Catch-22

Rating:
Summary: MORE STARS PLEASE
Review: Whatever can I say about Catch 22 that hasn't been already ? I can say that it is the first book I ever truly LOVED. It was the first book I ever read twice in a row. I can say I have read it possibly more times than any other [who keeps track ?] at least 10 and maybe 20. I can say it still makes me laugh my ass off. I can say I LOVED ALL the characters even those I hated. I can also say I am very happy I got to shake Joseph Hellers hand and tell him how much I loved his book before he died. I wish I had had a hardback copy of Catch 22 for him to sign for me but I got him to do me a paperback. Well anyway I think Catch 22 is totally wonderful and everyone should read it.

Rating:
Summary: Truly Amazing
Review: Catch 22 is a classic. No book has more viciously exposed the way logic can be a false, coercive tool, or the way men can be coerced by society into fulfilling roles they are absolutely dispassionate for. The book is polymesmeric; making pass after pass over the air base, and the time stretch it explores- like the bombers that Yossarian is petrified of even stepping foot in. Building up detail; layer upon layer, we are forced to examine how this madness revolves and evolves from every possible characters perspective. Every man in this book is small and weak, all are likeable. Amongst the characters of the air base, only Yossarian can see the madness of the false logic and coercion that lies a few inches behind "free will". This book is truly an amazing reading experience, powerful as any book you will read in your life. Another quick book recommendation --> a satire -- [e-mail] by Tom Grimes

Rating:
Summary: Just evening it up
Review: Greatest book I ever read. After all these others no more that I can say. Makes me sick that some people didn't give it 5 stars

Rating:
Summary: Really, Really Disappointing
Review: This novel is widely regarded as a comic masterpiece. The best I can say about it is that occasionally - and I mean once every hundred pages or so - it makes an acute observation about human nature, war, or bureaucracy. The satire in the rest of the book is too broad to be either funny or wise, and there is nothing here to make us care about the characters or what happens to them.

Rating:
Summary: WOW, Catch-22 an almost true fiction
Review: Catch-22 is an exciting and sometimes confusing adventure about a WWII bomber named Yossarian, and his atempts to get out of the war alive. I read this book for pleasure. I recomend reading this book if you are looking for a great book about as crazy as a book can be. The first couple chapters of Catch-22 and some vocabulary may be a little daunting to the reader, but the book is well worth the time to read.
This book was amazing. I do not think I have ever read any thing this funny one minute then horrifying the next. The book is funny in how the world around Yossarian seems totaly absurd and impossible. Unfortunatly in a military setting Catch-22 may also be shockingly closer to reality then first presumed. I think more people who have been in the military at some point in time will enjoy reading this book than someone who has never been in the military

Rating:
Summary: a marvelous book
Review: A fabulous anti-war novel hidden in the midst of a laugh-out-loud comedy. This is one of the funniest books ever written. At the same time, though, it allows us to see the ridiculity of war and violence in general. You're crazy if you don't read this book, but since you're crazy you might not mind, and....well you know the rest.

Rating:
Summary: This review is useless
Review: How to start? Virtually any praise that I can heap upon Catch-22 has been done - and more eloquently than I can ever put it. From a humanistic standpoint it is a far-reaching work touching on subjects which can be deemed universal, even given the extreme circumstances placed upon the characters; though most of us have never even smelled the smokey aroma of a bullet fired at our heads, let alone experienced the horror of war (as far-removed, history-channel watching observers like my self so inadequately put it), Heller smashes, with remarkable insight, care and an almost scary gift for paradoxical logic, into subjects which touch any person with the right-minded patience to plough through this massive novel.

As a work of philosophy (yes, philosophy), Catch-22 visits realms of logic that will twist the reader's mind while making him realize the idiosyncracies in war, indeed in everyday life. There is a reason why the term 'Catch-22' is now a commonly used expression; the book puts a name on a set of logical impasses that had been hinted at before but never officially named. (perhaps by philosophers, yes, but never in such a popular way)

As a work of literature, this book is simply amazing. A testament to the nearly 10 years Heller plunked down into its writing, Catch-22 is easily the most complex and convoluted novel I have ever read which still manages to keep some semblance of sense and cohesiveness. I cannot even begin to imagine the intense plotting and forethought that has gone into its execution; moments hinted at briefly which seem absolutely meaningless resurface 300 pages later and shed new light on everything up to that point. It of course follows suit that this novel needs more than one reading, indeed, needs more than two.

