Like the others who have written reviews of Catch 22, I first read Heller's jaundiced view of the bureaucracy of war as a youngster. Unlike the others, I immediately related to it and understood the Yossarian view, probably because I was an immigrant child who navigated so many bureaucracies in my voyage through the American experience. The concept of a "catch" came early to me, as so often I heard "Not so fast, young man," when I thought I had overcome another obstacle.
It was actually refreshing to read that the madness and frustration that I was experiencing was not just relegated to my little world. I laughed out loud at the brilliant logically illogical incongruence generously distributed throughout the text. I was no longer alone in the world, nor felt singled out. In it's most ridiculous depiction, life is a struggle for happiness (power, influence and goodies), full of catches requiring creative and perhaps Rube Goldberg-like solutions which seem to defy logic.
For what is logical in human affairs? It may be quite convoluted and ostensively nonsensical. But this may only be a Rashomon/point-of-view dilemma, or perhaps a stew so complex as to challenge a recipe.
Despite what this novel may or may not be saying to you, it is a great read because it is clever and very, very funny. I can guarantee that you will genuinely laugh out loud, occasionally uncontrollably.
And you will never shake from your memory the "madness" of Yossarian, the elusiveness of Maj. Major Major Major, and the fury of Nately's whore.
Catch-22 is like no other novel. It is one of the funniest books ever written, a keystone work in American literature, and even added a new term to th...More at HotBookSale
Catch-22 is like no other novel we have ever read. It has its own style, its own rationale, its own extraordinary character. It moves back and forth f...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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