GOOD AS GOLD

Rating:
Summary: In ain't no "Catch-22"....
Review: ...But, then again, what is? I guess my expectations for this book were way too high. I loved "Catch-22", and it ranks amongst my favorite books of all time. But "Good As Gold" seemed...off. It reads almost as if someone was trying to immitate Heller (a poor immitation at that). It was nearly as funny as "Catch-22", nor was the humor as dark or ironic. It was absurd, for the most part. Only Ralph and the other Politicians in the book had lines with any real biting social criticism that were comparable to EVERYTHING EVERYONE said in "Catch-22". It does make many interesting comments on politics in America, though frankly they are expessed elsewhere in a more productive manner. I found my copy at Half price books for about a buck, and I consider it worth that much, at least. In short, read "Catch-22", if you just love it, read "Good as Gold" for a Heller-heroin fix...

(I do need to write up my favorite quote from the novel though...from Ralph- "American Democracy is the most rigid aristocracy on earth...")

Rating:
Summary: Crude.
Review: Catch-22, my first Joseph Heller novel, sometimes made me giggle until my sides hurt, and then took me into devastatingly truthful chapters where I cried. The wit, the humor, the catches, and the longing for more hasn't been surpassed. The novel was amazing, and certainly remains one of my favorite books of all time. But this? It's crude, it's vulgar, and it wasn't worth my time. I kept waiting for it to pick up, and it never did. I was disappointed in Heller's satire -- yes, the White House does have its problems, but Heller just sounded unintelligent when all he could talk about was sex. The book is directionalless, (though it does mimik Gold's life). There was a bit of humor ... three stars go to the moments I chuckled. But I have to say, I grew sick of the book.

The moral? Read Catch-22 ... you'll love it forever. After that, don't pick up another Joseph Heller book ... you'll be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: good, but not gold
Review: i once read an interview of joseph heller in which he stated he came up with the idea for novels by coming up with an opening sentence. assuming that to be true here, this is a novel about the jewish experience. when we view this book from that perspective, we have a better appreciation of it. we have gold, who is out trying to write a book about the jewish experience, continually rejecting his jewish heritage. it is not until the end when he finally embraces it.
the political humor is exaggerated and doesn't work as well as it did in catch 22 where the setting of war makes the absurd normal. his family life is archie bunker/michael like except for the very touching lunch between gold and his older brother sid. this conversation brought the family into focus.
other characters like liebowicz and his fiancee's father border on the ridiculous and don't add a lot to the story.
this is not vintage heller. suggest your reread catch 22 instead.