Catch-22 is an extremely important work of art, not only for the generation it was written for, but for humanity as a whole, for its complexity, unabashed humanity, trenchant humor (even all these years later), mad genius and the sheer pleasure it provides in revisiting (the second lecture is much better than the first.)

It is difficult to expound on Heller's genius for having writen this gem within the confines of 1000 words or less, and I usually take with healthy suspicion such raving reviews as I myself have given, but it is duly deserving. If I had to compress Catch-22 into a word, it would be 'timeless'. This novel, I am sure, will be read, appreciated and admired in 50, 100 years from now, far after the echoes of the war it was set in have faded from the failing memory of our species.

Rating:
Summary: A tough read, but a must read
Review: I had seen the movie a couple of times, for better or worse, before reading this top-ten most important 20th century American novel.

While the book is more complete, I think in some ways the movie does a better job of illustrating the madness of war; "Catch-22," the novel, does not rely so much on graphic depictions of blood and gore as it does on the unfairness of circumstance and the fear and pointlessness of men killing other men over the colors of their flags. (How many German and Italian soldiers were facists at heart? Most, I reckon, were young and impressionable and filled with fear over what would happen to them if they refused to fight.)

Of course, WWII was an unavoidable war, one we fought bravely and righteously -- Heller's novel doesn't openly dispute that. What "Catch-22" does in a groundbreaking way, though, is point a spotlight on some of the absurd, from-the-top-down, morally questionable and out-of-public-view actions of war that lead to innocent men, women and children (on both sides of the border) suffering and of course dying. Some of these actions -- repeatedly upping the required number of missions after the quota's been met, using military connections and materiel in the act of selling or trading black market goods for private profit, war-related corporate benefits, private goals of officers that involve men going in harm's way -- may be more associated with our conflicts in Vietnam and Iraq than WWII.

The only valor in this novel exists in the idea of getting out alive; after all, the enemies are not the Germans so much as the commanding officers. Interpreted more deeply, "Catch-22" could be considered a comment on corporate structure and the use of men as pawns in the top-level games played by the players and power brokers of America. (For more on that subject, see "Life Askew," available at Amazon.com.)

The first 100 pages of "Catch-22" is a series of character sketches, some hilarious, some maddening -- there's a very stream-of-consciousness aspect to what little narrative structure exists. (Heller breaks so many storytelling rules and gets away with it!) Madness, folks. It's about madness. The story, what there is of it, really takes shape in the second half -- the more satisfying half of the novel, more structured and less antic.

Like The Grapes of Wrath and 1984, Catch-22 is an important cautionary tale. Read it if you would rather live on your feet than die on your knees.

Rating:
Summary: 400+ pages of the same thing
Review: 'Catch-22' is a pretty famous book, so you might think you need to read it to be "well read". Don't. If you read more than 20 pages you will just be wasting your time. You get the idea by the time you finish the first couple chapters, and after that it's just the same stupidity over and over again. Save yourself some time and trouble and just skip the entire thing.

Rating:
Summary: Just Wonderful!
Review: In CATCH-22 Joseph Heller deals with all the gruesome aspects of World War II: the death, the destruction, the inhumanity, and the knife-wielding whores. In the world of the main character, Yossarian, the absurd is reality. Yossarian is crazy, but in a time of madness the insane become the sane, and the powers and institutions that are recognized as stable are revealed to be painfully clueless.

CATCH-22 is a novel that cannot be read and understood without taking on a new perspective of the world. A satire in the true sense of the word, it makes a mockery the bureaucratic systems that dominated during World War II, systems to which we are still slaves today. Only in a setting so horrific can we encounter such intense irony that it really is painful to laugh. The escapades of Yossarian and the outlook he has on life make every situation he encounters equally hilarious and twisted; once you are pulled into his mind, you will see the reasoning behind accepting an honor of medal from your superior without any clothes on. You will appreciate the fact that Major Major Major is such a difficult man to see. And you will truly realize the horror of war, and what it brings out in the human character.

Read this book. Whether you enjoy it or not, you will have done yourself justice by indulging in a unique, perspective-altering experience. I purchased this book through Amazon.com right after another great purchase, THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez, about an unlucky writer addicted to the personals. Both are wonderful, recommended books. Enjoy!