No Laughing Matter
by Joseph Heller, Speed Vogel
On This Page
Description
An uproarious and frank memoir of illness and recovery, No Laughing Matter is a story of friendship and recuperation from the author of the classic Catch-22. It all began one typical day in the life of Joe Heller. He was jogging four miles at a clip these days, working on his novel God Knows, coping with the complications of an unpleasant divorce, and pigging out once or twice a week on Chinese food with cronies like Mel Brooks, Mario Puzo, and his buddy of more than twenty years, Speed show more Vogel. He was feeling perfectly fine that day--but within twenty-four hours he would be in intensive care at Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital. He would remain hospitalized for nearly six months and leave in a wheelchair. Joseph Heller had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a debilitating, sometimes fatal condition that can leave its victims paralyzed from head to toe. The clan gathered immediately. Speed--sometime artist, sometime businessman, sometime herring taster, and now a coauthor--moved into Joe's apartment as messenger, servant, and shaman. Mel Brooks, arch-hypochondriac of the Western world, knew as much about Heller's condition as the doctors. Mario Puzo, author of the preeminent gangster novel of our time, proved to be the most reluctant man ever to be dragged along on a hospital visit. These and lots of others rallied around the sickbed in a show of loyalty and friendship that not only built a wild and spirited camaraderie but helped bring Joe Heller, writer and buddy extraordinaire, through his greatest crisis. This book is an inspiring, hilarious memoir of a calamitous illness and the rocky road to recuperation--as only the author of Catch-22 and the friend who helped him back to health could tell it. No Laughing Matter is as wacky, terrifying, and greathearted as any fiction Joseph Heller ever wrote. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
NO LAUGHING MATTER, co-written by CATCH-22 author Joseph Heller and his friend, Speed Vogel, is a fascinating look at Heller's bout with Guillian-Barre Syndrome, a debilitating neurological condition that can quickly kill or cripple. Heller was lucky in that he was diagnosed almost immediately and got the best treatment available. Even at that it took him a couple years to get back to near-normal again. Heller and Vogel write alternating chapters in this memoir, which works fairly well, although it is obvious that Heller is the writer. Vogel, a friend of over twenty years, stuck by Heller throughout his ordeal, taking over all his business and financial dealings for him and visiting him faithfully. (Heller was going through a divorce at show more the time he was stricken. He later married one of his G-BS nurses.)
It's highly probable that I found this book even more interesting than I might have, because I'd just finished reading Roger King's LOVE AND FATIGUE IN AMERICA, an 'autobiographical novel' about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), which mimics many of the same symptoms as G-BS. This is the first Heller book I've read since his other memoir, NOW AND THEN, a few years back. Although Heller ended up writing several novels, he is most famous for that first one, CATCH-22, now considered a classic. I tried to read a couple of his other books, but never could finish them. I would, however, recommend this book (as well as his other memoir) to anyone who is a fan. Joseph Heller died in 1999. show less
It's highly probable that I found this book even more interesting than I might have, because I'd just finished reading Roger King's LOVE AND FATIGUE IN AMERICA, an 'autobiographical novel' about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), which mimics many of the same symptoms as G-BS. This is the first Heller book I've read since his other memoir, NOW AND THEN, a few years back. Although Heller ended up writing several novels, he is most famous for that first one, CATCH-22, now considered a classic. I tried to read a couple of his other books, but never could finish them. I would, however, recommend this book (as well as his other memoir) to anyone who is a fan. Joseph Heller died in 1999. show less
This is the true story of Catch 22 author Joseph Heller's experience as a patient with the debilitating neurological disease Guillain-Barre syndrome. It was co-written with his friend Speed Vogel and effectively juxtaposes moments of hilarity with tragedy. He had a prolonged convalescence and ultimately married the nurse who was in charge of his care.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
19+ Works 54,406 Members
American novelist and dramatist Joseph Heller was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on May 1, 1923. Heller started off his writing career by publishing a series of short stories, but he is most famous for his satirical novel Catch-22. Set in the closing months of World War II, Catch-22 tells the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who discovers the horrors show more of war and its aftereffects. This novel brought the phrase "catch-22," defined in Webster's Dictionary as "a situation presenting two equally undesirable alternatives," into everyday use. Heller wrote Closing Time, the sequel to Catch-22, in 1994. Other novels include As Good As Gold and God Knows. He also wrote No Laughing Matter, an account of his struggles with Guillain-Barr Syndrome, a neurological disorder, in 1986. Thirty-five years after writing his first book, Heller wrote his autobiography, entitled Now and Then: From Coney Island to Here. In his memoirs, Heller reminisces about what it was like growing up in Coney Island in the 1930s and 1940s. On December 13, 1999, Heller died of a heart attack in his home on Long Island. His last novel, Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man, was published shortly after his death. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
1 Work 230 Members
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Ei mikään naurun asia
- Original title
- No laughing matter
- Original publication date
- 1986
- First words
- In August of 1982 a twenty-six-year-old man in New Jersey wrote to tell me he had been on a respirator in the intensive care unit of a hospital for fifty-eight days and had not been able to talk all that time.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It hardly ever does the trick.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 230
- Popularity
- 141,286
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.71)
- Languages
- 8 — Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, German, Polish, Slovak, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 15
- ASINs
- 4
