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Catch-22

(Catch-22 #1)

Joseph Heller

3.98 · Rating details · 712,387 ratings · 17,943 reviews

The novel is set during World War II, from 1942 to 1944. It mainly follows the life of Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea, west of Italy. The novel looks into the experiences of Yossarian and the other airmen in th ...more

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Paperback, 453 pages

Published September 4th 2004 by Simon & Schuster (first published November 10th 1961)

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Jun 20, 2013 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

”You mean there’s a catch?”

“Sure there’s a catch, “ Doc Daneeka replied. “Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy.”

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be ...more

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May 21, 2007 Chris marked it as unfinished · review of another edition

Shelves: folio-society-wishlist

I have attempted to read this book on two separate occasions and I couldn't get beyond 100 pages either time. I do believe that this has more to do with me than the book and I plan on making a third attempt at some point in the future.

Currently it sits on my bookshelf and sometimes (when I have a few too many beers) we have a talk.

Me: Hi.
Catch-22: Oh, hi.
Me: How are you feeling?
Catch-22: I've been better.
Me: Don't be upset. It's not you. It's me.
Catch-22: I know that.
Me: My friends tell me I'm ...more

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Sep 11, 2007 Lori rated it did not like it

Shelves: books-i-just-couldnt-finish, lost-lit

I suffered through about 60 pages, and finally put it down. I very rarely ever leave a book unfinished.

The author narrates and introduces us to Yossarian, who does not want to fly in the war. I get that. I get the whole catch 22 scenerio... You have to be insane to fly the plane. If you can get a dr to say you are insane, you wont have to fly. But in order to tell a dr that you are insane, this actually means you are sane. So you must continue to fly... which makes you insane. blah blah blah.

Wh ...more

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Aug 29, 2010 Stephen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobook, classics-americas, world-war-the-sequel, easton-press, love-those-words, 1954-1969, all-time-favorites, 6-star-books, humor-and-satire, literature

A shiny new batch of awesome for my "all time favorite" shelf. It has been awhile since I’ve so throughly enjoyed reading a novel that has, at the same time, left me as intellectually awestruck as Joseph Heller’s classic sermon on the insanity of war.

What a sublime, literary feast. To prepare:

1. Start with a surrealistic, Kafkaesque worldview basted in chaos;

2. Knead in a plot reminiscent of Pynchon, taking particular care that the bizarre, placidly disjointed surface fully camouflages the ...more

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Dec 18, 2016 Michael Finocchiaro rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-20th-c, novels, classics

Hmm, where to start with a book like this one. A book that is a third Kafka, a third Vonnegut, a third Pynchon and completely insane? For the first 200 or 250 pages, it is like a broken record or a movie loop with Sisyphus rolling that boulder up a hill in American WWII battle fatigues (and a flight suit and a Mae West life preserver sans the inflation module thanks the M&M Enterprises). Then, when the flak starts flying and the blood is splattered everywhere it is intense right up until the end Hmm, where to start with a book like this one. A book that is a third Kafka, a third Vonnegut, a third Pynchon and completely insane? For the first 200 or 250 pages, it is like a broken record or a movie loop with Sisyphus rolling that boulder up a hill in American WWII battle fatigues (and a flight suit and a Mae West life preserver sans the inflation module thanks the M&M Enterprises). Then, when the flak starts flying and the blood is splattered everywhere it is intense right up until the end.

It features Chaucerian cast of characters that would not be out of place in the German chaos of Gravity's Rainbow or The Tin Drum. A few examples:

Major Major Major Major: "He was a proud and independent man who was opposed to unemployment insurance and never hesitated to whine, whimper, wheedle, and extort for as much as he could get from whoever he could. He was a devout man whose pulpit was everywhere." But if you want a meeting with him, you'll have to wait until he has climbed out the window of his office and run down the gully.

Colonel Cathart: "a slick, successful, slipshod, unhappy man of thirty-six who lumbered while we walked and wanted to be a general...[he was] impervious to absolutes. He could measure his own progress only in relationship to others, and his idea of excellence was to do something at least as well as all the men his same age who were doing the same thing even better." Even if (or especially if) that meant raising the number of combat missions from 50 to 80 to impress General Peckham or General Dreedle or (gasp) General Scheisskopf (!!) whose wife was well, just a little promiscuous.

Then there is the Anabaptist chaplain who started to wonder about whether God exists and is tortured by his assistant, the sadistic Colonel Whitcomb and spends a lot of time wondering whether everything he sees is déjà vu, presque vu or jamais vu.

Also, the ill-fated young Nately and the equally ill-fated old man debating whether America was winning the war or whether Italy was since Italy has already survived more than two millennia more than the US even existed: "This sordid, vulturous, diabolical old man reminded [him] of his father because the two were nothing at all alike."

