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Catch-22

Joseph Heller

Start date: November 1, 2022

Finish date: November 30, 2022

Discussion: New School Classics- 1915-2005

Discussion leader: Trisha

Why we're reading this: Contemporary Classic Group Read, November 2013

November 2022 Revisit the Shelf
[close] Contemporary Classic Group Read, November 2013

November 2022 Revisit the Shelf

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What Members Thought

May 02, 2017 Ian Anderson rated it liked it · review of another edition

I owe it to television shows that have an abundance of characters for subconsciously helping me prepare for this book. Shows like Band of Brothers, The Wire, and Game of Thrones all ask the viewer to pay close attention and even do some additional research in order to follow along. Catch-22, however, is not a television show. Books will often ask a little more out of the consumer in terms of concentration. There is an absurd amount of characters depicted in the novel. I don't mean absurd as in "I'm going to have to look up a lot of characters" absurd, I mean absurd as in "looking up all of these characters likely isn't worth it". I decided I was enjoying the novel enough and didn't want to disrupt its flow, so I continued through the book and let important names resonate on their own. It paid off. The moment I had a feel for Heller's humor is the moment I realized I didn't need to stress over minor details. His style of humor follows a similar structure throughout, making it very easy to identify its satirical undertones.

The number of characters is only the first obstacle. The timeline in Catch-22 is practically nonsensical for the majority of the book. Heller jumps around in his timeline, introduces new characters out of thin air, and veers off topic quite often. While scenes themselves are usually easy to illustrate in your mind, the reason why these scenes are happening and what they mean is usually unclear. It's not until the later stages of the novel that it slowly begins to make more sense as the ending approaches in anticipated fashion. This is a book that is perfect for reading multiple times.

We are introduced to the phrase Catch-22 early on. Yossarian and his fellow airmen are allowed to become grounded from combat missions if they say they are crazy, making them unfit to fly. But this means that if the men care enough about their lives to claim they are crazy in order to get out of flying, they must not be crazy and will be forced to fly. So, this paradox is used throughout the book in the most insane ways to create an awful experience for our main character, Yossarian. The satirical humor begins in hilarious fashion, then slowly grows to become infuriating because of the incompetence of the higher ranking officers. I mean, these guys make Michael Scott look comparatively easy to work with. Just like in The Office you understand that it's just all in comedic fun. The difference being that in Catch-22 peoples lives are on the line, making their incompetence and selfishness utterly painful at times. As I was nearing the end of the book, the visceral meanings in Heller's writing cut deeper and deeper, and I was blown away by how he went back and forth between humor and tragedy so effortlessly. This is not your standard war story with tons of combat, gore, patriotism, and heroes. Heller specifically wrote it to blow the roof off of what people expected from a war novel, which he does in spectacular fashion.

“Sure, that's what I mean,' Doc Daneeka said. 'A little grease is what makes this world go round. One hand washes the other. Know what I mean? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.'

Yossarian knew what he meant.

That's not what I meant,' Doc Daneeka said, as Yossarian began scratching his back.” ...more

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Mar 27, 2018 Melanti rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, audiobook, humor, historical, 1001-books

I bought a copy of this years ago and tried to read it a handful of times and never made it more than a chapter or so. But I finally decided to give it one more shot - in audio this time - and this time around, I loved every absurd moment of it.

It is definitely a book that takes a lot of patience to read, though. There's many times that events referred to where the actual event isn't detailed until half the book later. Then there's other jokes that are given set-ups fairly early on, but the pun ...more

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May 09, 2013 Michael Sump rated it it was amazing

Simply one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century.

It is not an easy book to read, but it is well worth the effort you have to put into the book. It is also a funny book. I think that it will make you laugh on every single page, but as your reading continues--you will be horrified at what you are laughing at.

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Jan 23, 2017 Nina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-harder-challenge-2017, favorites, classics

A masterpiece of surrealistic satire, this book deserves its spot in the literary canon. Highly recommended, though the structure may put some readers off.

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