Catch-22

by Joseph Heller

Review of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

       Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is a cross between M*A*S*H and Abbott and Costello's "who's on first".  Its a story of the Fighting 256th Squadron and the men in it.  I have to admit that the first time i tried to read it I just didn't get it.  I was in my early teens at the time and to me Heller just seemed to write in circles and never got anywhere.  When I recently revisited Catch-22 years later I was able to see the genious in the work.  While the book does seem to go in circles, each time around you get more information and the story progresses forward. 

       There are a lot of characters and at first it seemed like the book was moving too fast to keep everyone straight.  After reading Catch-22 I recommend that you just don't worry too much about keeping all the characters straight because chances are that before too long the book will loop back and revisit the same scene from a different angle.  This will allow you to catch up on who is who.

       The thing that surprised me about Catch 22 was that on several occasions I found myself laughing out loud to myself one minute, and the next minute cringing.  While the book is meant to show the absolutely absurd nature of bureaucratic reasoning, it also shows some of the horrors of combat and the life of a soldier.  All in all I'd say a pretty good book. 

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller was reviewed by Dave Patron

Read the novel once in the underground and found myself laughing out loud by myself (people around me must have thought either I am out of my minds or the book must be really funny) finished the novel 2 weeks back.

started reading the novel (again!) and found myself laughing out loud by myself (again!)

they've even made a movie based on this novel (back in 1970's) trying to get my hands on that at the moment.

all in all people, this book is brilliant. an absolute master piece...

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller was reviewed by Anonymous

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