Vonnegut plays with time in the story, precisely stating that the character of Billy Pilgrim becomes "unstuck in time." But it is not only the character, but the author’s own way of handling backstory that plays with time.
Once Vonnegut has explained Billy’s situation, then he is allowed to move the present to a place in the past, and the present then becomes the future. It’s a most interesting trick of writing as well as an intrigueing thought; brings to mind Boethius’ in The Consolation of Philosophy wherein Divine Knowledge is explained as the past, present and future all being one simultaneous event. (Which is exactly Vonnegut’s statement of the alien’s version of time.)
Vonnegut also travels in space; Billy Pilgrim has been abducted by aliens of the planet Tralfamadore, and this bit of information is easily absorbed into the reader’s view of Billy’s world. After all, we believe him up to this point, or at the very least, have come up with our own reasons for his beliefs.
This "unstuck in time" is brought full front when the answer to Billy’s "Why me?" to the aliens is answered by pointing out the beetle in the amber example; something which IS obviously stuck in time.
The only thing that bugs me a whole lot about this novel so far is the repetitious: So it goes.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology