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Loading... Catch-22 (Vintage Classics) (original 1961; edition 2004)by Joseph Heller (Author)
Work InformationCatch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Oh boy did I hate this book! It’s a modern classic satire about the absurdity of war. It sort-of has a plot and characters but is mostly just “wow, war is absurd, isn’t it?” for nearly 500 pages. This is just very much not my type of humor so it did not work for me at all. ( ) Overview: Success has a catch. A catch that prevents success. Decision makers create conditions for success, but the moment the conditions are met by someone, there are other conditions that prevent their fulfillment. The very conditions for success, prevent success. The fulfillment of goals, requires them to be perpetually unfulfilled. There is always a catch. These paradoxical claims are usually used by those in authority, which inspire arbitrary decisions, that leads to benefiting the authority at the expense of their subordinates. Playing by their rules means preventing one’s own success. Not playing by their rules, still prevent one’s own success. During World War 2, Yossarian is part of the Air Force, and tries as much as possible not to fly any more missions. Everyone needs to fly a certain number of missions, but everyone has already flown more missions than initially intended. The number of missions keeps increasing, as they keep matching the number. Making everyone think that they are going home, and demoralizing them when the goal changes. Flying more missions is crazy and those deemed crazy do not need to fly more missions. But if someone knows that and does not want to fly, they are considered sane and therefore need to fly more missions. Caveats? The book can be difficult to read, in part because the writing lacks flow, but also because it can be hard to keep up with the paradoxes. Difficult for the characters, and the reader, to know what the paradoxical decisions mean, and how to overcome them. There is a humor to the claims and decisions, but given the context, it is usually tragic humor. This book is a treasure trove of flagrant incompetence. The 1961 book: Catch 22 could be said to be an extended illustration of [b:The Peter Principle|890728|The Peter Principle|Laurence J. Peter|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347586680l/890728._SY75_.jpg|875969], which was published in 1969. It seems like everyone in the unit is incompetent. They each have misguided goals that seldom align with the organization goals. The book describes interactions between them, not the German enemy. The first few chapters are people talking nonsense past each other, frequently there long conversations that are deliberate misunderstandings of simple communication. It seems as if everyone hates and fears everyone else in their unit. After reading it for a while, I found myself falling into the same miscommunication patterns that they were using. That almost caused me to stop reading, but it is so highly rated by other people that I kept on in hopes that it would get better. It only got marginally better. I struggled to give it a rating of 3 stars, but after reading more decided to give it 2 stars, which feels more appropriate for a book where nonsense, misunderstanding, belittlement, mayhem, and rage are the standard fare. Lies, including blatant lies are the order of the day. Consequences are rare, random, and often applied to the innocent with truth being totally irrelevant. Meanness to each other and misdeeds are followed by more misdeeds. This book only serves as an example of doing things wrong. With military like this, it’s amazing that we won the war. But then, this purports to be a work of fiction. Doesn’t it? A review of [b:The True Story of Catch 22: The Reality that Inspired one of the Great Classics in American Literature|45486006|The True Story of Catch 22 The Reality that Inspired one of the Great Classics in American Literature|Patricia Chapman Meder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557174422l/45486006._SY75_.jpg|70264505] caused me to read Catch-22. The front material and the after material caught my interest more than the book. I am delighted that I did not purchase a copy of this book. Belongs to SeriesCatch-22 (1) Belongs to Publisher SeriesHas the adaptationIs abridged inInspiredHas as a studyHas as a commentary on the textHas as a student's study guideHas as a teacher's guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron on a small island off Italy, a bombadier named Yossarian is frantic and furious because thousands of people he hasn't even met keep trying to kill him. He has decided to live fo. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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