizophrenic" narration, for starters. Vonnegut's writing reflects the fact that the story of Billy is essentially his own, if a slightly exaggerated account of military service, and involvement in WWII. Sci-fi novelist Kilgore Trout, fellow soldier Roland Weary, among others, are brilliantly conceptualized characters who enhance the narrative, but Billy Pilgrim is undoubtedly the best of them. Vonnegut offers a hitherto unexplored perspective of war, which focuses on the 'unknown soldiers' and their contemporaries. Slaughterhouse Five's disjoint narration is masterful, if slightly unnecessary at times. Recurring phrases like "so it goes", and "poo-tee-weet" are extremely endearing, and stay imprinted in the reader's mind. 

Confining the book to a particular genre is almost impossible because it simultaneously has the elements of fantasy, sci-fi, non-fiction, and history among several others. It offers an idiosyncratic perspective of life and death that captivates the reader's mind to no end. Highly impactful and thought-provoking quotes about the same, are peppered generously across the storyline. The premise of the novel makes it an unputdownable read despite the occasional jumbled narration. Here is a personal favorite excerpt from the book:

"When a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist."