Catch 22

Rating:
Summary: Insanity of War
Review: Catch-22 was a very confusing book to read at times. I thought it was really fun to read about the insanity of war and what a person thinks of war. In my opinion war is crazy I would not want to be in a war for anything in the whole world. I could not imagine myself flying in an aircraft over a battle zone bombing things, and risking my life for my country many times. That is what the main character of the book did he was Yossarian. Yossarian was my favorite character in the book, because he understood how crazy the war was and he really didn't want to be in it. Many times he tried to get away from where he was stationed but the commanding officers would not let him leave. Yossarian made a lot of decisions throughout the book whether or not to leave the army or to stay, and he was always looking out for the most important person in his life and that was him. That related most to me, because I think of myself as the most important person in my life, and I would do whatever it took to make me happy. Not to say I wouldn't help other people, but I would look out for myself first and for most. I thought the book was very funny. The author Joseph Heller used very funny language throughout the book. His diction is what made the book so great. He made the readers see how insane war really is, which I think is really good for young people to figure out, before they get involved with the army or navy. Think how crazy you have to be to fly a jet over a place that is being bombed and try to dodge missles being fired at you. To me that would be insane and to Joseph Heller that would be insane also. I couldn't imagine myself ever wanting to go to war. People might say well your dying for your country and you have to do this to protect us, well there are other ways of solving disagreements with other countries. Every character in the book was very realistic. I thought that the soldiers were all very scared to die, and they wanted out. I wouldn't' blame them. Overall this book was really good, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a book that has the insanity of war in it, without the violence and the graphic descriptions. Some parts were confusing to me but for the most part I understood the whole book. I would read a Joseph Heller book again.

Rating:
Summary: Crazy Crazy Crazy
Review: Of all the books I've read, I've never read one that made me as confused as Catch-22. I believe it's a great book that shows you just how crazy war can be. My favorite character was Yossarian because I related closest to him. It's hard for me to imagine what it would be like to have to fly an armed aircraft over a battle zone and risk my life numerous times. Yossarian and I are on the same page. I've been taught that I am the most important person in the world to myself just as you should be the most important person to yourself. Every decision that I make will always effect my life therefore I am the most important person to me. Yossarian is much like me because he values his life a lot. He doesn't understand why he should have to go to war and risk his life for his country, because he could die while in battle and not get to enjoy what he is fighting for.

I think Joseph Heller did a wonderful job in letting the readers get a feel for the insanity that war brings to people. Many of the soldiers started out as sane human beings, but the effect the war had on those men was horrific. Think of how crazy you would have to be to fly a jet, that you know will get attacked, over a battle zone for 50 or 60 times. Several men realized how much danger they were in, and they would try to get out of battle by making excuses or faking illnesses. I think that if I was in their situation, I would've done the same thing.

My least favorite character was Colonel Cathcart, because he kept increasing the number of flights that the men had to take. All the men got their hopes up when they were near the required amount of missions, but Colonel Cathcart would make the amount needed a little higher each time so that the men would have to stay and fight. Imagine how frustrating and disappointing that would be. Every time you got close to your goal, it was always set a little higher. After a while the soldiers started to give up hope, because they realized they would never reach the amount required.

Overall this was an interesting read. I was often confused due to the craziness of the characters, but I believe that that craziness is what made the book so good. It brought a weird humor to the story and lightened up the atmosphere.

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Summary: the best book in the world
Review: this is probably one of the greatest literary works ever. Life is one big Catch 22 when you think about it. I have a dating theory about Catch 22's that's very nice.If u'd like to hear it email me. Oh, and if you really like this book, but are a fairly illiterate goon, find out who T.S elliot is, it will be alot more humerouse.

Rating:
Summary: "I see everything twice!"
Review: Who is more dangerous to your sense of self-preservation, the enemy soldier who wants to kill you, or the superior officer who orders you into hostile fire? Joseph Heller took everything that is wrong and insane about war and bureaucracy and turned it loose onto the pages of CATCH-22.

Time does not progress in a linear fashion is this book. Characters that are furious when the minimum number of bomb-missions to be flown is raised to sixty are later appalled when it is raised to thirty. The pilots and crew are trapped in an endless circle of logic, time and red tape. Yossarian's attempts to preserve his life end with him exactly in the same place that he was before. Everything is structured so that escape is completely impossible. All the regulations and requirements keep looping around back upon themselves leaving Yoassarian with no options left.

The strange and bizarre characters that Heller created are really what give the book its teeth. Virtually every character has constructed a routine for himself (since this is set in the male-dominated military camps of WWII, just about all of the major characters are men) that distances him from the actual war effort. The leaders bury themselves into the deep sands of regulation and order, and grapple with tough problems like paperwork, the military hierarchy and organizing parades. The soldiers spend their time drinking, having sex with Italian prostitutes, getting into bar-fights or trying to get rich. What is interesting is that almost none of the characters even mention the opposing side in the war. CATCH-22's war is not about bravery or heroics, it is about selfishness and greed and insanity.

I disagree with those reviewers who have said that the order of the book appears random, as if Heller had written the book in a straightforward fashion and then merely shuffled the chapters around. With the book written in this way, we see the development of certain characters within their own bubble of time, freed from the distractions that other characters and their unrelated subplots would bring. It allows Heller to bring specific themes to the foreground when they are needed or let them sit in the background when they are not.

This is a really excellent book and I highly recommend it. I rate it at five stars because I honestly cannot find any fault with it. The book moves effortlessly from hilarity to tragedy while pausing only briefly to look at how the individual deals with the horror of war. Everything in this book is absolutely and hilariously absurd. One of Yossarian's friends, Milo, owns so many supplies and controls so much of the market that he is able to buy eggs at seven cents each, sell them at five cents and still run a handsome profit. A computer with a sense of humour decides to promote a man to major based purely on the fact that his last name (and his middle and first names) are the same word as the position.

This is a must read for everyone. The illogic will delight you, the humour will tickle you, and the reality of it all will scare the hell out of you.

Note: The Everyman's Library edition contains a new introduction by Malcolm Bradbury, a timeline for notable events in the period during which the book is set and the preface that Heller himself wrote for the 1994 re-issue. If you are planning on buying this book, I recommend getting the Everyman's Library edition, as the added features are quite worth it. Plus, it comes with one of those built-in cloth bookmarks that are so handy.

Rating:
Summary: IRRESISTIBLE.
Review: A Book so full of invention, you are left breathless. There's every chance in the world that Joseph Heller is a genius.

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: Even though this book was written many years ago I still recommend it for any one. It talks about the war, but it is really about the craziness of line. You do not have to in the middle of gunfire to realize that life is really a battlefield - a battlefield of the mind. A great book.

Rating:
Summary: Catch-22, witty, insightful, incredibly tragic and hilarious
Review: In "Catch-22", Joseph Heller paints an incredibly ludicrous, and simultaneously realistic, view of one man against the military-industrial complex. His writing style is difficult to get accustomed to, however once the reader starts thinking like Yossarian, every page is a welcome adventure. Joseph Heller weaves his tale with great skill, taking the reader from ironic situations so funny you *will* laugh out loud, to mind-numbing tragedy on the same page. My personal favorite? Colonel Cathcart, and his 'feathers in his cap' and 'black eyes'. I recommend this novel to anyone with a slightly twisted sense of humor, rest assured you will have your eyes opened.

Rating:
Summary: Probably the greatest American novel of the 20th Century...
Review: The way the logic of the book is twisted into the narrative is awesome- such as Heller's description about one lieutennant being attractive, intelligent, friendly, polite etc. , and therefore everyone hated him.

My favorite instance of this logic is the best come-back to the "What if everybody did that?" attack: "Then I'd be a damned fool to do otherwise!"

I also liked the "It's better to live on one's feet than die on one's knees" exchange.

Read the book, get it: there's enough density, puns, and jokes here that you'll find things you didn't 4 re-readings later!

Rating:
Summary: Catch-22, A Good Book
Review: Catch-22 lays out an entirely radical yet competent way of explaining war, or rather, of explaining the inexplicability of war. Portrayed through confusion and satire, Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is simultaneously humourous and cutting. Given to similarly amusing and sickening, Heller says all there is to say about the insanity and inhumanity of war.

Catch-22 opens during World War II with John Yossarian, a bomber in the Air Force, most fixedly in the hospital with liver problems. However, Yossarian is not actually sick, but is feinting disease to isolate himself from the death of war. A naturally high temperature leads doctors to believe Yossarian is sick when he is not. When Yossarian finally leaves the hospital and goes back to his unit, he finds himself stationed on the island of Pianosa, near the Italian coast and the Mediterranean Sea. It is not clear whether the hospital scene comes before after the next part Yossarian narrates, because his narrative jumps back and forth through time. It is part of the confusion which controls the reader's perception of the nonsensicality of war. Out of the hospital, it seems like nobody seems to truly understand that there is a war going on except for Yossarian. In fact, Yossarian is so set on the death involved with war that he believes that everyone is trying to kill him specifically. He finds it infuriating that "millions of people" are trying to kill for no fault of his own. As he says in an argument with Clevinger about the pointlessness and misdirection of war, "The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." In this perception, Yossarian is unique and practical, decisively demanding that his life is more important than national ideals or abstract principles. He is completely determined to gain immortality or die trying. The largest perceived threat on Yossarian's life at the moment is his air missions, and so attempts to find a way to be grounded. Yossarian asks Doc Daneeka if he would be grounded if he were found to be crazy. Daneeka tells him yes, but there's a catch: Catch-22 says that there's a rule that says for any pilot to be grounded for reasons of insanity must first ask to be grounded. However, anyone who asks to be grounded must obviously be sane. This is Yossarian's first encounter with Catch-22, but it comes back to meet him and others again and again. The most poignant description of Catch-22 is given near the end of the book by an old woman mourning in the ruins of what was once a city. She sums it up by saying that "[The soldiers] have the right to do anything we can't stop them from doing." This is portrayed through every bureaucratic move throughout the entire novel. Higher ranking officers do things to their subordinates simply because they can, or because they believe it will give them a good reputation or promotion. Yossarian and his companions are simply inhuman resources for their blindly ambitious superior officers to take advantage of. Their officers would rather their men took pictures of their bombing runs that looked impressive rather than actually accomplish anything. On top of this, the men can never leave, because higher ranking officials simply raise the number of missions they are required to run before leaving. In this way, all the men are retained within the authorities control. All this is done simply because they can. Because "they have the right to do anything we can't stop them from doing." Catch-22 is, in essence, the law that makes war and murder "legal," the mind-set that moralizes any immoral act, the entire mechanism under which the army can feasiblely run. Without Catch-22, war could not exist, because of morals, values, ethics, individualism, and anything else that governs rational human thought.

A perfect example of the completely nonsensical nature of the surroundings is the power positions. In this story, the mess officer Milo Minderbinder is the one of the most powerful people in the world. He has such a hold on economics that he practically control the entire world. He bombs his own camp as a result of a deal with Germany, he employs the use of every air force in the world for his monetary benefit. Because he controls so much of the market, he manages to buy a shipment of eggs at 7 cents an egg and sell them at 5 cents an egg and still make a profit. He manages this because he is in control of both the company which buys the eggs and the company which sells them. Through subtle and ridiculous manipulation of the market, he probably has more control than any other person in the world.

In sharp contrast to this whimsical, comic nature of Milo is the gory, reoccurring scene of Snowden. Yossarian began his downward spiral into cynicism with the death of his copilot Snowden. Throughout the novel, the story slow unwinds of the traumatic experience of Snowden being shot while with Yossarian, and Snowden dying slowly in Yossarian's arms with his entrails splattered all over Yossarian's uniform. Snowden's final words were simply "I'm cold."

Catch-22 is, in my opinion, one of the greatest books written on the insanity of war. The mechanisms Heller uses in his novel to portray confusion which may be hindrances only enhance the entire read of the novel. While many war stories manage to encompass the horror and meaninglessness of war, few if any other manage to do so with so much wit and humour. Nothing is more sickening then to find yourself emotionally connecting the horrible death of a human being with the abstract orders of an ambitious power seeker. Heller's story of the pursuit of life and the tragedy of death finds both the core values and issues at and, as well as the humour and insanity forever present in that never-ending reality: war.

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Summary: Katie's Review of Catch-22
Review: Book Description: Catch-22 is a tremendous blend of irony and satire. The book pokes fun at the paradoxes of everyday life in the military as it follows the tour of a young pilot, John Yossarian. Yossarian spends his tour of duty going from his station in Pianosa and the city of Rome, where the men meet with Italian prostitutes. While stationed Yossarian has to deal with the loss of many friends and the paradox of the mysterious catch-22, until he finally decides to leave using any means necessary.

Review: The satire that Heller uses in Catch-22 is enough by itself to satisfy the reader. However, he also includes an interesting and action-packed storyline that is enough to make any reader enjoy the book. Heller's outlook on life, as expressed by the protagonist, offers a unique perspective on its irony. The use of a mysterious military directive, catch-22, is how Heller describes the irony best. For instance, Yossarian cannot be grounded from flight unless he asks to be due to insanity. However, according to catch-22, asking to be grounded demonstrates an appreciation for life, which constitutes sanity.

The only downfall to Catch-22 is Heller's extreme use of stream-of-consciousness, the use of jumping through time as the protagonist remembers events. It is very confusing in the beginning of the book and makes the book difficult to start. However, as the book continues and more events are included, it becomes easier to establish a true timeline, and the book can fully be appreciated for the marvelous literary work that it is.