And then there is Yossarian, the protagonist. Perhaps the insane Captain (decorated for making a second bombing pass that killed Kraft) being the sanest person on the island of Pianosa despite being haunted by Snowden, the soldier in white, the dead man in his tent, persecuted and nearly killed by Nately's whore and all the death and absurdity around him. Yossarian is an everyman who is justifiably paranoid, but just a cog in the system and the only person that retains a sense of outrage at the senseless violence all around him.

This is the most anti-war book I believe I have ever read. It makes M*A*S*H look like a US Army recruiting poster in comparison. I was horrified by one-man syndicate M&M Enterprises of Milo Minderbender the cynic who deals with total impunity openly with both sides - even manning the anti-aircraft flak machines on the Italian coast shooting down US bombers and bombing his own squadron with loads of casualties. (This of course scarily parallels the Trump links with Putin and Russia and the massive amounts of money that Trump stands to make as POTUS.) Kid Simpson's slaughter was perhaps the most gruesome of them all, but the the scenes of terror and anarchy that Yossarian sees in Rome before being arrested for being there without a pass (leaving the murderous Aarfy smiling and careless as always) were chilling.

Do not come here seeking logic or sanity because in war, neither has any place - not in Catch-22 and I suppose in real life either. It reminded me of a cab driver I had once in New Orleans (true story) who was bragging to me about burying Iraquis in their trenches by rolling over them with tanks and bulldozers during the first Gulf War. When I mentioned that it was against the Geneva Convention to bury men alive, he shrugged in the rearview mirror and said "They told us that those rules didn't apply to us since this was just a conflict and not a war and besides, we were the US Army and not bound by some stupid European rules."

If, as I did, you struggle through the first 200 pages, the pace picks up - as does the violence - and you will find yourself cheering for Yossarian and racing to the end (if not, as Yossarian, to Sweden.)

I would give it 5 stars, but the first 200 pages are really torture to get through, so for lack of being able to give a 4.5, I rounded down to 4 stars. Regardless, I can clearly see, however, why this classic is held in such high esteem. May we never go through another war like this again. I can also see some of the inspiration for Alan Alda for creating M*A*S*H in the 70s and, reading Fire In the Lake about Vietnam, we learned absolutely nothing from the errors that Heller describes.

Reading the second Rick Atkinson book of The Liberation Trilogy about the Allied campaign in Italy. Every bit as brutal and chaotic as Heller portrayed it - particularly the brutal inch-by-inch campaign up from Salerno to Rome! Anzio was particularly horrendous. Curious fact: Roger Waters' father (the one he eulogizes in The Wall) died at Anzio.

Highly recommended as a piece of essential anti-war black humor. ...more

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Jun 06, 2008 Jennifer rated it liked it

The following is an example of how many conversations in this book took place.

Jen: I didn't like this book.
Nigel: Why didn't you like the book?
Jen: I did like the book.
Nigel: You just said you didn't like the book.
Jen: No I didn't.
Nigel: You're lying.
Jen: I don't believe in lying.
Nigel: So you never lie?
Jen: Oh yes, I lie all the time.
Nigel: You just said you don't believe in it.
Jen: I don't believe in it, Jen said as she ate a chocolate covered cotton ball.
Nigel: Well I liked the book.
Jen: Fabu ...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Matthew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, 2018, read-more-than-once, classic, own, favorites, completist-book-club, historical-fiction

I originally read this about 15 years ago. When I joined Goodreads and added the books I had previously read I remembered it as a 3 star book. I am not sure if it is being 15 years older or the fact that I did the audiobook this time, but it was easily 5 stars now!

The first thing that came to mind after I was a few chapters into this was the show “Seinfeld”. Always touted as a show about nothing, this book was kind of about nothing. It is series of smaller anecdotes, usually somewhat silly, that I originally read this about 15 years ago. When I joined Goodreads and added the books I had previously read I remembered it as a 3 star book. I am not sure if it is being 15 years older or the fact that I did the audiobook this time, but it was easily 5 stars now!

The first thing that came to mind after I was a few chapters into this was the show “Seinfeld”. Always touted as a show about nothing, this book was kind of about nothing. It is series of smaller anecdotes, usually somewhat silly, that really don’t have a specific function in moving the plot. It is a satire about war, red tape, chain of command, etc. and the inherent futility involved. While war and the tragedy that goes with it are usually not considered amusing, this feels like a therapeutic, tongue-in-cheek poke that needed to be made to maintain sanity.

