Catch-22

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Additional Catch-22 Information

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 the dictionary.

At the heart of Catch-22 resides the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his skin from the horrible chances of war. His efforts are perfectly understandable because as he furiously scrambles, thousands of people he hasn't even met are trying to kill him. His problem is Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions that he is committed to flying, he is trapped by the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade, the hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule from which the book takes its title: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

Catch-22 is a microcosm of the twentieth-century world as it might look to some one dangerously sane -- a masterpiece of our time.

What Customers Say About Catch-22:

This book is a classic. Catch-22 is on all of those Top 100 books of the century lists. Just start reading the damn thing already. Jesus.

Bureaucracy is one target of Heller's writing.The style is exasperating. The humor in this work is wicked.The focal character of this book is John Yossarian, a bombardier in the Air Force who wants to get out of combat duty. The title has entered our language as a description of certain situations into which we might fall. The work goes back and forth in time; different characters' perspectives are involved. He runs into Catch-22: to get out of duty, you must be unfit to fly. But to want out is to show that one is sane--hence, not unfit.The book, by Joseph Heller, is an interesting take on behavior and decision-making within organizations. Multiple iterations are used to explain the ongoing storyline. This can be challenging for readers but it also creates an interesting ethos in the work.But, in the end, this is still well worth reading, even many years after its original publication.

From the first page where Yossarian is in the infirmary avoiding duty with a vague liver complaint, the absurdity of his circumstances is apparent. MASH could not have existed without it, though MASH is upbeat compared with Catch -22. Catch-22 is one of the greatest American novels of the 20th century. With the high fatality rate for these missions, it's not a surprise that by the end of the book, everyone Yossarian has served with has been killed except the administrators and commanders, who find they serve their country best in a non-combat role. The sex and violence is understated (perhaps that's how it ended up in the Young Adult section). Yossarian is a bombardier in a B-25 fighter stationed on an island off Italy in World War II. Now that I've read Catch-22, I see that it was hugely influential.

Because of the non-linear timeline and the barrage of characters, Catch-22 was a slow, but not boring, read for me. The language is literate, but the style is modern - it's chaotic, which reflects the circumstances of war and the emotional trauma inflicted on Yossarian, the main character. Published in 1955, before On the Road, it is avant-garde in some of the same ways, but has a different value system. His brown-nosing commander, demonstrating the dedication of his squadron, keeps increasing the number of bombing missions required before (noun), despite the availability of fresh crewmembers. Yossarian's view of war is confirmed paranoia - he believes people are trying to kill him, and they are. I can't remember another book that I liked so much that took so long to read.Catch-22 is a landmark book that everyone should read at some time in his or her life. The language is rich and complex, and the ideas are fresh 50+ years later.

There are several run-on sentences and examples of bad grammar, which are annoying. I do enjoy a little "brain popcorn" now and then, so I'd enjoy it.I didn't.First off, the writing here is garbage. Actually, it's every bit as bad as Twilight. Clevinger was surprised to discover it." There are more examples of that throughout the book, and they are WAY longer than the one I provided. OK guys, I am now ready to be crucified for my negative review. In some parts it was. How about "Clevinger was surprised to discover the inexorable hatred of the Action board, which was the strangest of many things happening". Just random events happening.

Also, the book tries to make itself like a movie by jumping around from character to character when it comes to certain things, something I hate. I get that this book is meant to be a satire, but those names are just childish. If you want a good satire, read Slaughterhouse Five. Yeah, the gun is across the room.

The strangest of all was the inexorable hatred of the Action Board. you don't need to tell us that. I mainly borrowed it because of all the praise it got and the amount of hype surrounding it. Colonel Korn. I had borrowed it from the library recently and tried sitting through it. The names are stupid too- Major Major Major Major. That is way better than, paraphrasing here, "There were many strange things happening.

Further, he abuses such tags as "He lied" or "He questioned", which gets repetitive.The plot. I'll admit, the first three chapters are so absurdly funny, it's beautiful. I know people will downvote me like crazy for this review, so shame on me for being honest, I guess.I was disappointed with this book. Hell, even Family Guy is more creative with the names. Was the book funny. And the ending was funny as well- I felt like someone had spiked my coffee with LSD by the time I got to the end.Lastly, the book's worst crime is that it's downright BORING.

Was there even any plot. It's better than this. The worst crime with the writing is that, like the aforementioned Twilight saga, Heller does more telling than showing. Overall, this book was incredibly frustrating to read. And the dialogue is just "shoot me in the head" awful. I could hardly distinguish one.

There's hardly any plot here, the characters, particularly Yossarian, are unlikeable and shallow, and the book is too long for its own good, yet simultaneously not long enough for the amount of stuff crammed in it. Hammer away at the nails.

This book jumps around a lot. There are many references to prostitutes, one night stands, and "love" that is actually lust. Overall, this book wasn't horrible but I don't believe it deserves the raving reviews it got from others.As a female reading this book, I found it a bit difficult to connect with the male mind. It gives tidbits of information that at the time might not seem important but tie into the main story later. So, if you're a bit skiddish of vulgar language and references you'll be sorely disapointed in this book.The whole book is full of catch-22s. For instance, a character named Hungry Joe likes to take pictures of naked women that never develop correctly but when he was a citizen, he had been a professional photographer. Because of this, the book gets more interesting towards the end but seems drawn out and boring at the beginning. All in all, I've read better books but I've also read a whole lot worse.