Catch-22

Rating:
Summary: A great book to break you away from modern fiction
Review: Recently, I decided to abandon my Crichton, Clancy, and Rice books to begin more "serious" reading. "Catch-22" was my first foray into the heavy artillery. What a refreshing change! Although it took a few chapters to really get a feel for the rhythm of the book, I was instantly hooked. The atmosphere, the dialogue, the humor...head and shoulders above anything else I've read.

It all revolves around Yossarian, a character that wasn't very likeable for a good chunk of the novel. As the story unfolded, he evolved from a coward, to a pitiable product of a dysfunctional environment, to a beacon of strength and sanity in an insane world.

Heller's dry, satirical style was perfect for delivering this great story full of quirky, all-too-real characters.

Rating:
Summary: A Modern Classic
Review: A fantastic novel that I read long ago, actually better now that I am a little older. Recounting the misadventures of a flight squadron and its hero/fool Yossarian. Heller makes it clear that everything has a catch, in this tale of damned if you do, damned if you don't. Each character is in a situation that is result of counteracting forces rather than free will. Hard to put down and sad when it finally ends. I highly recommend Catch 22.

Rating:
Summary: Almost worth reading
Review: This book definitely had its good points - Yossarian's antics ("I yearn for you deeply"), the out-of-sequence structure (yes, I actually liked that), and some of the philosophizing about war which struck a chord with me - but its annoying points outweighed them in the end. The main thing that ruined the book for me was the ridiculously illogical behavior of almost everyone in the book. Now, in a military satire, I expect some ridiculous logic from the commanders, and it's funny at first, but when EVERYONE behaves without logic or intelligence, it loses its edge and becomes annoying. One example: the Colonel (?) who says "You mean the enlisted men pray to the same God as the officers?" OK - that's not biting satire - that's just plain stupid. There are endless examples of this type of ridiculousness, and it turns the novel into a cartoon. And please don't give me the "war is insane" line - while I agree that it is (or can be), the war and characters in Catch-22 are not insane, they are inane.

Rating:
Summary: Tedious, but worth the effort
Review: It literally took me YEARS to finish this book. I'd get halfway and be so bored/frustrated I'd put it down and read something else. Fortunately I did manage to finish it, and I realized it really was worth the effort. I'd recommend it to anyone with a solid sense of humor, a taste for the absurd, and a truckload of patience.

Rating:
Summary: Catch this book.
Review: I've tried to get through this book before, but was never successful. Another "war" story, complete with machismo and death and fight scenes. Having finished the book, I now know that it is a "war" story , complete with the pain, the camaraderie, and the illogic of warfare. "Catch-22" is not meant as an accurate portrayal of WWII, but instead as an farce; a parody in which it is petty local politics and self aggrandizement motivate the fighting, and the higher ups are more ashamed of "black eyes" than casualties. Hmmmm, maybe it is more true to life then I thought...

With the abandonment of logic comes a high degree of frustration. I was so frustrated with this book that I stopped reading at several points. Many of the situations are so ludicrous that you cry out in anguish. But that was Heller's intention - he wanted me to feel just a hint of the frustration the main character, Yosarian, felt as he tries to get discharged from an Army that is as much Orwell as it is Eisenhower. So I embraced my frustration, and laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of it all.

Joseph Heller died while I was still only half way through the book. In a way, it was fitting - he seemed to me just another character, falling prey to the war predetor. But Heller lives on in this story.

Rating:
Summary: Read it.
Review: It seems to me that almost all of the people that DON'T like this book and don't understand the humor are the exact same people that sit around watching sitcoms that base humor on bodily functions. Heller was a genious. I finished the book today, and I don't quite think I'll ever be the same. I am among the few that found the book more serious than satirical. Something about the book just lets anyone identify with it.

Rating:
Summary: An Incredible Book
Review: While reading this book, i got a big kick out of Heller's sense of humour. However, i found that it was something i enjoyed as i read, but the storyline was so choppy that it didn't stay on my mind when i wasn't reading it. As things went on, i got the feeling that, for all it's erratic wisdom, the story didn't hold together well, and would soon burst out of its binding, and lie scattered and no longer useful or respectable. Happily, I was very wrong, and the latter part of the book was an ingenius bringing together of the whole crazy plot, and the resolving of the recurring passage throughout the book made for some of the most intense reading i've experienced. Brilliantly pulled off.

Rating:
Summary: A classic in every way
Review: Catch-22 is one of my top 5 or 6 novels of the twentieth century. It has everything that makes it eternally relevant - the jokes, the characters, the situation - it could be anywhere, any time, any war. This book cannot date, and it will be read in a hundred years time and still be funny. But it isn't just a humorous book. The war scenes are very real and very powerful, and there is a lingering sense of death and horror in many passages. This is what makes it so good - it is a 3D portrait of the modern world. Our hopes and our flaws are captured forever.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This is a brilliantly hilarious novel. On New Year's, though, I had lunch with some women who worked on the movie version of "Catch 22." And even though they worked on the movie, they, in fact, did not like the novel. One of them said, "It's a man's book." This may be true. I've heard other women say they don't like it. But I've never met a man who didn't.

Rating:
Summary: Without Peer
Review: When you discover a novel as brilliant as Catch-22 it is difficult to find words unique or special enough to describe it. Catch-22 is an anti-war novel unlike any other. Instead of sickening the reader with graphic descriptions of the violence and death inherent in war, Mr. Heller uses humor to show the true insanity of war: that complete strangers will try to kill each other for no greater reason than some king or president has directed them to do so.

When I use the word "humor" I come back to my original reluctance in reviewing Catch-22. This novel is more than humorous. It is the only book I have ever read in which I have found myself laughing uncontrollably until my sides hurt. Through all of the laughter though the underlying theme of the work is maintained: that war is not Hell, it is stupid. Catch-22 may have been able to make a pacifist out of Caesar.