Humor is tragedy plus time

Many times in our life we're told how special and unique we are from everyone else. That every aspect of our personality is different and that it sets us a part from the people around us. "You're so special!" You hear from parents and friends. Vonnegut must have been told this many times during his childhood, he is definitely a different kind of writer. The way that his novel jumps from idea to idea, retells his war experiences and incorporates humour through it all. Oh that humour of Vonnegut's...it is quite special. The eloquent way he makes fun of the American soldiers during the war; their coats being solid ice and their seemingly savage appearance in comparison to the British soldiers is mildly amusing. Although most of the time I don't understand Vonnegut's sense of humour, I simply can't figure out at what times he's trying to be funny. When I read something blunt like, "Billy Pilgram tried hard to care", I don't pick up on the humour intended by Vonnegut, it's as if I'm the one trying hard to care. Not that I don't appriciate his attempt to lighten the mood, this novel is definitely depressing at times with all the "So it goes." I just don't connect all the humour to what is actually taking place in the story at that moment most of the time. It just seems pointless to add that in the text, his "humour" takes away from my reading experience sometimes because it makes me think twice about what I just read; and having to read something more than twice is really tedious when time is running out for my reading and I have other homework to start. Couldn't he use more humour like, "the zipper on the fly of God Almighty"? Now that was funny, like laugh out loud funny! This other stuff about dogs barking and soldiers turning on their own men isn't funny to me, yes, I understand that Vonnegut has a dark sense of humour and uses it as a means of coping with his life's hardships, but even with that knowledge I can't always laugh along with him. Hopefully he will be able to redeem himself as I continue reading the book, so far, he has made me think too much about his jokes (if I catch them at all) and I like to laugh at the joke first, then make the connections to the plot, character, etc. So it goes.