Reading 1001 discussion
This topic is about
Catch-22
1001 book reviews
>
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
date
newest »
newest »
newest »
Going into this book I expected not to like it. I had read one article that said it is a book that men love and women hate. And I had read another that said the book referred to women as whores. My husband read it earlier in the year and told me it was a bit like slapstick, which was also a check in the negative column for me. But, the book is on the 1001 Books list, and has been banned in several places and times so I put it on my library (audiobook) hold list and when it came in I decided now was the time. I really enjoyed this book! What a surprise. I will say, that I am very glad that I listened to the audio version of this one, because I think I got the timing and pacing of all that dialogue so much better than if I had read it. I found myself laughing at the silly parts and still feeling the devastating sadness of the war book.
As far as my concerns: I think that men may enjoy war books and silly satire books more than women, so there may be truth to the first concern. But the second one was unfounded. There are actual prostitutes in the book, but I did not feel there was any judgment made about those women, let alone all women.
The zaniness of some of the dialogue would have been much harder to immerse myself in if I had been reading the book myself. But in the audiobook the narrator takes care of that and I was just able to escape into it and become part of it. Some of those cray conversations with the General were very much like a "Who's on First?" routine. I could picture the guys in McHale's Navy or Hogan's Heroes or even M*A*S*H having these exact conversations. More than once I giggled aloud to the surprise of my husband.
And yet, the power of this book lies in its desperation, harshness and futility. War is always grounded in judgement, patriotism, control, self-interest... it is always unforeseeable and uncontrollable.
I knew quite early on that this was a four-star book but the powerful message, the horrific final 70 pages, and the sliver of hope that Heller gave us with Yossarian propelled it to the five-star finish.