Catch-22
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Is this a masterpiece in prose or a mindless comedy?
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Arthur wrote: "Dull and mindless.Didn't find it funny. At all.
I could not finish it. It is a very rare occasion when I give up, because usually even if I don't like a book I am curious how it ends. Not this time."
Never mind..
The plotting of the timelines and the frequent moves forward and backwards were very carefully plotted. It was NOT mindless repetition but a way of ramping up the horrors. To my mind, the death of Snowdon in the bomber is the best example.
I hated this book. It wasn't funny, it was boring and it was stupid. I suffered through it for a book club and found out I was the only one who'd actually finished it. Why the hell this is considered a classic I cannot fathom.
I read the book more than 30 years ago but it was unforgettable. Very few people exposed how futile war is in such a funny absurd way. A masterpiece and tour de force
Max wrote: "I hated this book. It wasn't funny, it was boring and it was stupid. I suffered through it for a book club and found out I was the only one who'd actually finished it. Why the hell this is consider..."If everybody thought this way you'd be foolish not to think the same.
Mark wrote: "I read the book more than 30 years ago but it was unforgettable. Very few people exposed how futile war is in such a funny absurd way. A masterpiece and tour de force"I also liked it. I thought it was a bit confusing at first, but had a fun time following the story and seeing how people like war veterans handle it.
Catch-22 is a masterpiece.If you want to get a sense of how intricate and intellectual this novel is, I suggest you buy the Cliff Notes for it. Yes, there are Cliff Notes for it.
You will be amazed at how much you "missed" or "didn't get." This isn't an insult but a suggestion that there may be more to it than you thought when you read it.
It is hilariously and philosophically cynical. It is satire at its highest calling, right down to the carefully chosen names of characters.
One of my two favorite lines from the novel is, "I'm going to live forever or die trying." I use it from time to time.
The other line that sticks in my mind for no good reason is:
"Major Major Major's father disapproved of loose women who turned him down." He was referring to "the gum-chewing clerk down at the A&P," after whom he lusted.
I've read this book more than several times and never fail to get new insights into it. I'm sure that some of it is due to age and experience and some is just out of the blue.
It is also the first hardcover book I ever bought. $6.95 cents, a somewhat princely sum for a 12-year boy in 1962. About $45-$50 in today's money. But I had a great paper route!
And I still have that original copy in my personal library.
Truly a masterpiece - and I'm still laughing over Colonel Corn.
This book is endlessly clever, but that's about it.
This is a work of pure genius and in my opinion the greatest piece of literature to come out of America. Heller blends the theatrical masks of comedy and tragedy throughout the book and then kicks you full in the gut when he discloses the full nature and horror of war, which leaves you feeling guilty at having laughed at the superficially funny stuff earlier in the book. A masterpiece in the art of story telling and one the best 5 books I have ever read and will probably ever read.
James: that is a thoughtful review. I disagree completely, but I respect the viewpoint.
great to see such differing comments. I guess there is no middle ground with Catch 22 - you either love it or hate it.Lee got me to thinking of my favourite lines from the book. I really laughed at Heller paraphrasing Shakespeare when he wrote that some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity and some men have it thrust upon them - Major Major Major was all three.
Jason wrote: "major major major major, salutes you."Do you recall that Major Major Major's father disapproves of loose women who turn him down? Especially the gum-chewing clerk down at the A&P?
Robin wrote: "or if you work for the state, which I do, but come on, catch-22, no one in their right mind would want to get out on a catch-22."from C-22:
"But they're trying to kill me!
"Don't be silly, they're trying to kill everyone."
"What difference does that make?"
That might give me a reason to get out by whatever means.
Yeah, my take away was it is a brutal brilliant anti war anthem, but it is a book written by a man for men. I can't get behind a book that doesn't have a single women whose worth isn't measured by her willingness to fuck the men in the book the correct amount of times in the correct way. Yes I understand it is satire and outrageous character flaws are the point. Ye while almost every one of the men in the novel has something real or redeemable not a single women is given a backstory or something that doesn't make you hate her or say she's crazy by the end of it. Ok maybe the old woman - but she is a plot device more than anything!!! Yet at the same time the book made me uncomfortable in a very good way and books that do that are always worth the reading.
Catch 22 is what it is (to coin a phrase) to the individual reading it, or watching the movie. Some will read it as a comedy, others as a treatise on war/man's inhumanity to man, etc. Others yet again will see mindless drivel. I found it witty, sad, inspiring of anger on one page and laughing out loud on the next, tears on yet another.
It's a collection of delusional, ADHD-fuelled, pseudo-intellectual ramblings by an author who fancied himself as a satirical genius... and got what he wanted to a certain extent. An ALMOST intolerable read salvaged somewhat by the ramblings of my own mind during the hours I slaved over this "novel".
Thom wrote: "I first read Catch 22 in 1969 in Vietnam. It was about another war but the system seems to never change. Joseph Heller takes the senselessness of war to an extreme but never loses the basic truth o..."easily one of the top 5 or 10 books of my lifetime. These characters are with me day in and day out. My life would be poor without this book.
Mustapha wrote: "It's a collection of delusional, ADHD-fuelled, pseudo-intellectual ramblings by an author who fancied himself as a satirical genius... and got what he wanted to a certain extent. An ALMOST intolera..."Yeah, what you said.
Mustapha & Joanne.Astonishing lack of insight!
Seriously, you both need to take a course in how to read Literature!
Tommi180744 wrote: "Mustapha & Joanne.Astonishing lack of insight!
Seriously, you both need to take a course in how to read Literature!"
You need to keep a civil tongue in your head, and respect the opinions of others.
Joanne wrote: "Tommi180744 wrote: "Mustapha & Joanne.
Astonishing lack of insight!
Seriously, you both need to take a course in how to read Literature!"
You need to keep a civil tongue in your head, and respect..."
Asimov: "My ignorance is as good as your knowledge."
'Nuff said. Tommi, you're not wrong, but you just need to not waste your breath.
Astonishing lack of insight!
Seriously, you both need to take a course in how to read Literature!"
You need to keep a civil tongue in your head, and respect..."
Asimov: "My ignorance is as good as your knowledge."
'Nuff said. Tommi, you're not wrong, but you just need to not waste your breath.
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Excellent comment!