There are a plethora of characters – some of which are more caricatures – that may get your head spinning at first. Luckily, Heller gives them all memorable names which helps keep them organized easily. Maybe that was not his intention, but when you need to remember if it was Milo Minderbender or Major Major Major Major (yes, that is his name – my spell check did not like me repeating a word four times!) who did something, the reader is definitely given naming tools to keep them connected!

I mentioned that there is not necessarily an overall story, but there are definitely themes. One is doing what is best for you no matter who gets stepped on in the process. Another is twisting the facts to make sure the ultimate outcome is what works best for you. And, of course, the BIG idea that has become a common colloquialism (I know I use it just about every day) is the situation of Catch-22. Early in the book, the first example of Catch-22 is that if you say you want to fly bombing missions, you must be crazy so they will take you off the missions – only someone crazy would want to fly missions. But, if you are not on the missions, your sanity is no longer in question so they will make you fly them. If you say you don’t want to fly them, you are sane so you will have to fly them. Basically, no matter how you feel about flying missions, you will end up flying them anyway! Situations like this are repeated throughout the book where there is no good answer to the situation at hand – often with hilarious and frustrating results.

Now, I mention that the book is humorous satire, but it does have many dark moments as well. This kind of goes back to my mention of the discourse within the novel being therapeutic. War is crazy and what can happen is brutal. Oddly enough, a Jimmy Buffett quote from Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes comes to mind: “If we weren't all crazy we would go insane.” That pretty much sums up the book in a nutshell!

So, should you read this book? Well, I think that question is a Catch-22 in itself. I think about 50% of the people who try this will hate it or dnf it. I think the other 50% of the people who read it will love it, quote it, put it on their favorites list. Where the Catch-22 is that I think any person has the capability to be in either category depending on where their mindset is right now. If I recommend it to you now you may hate me, or you may thank me profusely. In 10 years is would be visa versa! I do think the audiobook helped me appreciate it more and it is now in my favorites. Will that happen for you? I definitely cannot be the one to decide that!
...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Barry Pierce rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, read-in-2015

I have had Catch-22 on my bookshelf for years. It was one of those novels that I've said, "oh I'll get around to that in 2012". It didn't happen. "Maybe 2013". Nope. And so on until just a couple of days ago. I've got to stop putting books off.

Rarely has a piece of literature ticked so many of my boxes. Satire, farce, gallows humour, irreverence, it's as if this book were written entirely for me. I loved every word on every page of this book. I cannot find a single miniscule fault anywhere with ...more

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Jun 01, 2013 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: war, fiction, 20th-century, classics, literature, novels, united-states, historical

Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Catch-22 is a satirical novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, describing events from the points of view of different characters. The separate storylines are out of sequence so the timeline develops along with the plot.
عنوانها: کلک مرغابی؛ تبصره 22؛ نویسنده Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Catch-22 is a satirical novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, describing events from the points of view of different characters. The separate storylines are out of sequence so the timeline develops along with the plot.
عنوانها: کلک مرغابی؛ تبصره 22؛ نویسنده: جوزف هلر؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سیزدهم ماه آگوست سال 2001 میلادی
عنوان: کلک مرغابی؛ نویسنده: جوزف هلر؛ مترجم: کامبیز پاک فر؛ تهران، مرجان، 1378؛ دو جلد در یک مجلد؛ در 806 ص؛ شابک: 9649049304؛ موضوع: جنگ جهانی دوم قرن 20 م
عنوان: تبصره 22؛ نویسنده: جوزف هلر؛ مترجم: حسن افشار؛ تهران، ماهی، 1393؛ در 552 ص؛ شابک: 9789642092000؛
عنوان: تبصره 22؛ نویسنده: جوزف هلر؛ مترجم: احسان نوروزی؛ تهران، چشمه، 1394؛ در 518 ص؛ شابک: 9786002295613؛
اونا می‌خوان منو بکشن.؛
هیچ‌کس نمی‌خواد تو رو بکشه.؛
پس چرا به طرفم تیراندازی می‌کنن؟
اونا می‌خوان همه رو بکشن.؛
خب چه فرقی می‌کنه؟
پیدا کردن تکه ای که بتواند گوشه‌ ای از منطق رمان «تبصره 22» باشد، کار ناممکن یا دشواری ست، شاید گفتگوی بالا نزدیک‌ترین بخش داستان به این انتظار باشد. «یوسارین»، افسر نیروی هوایی آمریکا، تصمیم گرفته، دیگر جانش را به خطر نیندازد، و پرواز نکند، چون احساس می‌کند ضدهوایی‌های دشمن قصد دارند او را بکشند. اما همکارش اینگونه نمی‌اندیشد، چون باور دارد سربازان دشمن قصد دارند همه را بکشند. این درست همان‌جایی است، که کشمکش اصلی داستان «تبصره 22» شکل می‌گیرد. «یوسارین» دیگر به جنگ، به چشم یک رخداد اجتماعی نگاه نمی‌کند، بلکه جنگ برای او مسئله‌ ای کاملا فردی است.؛ طبعا اگر همه آدم‌های متخاصم در دو طرف یک جنگ، می‌توانستند مثل «یوسارین» جنگ را فردی ببینند، هیچ جنگی آن‌قدرها پا نمی‌گرفت؛ و به کشتار نمیانجامید. ذات جنگ، اساسا بر ایده ی گذشتن از فرد، و قرار گرفتن در خدمت یک اجتماع، یا یک ایده و باور، استوار است. ترفند اصلی «جوزف هلر»، نگارنده، برای زیر پرسش بردن برهان جنگ، همان بازگشت به فردیت کسانی است، که قرار است سربازان جنگ باشند. مسئله باورهای فردی، در برابر اجتماع جنگ‌جو، نقطه مرکزی رمان «هلر» است، که در همه جای رمان جاری شده، و به فرم آن نیز نشت کرده است. فرمی که منتقدان بسیاری، این نگارش را نپسندیده اند. اما این نیز هست که رمان «تبصره‌‌ ی 22» اثر «جوزف هلر» را، به همراه «برهنه‌ ها و مرده‌ ها» اثر: «نورمن میلر»، و «سلاخ‌ خانه‌ ی شماره پنج» اثر: «کورت ونه‌ گات»؛ یکی از سه اثر ادبیات ضدجنگ آمریکا بنوشته اند. نویسندگان هر سه رمان، به نوعی در رخدادهای جنگ جهانگیر دوم، شرکت داشته‌، و جنگ را از نزدیک تجربه کرده‌ اند. «جوزف هِلـِر» که فرزند خانواده‌ ای مهاجر، از یهودیان روس‌ تبار بودند، در سال 1942 میلادی در سن نوزده سالگی، به ارتش آمریکا پیوستند، و در سال‌های پایانی جنگ، به عنوان بمب‌ انداز هواپیماهای بی‌.52 در شصت ماموریت جنگی شرکت کردند (در هواپیماهای آن دوره: خلبانی، ناوبری و مسیریابی، و هدف‌یابی برای انداختن بمب؛ هر یک مسئول جداگانه‌ داشت)؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Jun 25, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: monster-mash-of-a-mess, favorites, so-good-it-hurts, havanas-en-masse, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die

"Insanity is contagious."

Like so many other works of originally absurd or dystopian character, this classic catches up with reality faster than I can process. When I first shared Yossarian's frustration over the perfect catch, I did so in a quite abstract way, enjoying the intellectual game the novel kept me engaged in.

Now I find myself frequently thinking of his pain as something I experience myself, every day, reading news and listening to the authorities that are in charge to rule the world "Insanity is contagious."

Like so many other works of originally absurd or dystopian character, this classic catches up with reality faster than I can process. When I first shared Yossarian's frustration over the perfect catch, I did so in a quite abstract way, enjoying the intellectual game the novel kept me engaged in.

Now I find myself frequently thinking of his pain as something I experience myself, every day, reading news and listening to the authorities that are in charge to rule the world. If you want to succeed against the insanity of populist ruthlessness and to restore liberal values and democratic processes, you have to adopt the insane leaders' weapons, and turn yourself into a demagogue playing to the stupidity and insanity of the indoctrinated, thoughtless masses. But then, of course, you do not represent liberal values and democratic processes anymore, you turn into the monster you fight.

When Yossarian realised that he could only escape the threat to his life (the active participation in the war) if he was declared insane, and that expressing the wish to escape the threat to his life showed he was in fact sane, he knew he was in the clutches of insane authorities (which ironically therefore were safe from dying in the war for which they were responsible!). They were keeping their numbing power over him as long as he was sane enough to resist, and human enough to have a character:

"It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character."

As a novel showing the absurdity of war and of nationalism on an individual level, while keeping a (bittersweet) sense of humour, this labyrinth of a tale has no peer:

"The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them."

So here is my catch, let's call it the catch 42 - the catch that kicks in whenever we try to find the Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything. If all insane leaders of the world read this book, they would understand the meaninglessness of their destructive power play, and they would change their ways and the world would finally be a safe place. The catch is that they have to be sane to read it.

