Books : Catch-22

Rating: - Stubborn, heroic innocence in a mad world
Heller's classic is a surreal and sprawling story of immoral naivety and moral complexity. Ostensibly about the absurdity of World War II combat, Heller examines issues of group think and individual obligation with surprising philosophical clarity.

The Catch-22 that Yossarian, the erstwhile hero of our story, encounters maddeningly and repeatedly is any insoluble contradiction, expressed in his case in this infinite loop:

A. Yossarian realizes that continuing to fly combat missions is crazy because it puts his life at risk.

B. Therefore, he realizes he is crazy, and asks to be relieved and sent home because he is crazy.

C. Rejection of his claims by the Army doctors because the fact that Yossarian is aware that he is crazy for flying missions and is able to request to be relieved proves that he is sane, and therefore must continue to fly combat missions!

As stated succinctly in this exchange between Yossarian and Doc Daneeka:

"'So?' Yossarian was puzzled by Doc Daneeka's inability to comprehend. 'Don't you see what that means? Now you can take me off combat duty and send me home. They're not going to send a crazy man out to be killed, are they?'

'Who else will go?'" (p. 305 of this edition)

The contradiction, and Yossarian's persistent attempts to escape it, frames the absurdist humor that guides the book's organization. Physical comedy, ironic and witty verbal exchanges, fast-cut overlaps of scenes, characters, and forward- and backward-shifting time frames result in an existentialist masterpiece that belongs to every time and place.

But the theme of obligation drives a stubbornly-innocent Yossarian to a moral consistency that does mark him with a supremely heroic character:

"History did not demand Yossarian's premature demise, justice could be satisfied without it, progress did not hinge upon it, victory did not depend on it. That men would die was a matter of necessity; which men would die, though, was a matter of circumstance, and Yossarian was willing to be the victim of anything but circumstance." (p. 68 of this edition).

Like every hero, he makes the difficult and dangerous decisions his friends (and enemies) only wish they had the courage to make.

In the end, Yossarian faces his internal nightmares brought to life in a bizarre tramp through Rome after losing his closest friends and faces the difficult decision of denying his obligations to save his life, before learning that others have acted heroically in their own way and opened a way out of this absurdist trap.

Catch-22 will make you laugh, think, and feel good about being able to do all three.

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Rating: - Fantastic, Humorous and Everlasting
"Catch-22" remains one of my favorite novels of all time. Its cleverness, wit and insight never cease to amaze me. Having read Heller's novel countless times, I can honestly say that I find something new and surprising about it each time I pick it up. With that being said, I did notice some objection to it both from fellow reviewers and friends to whom I have suggested it. My only theory behind the stark contrast between people who love the book and people who do not understand it is that the rhythm of Heller's writing takes a little while to seep in. Behind the joke is a level of seriousness and behind the seriousness is another layer of satire. It is this layer that is often hard to access, but once one does the entire novel plays out as a macabre caricature of life. I can only suggest that the reader plod along for a long as possible, put it down for a while, pick it up again from the beginning but always keep going. The truth of "Catch-22" is worth discovering.

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Rating: - I had to read it so I could know not to read it.
Why is this a so-called "classic"? Got me. I have no idea. Another reviewer said that you could skip chapters and not miss anything. I agree. I first attempted this novel a few years ago. I quit in less than 50 pages, so bored was I. I picked it up again recently, and I'm now less than 50 pages from finishing. What an unfulfilling reading experience this is. There is no central unifying theme or plot - other than that war is hell and the military rarely makes sense. But we knew that, right? As for the whole catch-22 business, sure, that is amusing the first twenty times, but it gets old quickly. This story could have been told in 50 pages and even that would have been too much.

Why then, if it is so bad, am I about to finish it? You know how it is. You start reading, and you become determined to complete it, just to say you did. There is no enjoyment in it though. I am looking forward to getting done so that I can read something else. My advice? Don't read this novel. Read the ingredients on food packages in your cupboard instead. You'll have more fun.

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Rating: - Precursor of MASH and more
This is the original (at least in terms of modern relevance) satire of modern warfare and decision making. However, it achieves a level of humour very rarely achieved elsewhere. It is a very personal book, and some of the personal touch, sidesplitting jokes, and very dark serious undercurrent make this resonate more with me than some of the other great "political / moral" satires - Animal Farm and 1984 after all can leave you feeling somewhat cold.

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Rating: - Great great book
This book is so good, my weak attempt at a review is not going to do it justice. But I'll try.

I knew before I was half-way through that this is going to be a favorite and I plan to re-read it immediately. The writing is so fresh, the character studies so sharp, and the satire so relevant in today's increasingly bureaucratic (corporate) society, no wonder it was so hard for me to find a used copy. It's definitely a book I plan to hold onto and enjoy re-reading every year.

Anyone who's ever worked for a big corporation (like myself) can identify with Heller's hilarious and angry take on bureaucracy. Gen. Peckem's quote reads like a line from Dilbert or Office Space:

"Just pass the work I assign you along to somebody else and trust to luck. We call that delegation of responsibility. Somewhere down near the lowest level of this coordinated organization I run are people who do get the work done when it reaches them, and everything manages to run along smoothly without too much effort on my part."

It's sad how true that is in real life.

But this book is not all satire. It has a big heart. I often found myself laughing and crying at the same time. I can tell Heller cares deeply for his characters, even when he makes high comedy out of their sad fates (such as what happens to poor Doc Daneeka). He's brutally honest about the horrors of war, and laces them with enough humanity to really break your heart. It all makes the climatic "miracle" that much more satisfying. It's a satire that ends with a message of hope. And I like that.

Many people call this book ant-war, but I don't think it is. It really comes down to the last conversation btw. Yossarian and Danby. The ideals of war can be good - who can argue against rescuing Western Europe from Nazi domination. But it's the method of war - and all the evils that go with it - that makes no sense. Are these evils worth the ideals? It's a catch-22. And it's a dilemma that applies to life in general, not just to war.