This book was utterly misrepresented to me before I read it. For some reason I'd always thought it had been published the same year as Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow and was considered as representing the other fork of post World War II American literature apart from Pynchon's--this the conventional, plot-driven one catering to stupid people. Some professor or some didact must have told me that, enrroenously as it turns out, once. Catch 22 predates the Pynchon masterpeice by 15 years, and is in style an apt precursor. Its subject is war and its hilarity. In this it shares much with Pynchon as well as Vonnegut. Since James Heller is not as obviously over-bursting with brilliance and random facts about particle physics as Pynchon, nor is he as willing to pander to mainstream tastes (I think) as Vonnegut, Catch 22 is a tought read at the begiining. There is a lot of irony and detachment, but with not as much ease as Vonnegut and with less of the awe inspired by Pynchon. IN fact, I almost gave up, and had started this book (450 pages) several times before and actually had given up. The real story of Catch 22 doesn't start coming together well past page 200, but when it does, it really does. There is a brilliant portrait of an entrepreneurial mess chef who is the representation of evil, evil being capitalism and the lack of loyalty to any moral cause. He creates a vast international smuggling network whose intricacies are at once ridicuously amusing and yet, it seems, accurately and minutely portrayed--it's as if Heller were a partcile physicist translating science for us when he lays out how that "syndicate" works. Most importantly, the book affected me because of what it had to say about war, and then how it was able to communicate that through the heartbreaking travails of one officer--Yossarian--who is willing to act out human desires in the face of a dominant culture turned insanse and subhuman, caricatured. His wartime airforce base is a perfect illustration of RD Laing's common-sense supposition, developed not long after the period of this novel, that insanity is a sane response to an insane world. Catch 22 is clever and tight and thematic--"Catch 22" refers to how things that seem irrational can be made to seem rational through tautology. This is a cleverly embroidered theme throught the entire novel. But in the end these are not what make the book great. It's the emotion at the heart of the book, Yossarian's desire to live and be fleshly human, and his unwillingness to retreat into the bastions of irony and obtuseness so attractive to eberyone around him. This is what makes Catch 22 heartbreaking and poignant, tear0jerkin even.

I've not been pulled through the spectrum of emotion quite as enjoyably as this in some time, with Heller ingeniously switching tones on a dime with a magician's charm. One moment I was giggling and the next my jaw was clenched at descriptions of war. Thankfully for my taste, Heller leaned more on the comedic side.

Reading Catch-22 was sort of like watching a brilliantly shining coin flip in slow motion over the course of a majestic parabola, making its way to the ground with the weight of someone's fate resting on whichever side it falls on. But it's not a gimmick; both tones are crucial and equally pleasing throughout the story.

Catch-22 definitely wasn't perfect, but it's close. It reminded me of a Confederacy of Dunces with scenes many people simply won't laugh at without possessing a certain sense of humor. It just is what it is—taste, like all art. And at times, if you don't lock into the tone, it can be a bit to wrangle. But if you rise above the chaos and insanity and tune into the frequency, you'll enjoy it thoroughly.

Yossarian and Dunbar pretty much represent how my friends and I would have handled a similar situation—with a sane amount of insanity necessary in the face of such horror and idiocy. Yossarian has to be the best anti-hero I've come across, and the way Heller is able to spin illogical conversations, rules, and situations into logical nonsense and back again is simply fantastic.

I'm rambling now, but it's truly laugh-out-loud great. Among too many to name, Clevinger's interrogation and the moaning at the briefing were comedic gold. But if you're not in it for the humor you can rest assured it's certainly an "intellectual" book as well. In fact, often the humor is funny in the way that things can only be funny once they cross that line of pure horror and absurdity and there's nothing left to do but laugh. But it touches on all of life's "Big" questions in its own way, and there's plenty of psychology to examine—just filtered through absurd bureaucracy and the evils of war. And I must say, the final scene with Snowden was incredible.

I really can't say enough about this beauty, so trust me and see for yourself. This was my second attempt to read it after ditching it about 30 pages in a year ago. And honestly part of that first failure was likely due to having read all of the bashing reviews before starting and letting them paint my perception. But it's all in the eye of the beholder, and all that jazz, and once I settled and gave it an honest shot it took off. So I highly recommend giving it a chance. Certainly glad I did.

I also think Heller's prose is underrated; there were some lines in there that knocked me out. I'll definitely read this again and always recommend it to friends. This one pulled me in so well that it's one of the rare books that's genuinely made me wish characters were killed off painfully....fucking Milo.

I originally read this about 15 years ago. When I joined Goodreads and added the books I had previously read I remembered it as a 3 star book. I am not sure if it is being 15 years older or the fact that I did the audiobook this time, but it was easily 5 stars now!