So, read it if you are sane enough to understand it. It will drive you crazy though. ...more

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May 23, 2019 Henry Avila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Life would be beautiful if it wasn't for the war; Captain John Yossarian is not happy, flying in an U.S. Army B-25 plane as a bombardier during WW2 ... continuous take- offs and landings on the small Italian island of Pianosa near the west coast of Italy is no real fun ( the isle in reality was too small for runways). Flak may seem pretty in the sky, from below, however above...but to Yo Yo his nickname, the anti- aircraft fire will pulverize you into tiny bits of unrecognizable
debris... Though Life would be beautiful if it wasn't for the war; Captain John Yossarian is not happy, flying in an U.S. Army B-25 plane as a bombardier during WW2 ... continuous take- offs and landings on the small Italian island of Pianosa near the west coast of Italy is no real fun ( the isle in reality was too small for runways). Flak may seem pretty in the sky, from below, however above...but to Yo Yo his nickname, the anti- aircraft fire will pulverize you into tiny bits of unrecognizable
debris... Thought he was a loyal American until ambitious Colonel Cathcart raises combat missions from 25 to 30 ... 35... 40..50..55..60...70...maybe soon 80 ? The cold Colonel Korn his second in command urges more missions if his boss desires to become a general, a sacrifice they are willing to take for their men, after all both stay on terra firma .... A man could be killed around here thinks Mr. Yossarian and not thrilled about such a prospect.That occurs to him when he notices most of his friends are dying in the strife and not eager to join the unliving, can he just go home? The nervous warrior invariably seeks admittance to the hospital, a frequent visitor to get out of flying other times
has real wounds not always from the enemy, now needs to escape from the island yet the people he meets there, doctors, nurses and especially patients are more unhinged than he... The strange one is covered from head to foot in bandages or plaster, creeps the others out with just a minuscule entrance to breath, like a whale's blowhole, alive maybe..that's highly debatable. Nevertheless a certain nurse attracts him, there is joy in the most unpromising situations and nurse Duckett is attractive ...And swimming in the sea and laying on the beach with her has its compensations... Be understanding some advise this , ( there are shortages of qualified airmen for combat duty ) including Chaplain Tappman, a man not sure of his own duty; war or peace... like everyone else he desires to get back to America.. Milo Minderbinde , Captain Yossarian mysterious pal emerges from the mess hall to stardom as the always conniving entrepreneur doing deals, doesn't matter if they are enemies, business is business and the object is to make money. Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Portugal, Sicily anywhere where there is a buck to make and planes can reach, he thrives in the madness. Still while the airmen live, Yossarian and friends travel to Rome for relaxation and the best way is...finding loose women those not too particular about looks or manners or clean rooms and wild ways , will tolerate much for gratuities... Everybody calls everyone crazy in the book which is quite accurate, war is insane but never unfashionable, some believe this will happen on Earth for perpetuity ... Joseph Heller's anti- war black comedy classic has given the world the phrase catch-22 meaning a dilemma, whatever you choose you lose. This novel though not for all, is a magnificent trip into the horrors of brutal mindless discord you have to laugh, in order to survive.. ...more

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Jul 30, 2007 Steve rated it really liked it

I’m not sure if it’s a talent or an affliction, but I’ve been blessed or cursed with a penchant for taking someone else’s creative work and extrapolating it to skewed extremes. That explains my yet-to-be-published collection of fan fiction, unauthorized sequels, and twists in perspective. I first discovered this talent/affliction as a boy when I imagined a fourth little pig who leveraged himself to the hilt, built a luxury skyscraper, and, with YUGE block letters at its base, labelled it Pig Tow I’m not sure if it’s a talent or an affliction, but I’ve been blessed or cursed with a penchant for taking someone else’s creative work and extrapolating it to skewed extremes. That explains my yet-to-be-published collection of fan fiction, unauthorized sequels, and twists in perspective. I first discovered this talent/affliction as a boy when I imagined a fourth little pig who leveraged himself to the hilt, built a luxury skyscraper, and, with YUGE block letters at its base, labelled it Pig Tower. The Big Bad Wolf, as a professional courtesy (and quite possibly with the promise of kickbacks), agreed to a huff and puff waiver.

As a teen I wrote a follow-up to Kurt Vonnegut’s classic that I called Slaughterhouse-Six. It was set in a mirror image world where war was devastating the planet Tralfamadore. Fortunately, the protagonist, Libby Mirglip, survived the bombs and lived a varied if not full life after the conflict. She was aided by alien visitors from planet Earth who showed her, through their own less enlightened example, what not to do.

I’d prefer not to go into the details of one my more recent works, Fifty-two Shades of Grey. If it’s ever published, it’ll be under an assumed name, or maybe names – I’m toying with the idea of S. and M. John. BTW, I saw that some other joker stole my basic idea and technically beat me to the preferred number fifty-one.

