Catch-22 (1961)

Although I knew very little about the story I knew that some people find it very hard to follow due to the chaotic structure and that put me off a bit.

I found it to be a little slow starting off but I immediately liked Yossarian and even though a lot of characters are introduced I never found it confusing. Some of the names used are absolutely awesome such as Milo Minderbinder and Lieutenant Schiesskopf. The use of humour is great and I found myself chuckling along quite often while reading.

The military bureaucracy shown the spotlight in the book is ludicrous but I couldnt help but feel that its only an exageration of what Heller must have experienced during his time in the military. For example, for a long time, Yossarian has a dead man in his tent. He was killed before records show that he was in the unit so no one would remove the body. To all intents and purposes he doesnt exist despite the existence of a body.

Along with all the humour and insanity of the bureaucracy there is crushing tradegy, the deaths of the enlisted men along side Yossarian. Some of the men are not afraid of death, being blinded by patriotic zeal or some other sense of duty. There is also Milo Minderbinder who is making vast profits off the war which he states many times is also owned (shared) by everyone. A lot if not all of the themes dealt with in the book are applicable to modern conflicts.

Despite my reservations I really enjoyed this book and I only wish I had read I earlier. I rarely re-read a book but I can see this being a book I revisit in the future. Thanks again Kylie. ( )

A modern "classic" I had never read. Unlike numerous other readers, I liked the first few chapters: sharp, cynical character sketches and a black humor that made me snort with laughter while at the same time gasping, "Oh god, that isn't funny!" Heller can turn a sentence around on a dime: "The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likable. In three days no one could stand him." He is lacerating on the stupidity of military bureaucracy and its practitioners, though it often goes "over the top" into rapid-fire "Who's on first"-style dialog that becomes tiresome. Then there is the bombing run over Bologna: a mission where every man climbs into the plane knowing he will be dead when the day is over. It is terrifying, blazing with noise, chaos, hysteria, madness, courage, and violence. And they survive. Brilliant.

But... but... OK. I GET that this is wartime. I GET that this is a macho all-male environment. But the women... every female mentioned, described, or alluded to is one thing and one thing only: something to f*ck. They are objects of mindless, heartless lust, to be made fun of, to be held in contempt, to be used, abused and misused, and they frequently don't even have names. The one soldier who falls madly in love with a whore, mooning over her, spending money on her, hanging around her in an ineradicable passion, is stupid and pathetic. From the officers' wives to the miserable cleaner in the brothel, they exist for only one purpose. Perhaps this toxic cloud lifts later in the book? Perhaps there is a real woman in there somewhere, or perhaps this is just another black trick of the author's, who means to raise the curtain on the ugliness of misogyny and some kind of enlightenment occurs? I don't know. I just didn't want to read any more of it to find out. ( )

I tried really hard to like this book. It was unique and fresh and had many moments of mirth but it was very slow at developing a plot; so slow that I ran out of patience when I had read 50% of the book and the story or plot is yet to start.
This review will be highly skewed towards the negatives (cause I left it midway); however, I am consciously trying to include some positives as well.
One thing that really struck me when I was reading the preface was the review of a petulant reviewer that this book seems to be screaming to its reader and though I was sceptical as to how that was possible; it was one of the aptest insights about this book. Catch-22 is a story of Yossarian (whatever I have read till now) who is desperately trying to protect himself from dying as everyone is out there to kill him. He is repeatedly getting stuck in participating in a war he has no interest in cause one of his seniors keep on increasing the number of mandatory flying trips before he can be relieved. Not only this but almost all the events in this chirpy war tale is due to random events and idiosyncrasies of the cast involved. Though it is a fun read with deep insightful moments about the futility of war you do not feel any connection to any person what so ever. This lack of connection is felt acutely as you progress and made me almost despair of a storyline. Maybe this book was too random for my taste. This book also dwells in extremes, it introduces a positive incidence and then twists and turns it into something negative by overusing it.

All in all, it is an enjoyable read. The only thing that acted against it is the size of the book and the lack of emotional contact with the casts.
( )

A classic book, that you hate reading, but can't put it down. A book that flows from chapter to chapter but jumps all over the place in time in mid sentence. A book that describes serious incidents in the war but is light-hearted. Respectful to the men who served in WW2, but also disrespectful at the same time. Some characters you love, some you hate, some you love and hate depending on what chapter you are reading. A book about how the corporate world is run very similar to the military. Favourite character - Major Major Major Major... The Catch, you are allowed to leave, but you can't.. ( )

I gave up. This was just too dated to finish. ( )