Review
`mournful and joyful...is masterful' --Books Quarterly
Observer
The greatest satirical work in the English language since EREHWON
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
68 of 75 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
On the surface, Catch-22 is a fine novel about the U.S Army Air Force in Europe during the 1939-45 war. You do not have to scratch the surface hard to find a classic, timeless novel of the fine line between sanity and total madness. Is Yossarian, the 'hero', totally sane, or utterly, irredeemably insane? You tell me. Catch-22 is unique in its ability to thrust confusion, frustration, despair, insanity, death and plain old fashioned misery in waves - and yet repeatedly surprise you with its sidesplitting humour. When you laugh, you are not laughing at Heller's finely crafted characters, with all their idiosyncrasies, but at yourself, your friends and relatives. Because Heller's situations mirror the daily stupidities that we all put up with, laugh about and cry about. Reading Catch-22 is like sitting through the main feature a second time - you know exactly what will happen next; you know that nothing can change it. You cannot help hoping that it won't be so bad. But, of course, it's worse.
47 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
People I know who have read Catch-22 have:
* Been unable to talk to me about it because they laugh when they're half way through telling me what it is they want to say
* Glorified it as funnier than any book, film, comedy series or stand up performance they've ever seen
* Said that they found it so annoying they had to throw it away
* Asked me what was happening after reading the first 100 pages
* Considered never reading again because they'd decided they'd never read anything better
* Had to leave the tube due to annoying the other passengers by laughing
Why do people love it? Because it is dark, surreal, immoral, subversive and hilarious. It gets away with it because Heller finds the perfect setting (a small island) in the perfect time (World War 2 - a dark, surreal, immoral time). But it all rings true because Heller was a WW2 airman himself.
Why do people hate it? I can only speculate. Maybe it's because there is no traditional plot-weaving. Maybe because the chronology is all over the place. Maybe because the main love-interest is a whore. Maybe because it relies on being absurd.
Its humour lies in words mainly so maybe people who don't find wordplay funny don't find Catch-22 funny.
Everyone should TRY and read this book. Even if you do cast it aside and lament a waste of a week's reading after 200 pages. If you love it you will really love it. I did and it's led to me writing an amazon review - and I've never done that before.
Just don't read the sequel.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I recently reread this book for the first time in 25 years and it is still one of the funniest books I have ever read. Catch 22 demonstrates the absurdity of bureaucracy in war in a hilarious way. The most appealing attribute of the book is how it re-enforced catch 22 throughout the novel and you realize the concept is applicable not only in the military but also in the government, at the office, and even family. The characters are real flesh and bone and in the end I was sad to see them go. Anyone who enjoys watching the ineptitude of interoffice politics and bureaucracies will enjoy this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This is a modern classic?
"My god!" yelped Yossarian as he turned the last page of Catch 22. "This novel is preposterous, monstrous, ludicrous, exorbitant, extravagant, nonsensical and contemptible. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Rusty
Smart Read
A real great read, I almost felt immersed within the plot as the story line was so evocative and vibrant. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Larry B
Catch-22
I love this book and although it may not to be to everyones taste (the humour is quite dark) the sheer genius of Joseph Hellers writing and the sharpness of his mind at the time of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Machine
Brilliantly witty, brutally wise
Catch-22 is perhaps the most bizarre novel I've read. It's tangential, disjointed funny and sad. It's very much tongue-in-cheek for the vast majority of the time, but when it... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Juliet Foster
A bit dated
I know some people love this book. I started reading the book about 15years ago, but it is one of a handful which I have given up on before the end. Read more
Published 2 months ago by clemi
Very very boring
After reading the overwhelming amount of great reviews on this book I was expecting something special, but was extremely disappointed. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Bundle77
Not what I expected
Did not like this book even though it's supposed to be a classic! Spoke to one of my male friends who read it when he was young - he said that it WAS a difficult read, a book of... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. C. A. Collins
Dark and Unforgettable
Definately give this a go if you like funny but affecting novels and are prepared for an emotional roller coaster...very moving in places and really different from the norm. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lesley Tingle
A literary paradox
I will say I enjoyed this book on the whole but at times felt like giving up only to be laughing on the next page at something darkly comic and terribly insightful ! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ladyg
This should be on every secondary school's reading list-a masterpiece.
Joseph Heller is a genius and this book is a masterpiece. Laugh-out-loud funny and gut-wrenchingly serious, read it and weep. Then read it again!
Published 5 months ago by Debbitee
Popular Highlights
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There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for ones own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.
Highlighted by 69 Kindle users
Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isnt really crazy.
Highlighted by 37 Kindle users
Like Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else.
Highlighted by 36 Kindle users
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