This brings us to my latest, Catch-23. Since I’ve already done an absurdist post-war account of tragedy/comedy with Slaughterhouse-Six, I wanted to steer clear of such a heavy/humorous theme this time. Instead, Catch-23 is the story of a local seafood restaurant on 23 S. Washington St. in Naperton, Illinois. They became famous for their Shrimp Yossarian. Then a new executive chef upped the number of times customers would fly through the doors by offering Skate Wing Schnitzel a la Scheisskopf, Major Major Mahi Mahi, and Stuffed Oysters Orr-style. Naperton’s whore gave the story some much needed spice. (As with any fan fiction, references will only be appreciated by those who know the original.)

Oh, and hey, there is a catch here. Against your better judgment, you continued reading each ridiculous example in this exercise of “one more." Making it this far means you’ve read “one more” paragraph all the way to the end. The catch is that you must be crazy enough to perceive this as a payoff. ...more

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Aug 20, 2011 Shayantani rated it really liked it

Have patience with this book, trust me you will be rewarded.

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Feb 06, 2011 Jason rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012, reviewed, for-kindle

Catch-22 reminds me a lot of those comedy/tragedy masks—you know the ones that are supposed to represent like, fine theater or something? Not that I’m comparing Catch-22 to some great Italian opera. All I’m saying is that the book oscillates cleverly between the absurdly humorous and the grievingly tragic.

So it starts off on the hilarious side. Here’s a bit that had me giggling aloud (rather embarrassingly, I might add, as I was surrounded by other people at the time):

The colonel dwelt in a v

The colonel dwelt in a vortex of specialists who were still specializing in trying to determine what was troubling him. They hurled lights in his eyes to see if he could see, rammed needles into nerves to hear if he could feel.

Ha! That one still gets me. Unfortunately, the laugh-out-loudness has caused some people to think I’m crazy, but I suppose that’s the price one must pay for decent literature.

And then, like great Italian opera (really, I hadn’t meant to expound the parallel this far, but look—its happening!), you start itching for the intermission because your legs are falling asleep and you really need to take a leak. This is the point at which the humor starts to wear thin and seemingly unrelated events are haphazardly thrown around and you’re wondering if it’s going anywhere or if it’s just one absurd situation after another.

But finally, you settle in for Act III and discover that the seemingly unrelated events are actually part of an ingenious narrative structure that Heller has planned out from the beginning. Jokes that were set up earlier finally deliver their punch lines. Only it turns out the jokes aren’t funny anymore. In many ways, Heller’s writing is like that of Kurt Vonnegut, with similar subject matter wrapped up in threads of absurdity. But while Vonnegut speaks of the horrors of war, Heller’s issues are more with the horrors of the War Department: it is the red tape of bureaucracy that gets his goat. Well, and war, too, but mostly it’s the bureaucracy.

Anyway, this book is smart and well written. It would be difficult for me to come up with the name of another author who could write such perfectly contradictory sentences while still making so much sense.

...more

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Jun 20, 2007 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

This book was utterly misrepresented to me before I read it. For some reason I'd always thought it had been published the same year as Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow and was considered as representing the other fork of post World War II American literature apart from Pynchon's--this the conventional, plot-driven one catering to stupid people. Some professor or some didact must have told me that, enrroenously as it turns out, once. Catch 22 predates the Pynchon masterpeice by 15 years, and is in sty This book was utterly misrepresented to me before I read it. For some reason I'd always thought it had been published the same year as Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow and was considered as representing the other fork of post World War II American literature apart from Pynchon's--this the conventional, plot-driven one catering to stupid people. Some professor or some didact must have told me that, enrroenously as it turns out, once. Catch 22 predates the Pynchon masterpeice by 15 years, and is in style an apt precursor. Its subject is war and its hilarity. In this it shares much with Pynchon as well as Vonnegut. Since James Heller is not as obviously over-bursting with brilliance and random facts about particle physics as Pynchon, nor is he as willing to pander to mainstream tastes (I think) as Vonnegut, Catch 22 is a tought read at the begiining. There is a lot of irony and detachment, but with not as much ease as Vonnegut and with less of the awe inspired by Pynchon. IN fact, I almost gave up, and had started this book (450 pages) several times before and actually had given up. The real story of Catch 22 doesn't start coming together well past page 200, but when it does, it really does. There is a brilliant portrait of an entrepreneurial mess chef who is the representation of evil, evil being capitalism and the lack of loyalty to any moral cause. He creates a vast international smuggling network whose intricacies are at once ridicuously amusing and yet, it seems, accurately and minutely portrayed--it's as if Heller were a partcile physicist translating science for us when he lays out how that "syndicate" works. Most importantly, the book affected me because of what it had to say about war, and then how it was able to communicate that through the heartbreaking travails of one officer--Yossarian--who is willing to act out human desires in the face of a dominant culture turned insanse and subhuman, caricatured. His wartime airforce base is a perfect illustration of RD Laing's common-sense supposition, developed not long after the period of this novel, that insanity is a sane response to an insane world. Catch 22 is clever and tight and thematic--"Catch 22" refers to how things that seem irrational can be made to seem rational through tautology. This is a cleverly embroidered theme throught the entire novel. But in the end these are not what make the book great. It's the emotion at the heart of the book, Yossarian's desire to live and be fleshly human, and his unwillingness to retreat into the bastions of irony and obtuseness so attractive to eberyone around him. This is what makes Catch 22 heartbreaking and poignant, tear0jerkin even. ...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Nandakishore Varma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, humour

Years ago, while I was (unsuccessfully) searching for a job in the Middle East, I met a career consultant.

"How do I land a job in the Middle East?" I asked.

"Well, for that you need experience," he told me, scratching his chin.

"But I have eighteen years of experience!" I protested.

"That may be so," he said. "What I meant was - you need Gulf experience."

"But I can't get that unless I get a job in the Gulf," I pointed out.

"Yes, I know." He said serenely. "You see, that's the catch..."

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Aug 12, 2007 Teresa Jusino rated it it was amazing

Shelves: readandreviewed

"I really do admire you a bit. You're an intelligent person of great moral character who has taken a very courageous stand. I'm an intelligent person with no moral character at all, so I'm in an ideal position to appreciate it." - Colonel Korn, Catch-22

I really appreciate it when a book respects the intelligence of its readership. If a book is going to be "experimental" in any way, I love those that throw you into a world with no explanations - a literary baptism of fire (ie: Orwell's "Animal Fa "I really do admire you a bit. You're an intelligent person of great moral character who has taken a very courageous stand. I'm an intelligent person with no moral character at all, so I'm in an ideal position to appreciate it." - Colonel Korn, Catch-22

I really appreciate it when a book respects the intelligence of its readership. If a book is going to be "experimental" in any way, I love those that throw you into a world with no explanations - a literary baptism of fire (ie: Orwell's "Animal Farm"). Catch-22 is one of those books, and that's part of the reason why I thought it was so amazing!

Catch-22 tells the story of a US Army squadron based in Italy during WWII, and a disenchanted pilot named Yossarian who thinks everyone is trying to kill him. (not an unreasonable assumption in a war) Except that it's not an Italy, a military story, or a world that we're meant to immediately recognize. There is a logic in the book that all the characters seem to accept, but that doesn't make sense to the reader. Or, alternately, it makes too much sense to the reader, and that's when the book hits you hard. You start falling into it. You start siding with people. Then all of a sudden, you realize that you're siding with the wrong people. You start thinking to yourself how could I be agreeing with this asshole?! How can I be laughing! My favorite books are the ones that elicit visceral reactions from me...my chest gets tight, my stomach gets tied in knots, and I can't explain why I'm reacting positively/negatively - I just know that I am. There were so many of those moments in this book, I can't even begin to describe them all...

One of the things that impressed me most was the structure of the book - how all at once it seemed both haphazard, and entirely calculated. How each segment could stand alone, but that together they weaved an intricate, thought-provoking story...
If you like historical novels, if you like political novels, if you like in-depth characters, if you like humor, if you like to think - I would highly recommend this book to you.
...more

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Sep 03, 2019 David Putnam rated it liked it · review of another edition

I have tried three times and can not drop into this book. It's too disjointed my brain doesn't work that way I guess. I wanted to like it. I loved the premise, the concept. It just didn't work and I'm more disappointed about it than anyone else. :-0

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Feb 24, 2008 jill rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: people who like to be bored.

Absurdist plays are one act for a reason.

Seriously, I know there were points to make about the repetitive ridiculousness of bureaucracy/war/capitalism/life, but over 450 pages of variations on the Catch-22 joke?

I did find myself more affected than I would have guessed by some of the deaths, and some of the lines were clearly awesome.

Underlined bits:
In a world in which success was the only virtue, he had resigned himself to failure.(277, about the Chaplain)
Because he needed a friend so desperat ...more

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Feb 22, 2019 Adina marked it as abandoned

Shelves: classics, 1001, us, w-mwl-alternative

From cleaning my TBR project. Not my type of humour, I guess. Tried to read it a few times and I think is time to let go of this classic. It is too long to battle through it.

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Aug 06, 2013 Brian Yahn rated it really liked it

Hands down, this is the funniest book I've ever read. Some of Heller's sentences are so witty and hilarious that I had to not only laugh out loud, but set the book down after trying to continue on--and laugh out loud some more to fully appreciate all the wit. That being said, the style of humor gets old. After a while, it feels like reading Seinfeld screenplays for hours on end.

The crazy ironic predicaments Yosarian, the focal character, finds himself in are pure genius. And some of the subplots ...more

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Jan 15, 2010 Tyler Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: war-fiction, books-that-changed-my-life

A word of warning - the following has more to do with my life than it has to do with the novel Catch-22. If you don't give a fig about me then just skip this.

As I mentioned in my note about War with the Newts, 1985 was the worst year of my life. I was a deeply depressed eighteen year old. My parents tried their best to help me. For my mom this meant finding me the best counselling possible, and for my dad this meant showing me that the world itself was crazy and I was quite right to feel aliena ...more

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Dec 14, 2018 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018-shelf, top-one-hundred, fanboy-goes-squee, satire, humor

Is it tragic, absurd, or funny?

WHO CARES!

This beats out almost every book that purports to be funny and I'm not particularly unfamiliar with funny books.

Catch-22 grabs you by the skinny hairs and shocks you into the most wonderful and horrible bureaucratic nightmare ever devised. It's not even the clarity that strikes you. It's not the convoluted insanity of a huge cast of truly unforgettable and brilliant characters as they stumble from one mismatched contradiction after another or as they gam ...more

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Sep 20, 2016 Jon Nakapalau rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: war, adventure, favorites, pop-culture, classics

When the title of a book enters the English language that puts it on my reading list right away. What constitutes 'sanity' for men in war is problematic on two levels: 1). - who put them in this situation (war) and 2). - what would a "sane" person do to get out of the situation. Another book I think should be on a 'congressional reading list.'

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Aug 13, 2007 Juliet rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: high schoolers

Shelves: recently-read

Maybe there's a reason this book is usually required high school reading; it reads like it was written by a 17-year old. Someone who clearly finds himself to be hilarious, and no one ever had the heart to tell him differently.

I never felt for any of the characters, I never laughed, I never cried. In fact, half way through the book I couldn't take it anymore, so I skipped ahead to the last chapter and yet it still made sense. I'm sorry, but if nothing happens in the second half of a book to impac ...more

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May 26, 2014 Tom Quinn rated it it was amazing

This is the best book I've ever read.

It keeps me out of trouble.

I first read it in high school, senior year AP Lit. We read it alongside Kafka's The Metamorphosis and had engaging discussions about what the hell was going on (in the books and in life itself), culminating in a detailed "compare and contrast" essay.

I read it again on my own the next year, my freshman year at college, just for fun.

I read it a third time my junior year, and actually recited a section as a dramatic reading in my Oral ...more

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Apr 19, 2010 chucklesthescot rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: nobody on this planet even if I hate their guts

Shelves: historical, abandoned, worst-ever-books, fiction, war

Worst book I've ever had the misfortune to pick up. My dad warned me that this book was lower on the evolution scale than a wet turd, but I thought I'd try it anyway. I hated this with every fibre in my body and with any luck the book will just crawl away and die.

The characters were obnoxious, moronic gits who I hoped would all die at the hands of Jason Vorhees very soon and there was no way I'd ever connect with that idiot who was meant to be our beloved hero. The dialogue was incomprehensible ...more

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May 11, 2017 Duane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star-books, audio-books, reviewed-books, 2017-book-challenge, american-classics, rated-books, guardian-1000

Catch 22- If you are crazy, insane, then you are grounded from flying anymore combat missions. However, if you apply for this status, then you are deemed to be too rational to be insane, so you are denied the request. That's the gist of the idea, and it is so applicable to so many situations in life that the term has been added into our everyday language.

Catch 22 is a satire, but not just any satire; it is the mother of all satires. And it doesn't just poke at the US military, it pokes at every ...more

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May 14, 2019 Johann (jobis89) rated it liked it · review of another edition

“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”

Set during World War II, Catch-22 details the experiences of Captain Yossarian and the other airmen in his camp as they try to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they can return home.

I did it! I conquered the book I was dreading most and I made it all the way to the end..... and it actually surprised me? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not head over heels for it, but I took a lot from this one and I’ ...more

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Dec 13, 2015 Carol rated it liked it

Shelves: classics, war, library-overdrive, read-2015

I realize that CATCH 22 is said to be one of the greatest literary works of the twentieth century, but it was just not my cup of tea. I found it confusing at first and when I did sort out the storyline, had to force myself to stay with the repetition of it all. (Still worth 3 Stars though for its uniqueness.)

If you want to read a dark satire about the atrocities of war where a U.S. Army bombardier fights to retain his sanity in a world of contradictions, this 1961 classic is for you.

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About Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Joseph Heller was the son of poor Jewish parents from Russia. Even as a child, he loved to write; at the age of eleven, he wrote a story about the Russian invasion of Finland. He sent it to New York Daily News, which rejected it. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller spent the next ye ...more