The first thing that came to mind after I was a few chapters into this was the show “Seinfeld”. Always touted as a show about nothing, this book was kind of about nothing. It is series of smaller anecdotes, usually somewhat silly, that really don’t have a specific function in moving the plot. It is a satire about war, red tape, chain of command, etc. and the inherent futility involved. While war and the tragedy that goes with it are usually not considered amusing, this feels like a therapeutic, tongue-in-cheek poke that needed to be made to maintain sanity.

There are a plethora of characters – some of which are more caricatures – that may get your head spinning at first. Luckily, Heller gives them all memorable names which helps keep them organized easily. Maybe that was not his intention, but when you need to remember if it was Milo Minderbender or Major Major Major Major (yes, that is his name – my spell check did not like me repeating a word four times!) who did something, the reader is definitely given naming tools to keep them connected!

I mentioned that there is not necessarily an overall story, but there are definitely themes. One is doing what is best for you no matter who gets stepped on in the process. Another is twisting the facts to make sure the ultimate outcome is what works best for you. And, of course, the BIG idea that has become a common colloquialism (I know I use it just about every day) is the situation of Catch-22. Early in the book, the first example of Catch-22 is that if you say you want to fly bombing missions, you must be crazy so they will take you off the missions – only someone crazy would want to fly missions. But, if you are not on the missions, your sanity is no longer in question so they will make you fly them. If you say you don’t want to fly them, you are sane so you will have to fly them. Basically, no matter how you feel about flying missions, you will end up flying them anyway! Situations like this are repeated throughout the book where there is no good answer to the situation at hand – often with hilarious and frustrating results.

Now, I mention that the book is humorous satire, but it does have many dark moments as well. This kind of goes back to my mention of the discourse within the novel being therapeutic. War is crazy and what can happen is brutal. Oddly enough, a Jimmy Buffett quote from Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes comes to mind: “If we weren't all crazy we would go insane.” That pretty much sums up the book in a nutshell!

So, should you read this book? Well, I think that question is a Catch-22 in itself. I think about 50% of the people who try this will hate it or dnf it. I think the other 50% of the people who read it will love it, quote it, put it on their favorites list. Where the Catch-22 is that I think any person has the capability to be in either category depending on where their mindset is right now. If I recommend it to you now you may hate me, or you may thank me profusely. In 10 years is would be visa versa! I do think the audiobook helped me appreciate it more and it is now in my favorites. Will that happen for you? I definitely cannot be the one to decide that!

I certainly don't like all classics!

There are many different kinds of humor. It was this book's particular humor that destroyed the book for me. The humor is satirical, and usually I like satirical humor, but not this author's satire. The humor starts off manageable, but then goes too far. Too exaggerated! First it becomes simply a bit absurd, but by the book's end it had become quite simply ridiculous. The humor diminishes the book's message.

I remember when the book came out. It is definitely a book of the 60s. I agree totally with the message conveyed. The book is a criticism of the military, war and its insidious spread into the market. The message is important.

The way the author speaks of women certainly did not add to my enjoyment of the book.

Audiobook narration by Trevor White was in fact rather good, even if he did dramatize the reading.

This book took me a LONG time to get into - 250 pages, actually. I was enjoying the story and the sassy/hilarious tone, but I also found the storyline and the narrating very confusing. It felt like the story and the characters were all over the place and I had a hard time figuring out who was who as well as when the things took place.
However, this story grew on me and after the halfway point I started enjoying it a lot. I realized how things worked: the storyline isn't linear so you get some answers gradually to all of the questions that have been raised in your head since the first pages. I especially grew to like the satirical, repetitive and hilarious tone of voice which often came across as absurd. I hadn't read anything like this before and I was digging it.
My favourite thing about this story must be the fact that it has a totally different take on the Second World War. Because this is a satire the war is being dealth with in a humorous way, and the main character, Yossarian, has an interesting way of viewing things. This fresh take on the devastating war was refreshing and I really admired it.
But because of the fact that this took me so long to get into, I've settled on a 4-star-rating. To those of you who have made it through the first part but kind of given up I have to say: Keep going! The story as well as the language becomes much more comprehensible which I think is also symbolic to the story. This book gets so great and I love how it has kind of given me a different view on the Second World War.

☁️ There there, said Yossarian to the dying man, in their plane in the clouds, there there … it was all he could do, all he could say …

Half satire, rife with sarcasm and black humor, and half war novel - war horror that will cut you to the bone.

It’s two books. It’s as if halfway, after hundreds of pages of dark-style satire, the author decides to show the reader why Yossarian is using humor to protect himself. Suddenly we are in the war zone and planes are being shot out of the sky. Men are dying in Yossarian’s arms. And he begins to crack.

Once you get it, at the beginning, you laugh.

Once you get it, at the end, you break and cry.

☀️ A masterpiece.


[Heller was a WW2 vet and completed 60 missions in the Army Air Forces in the Mediterranean. The Army Air Forces became the USAF in 1947.]

milo you're not the boss of me, you can't tell me what to do! i am going to continue fighting, masturbating, and eventually becoming a statistic!

When the title of a book enters the English language that puts it on my reading list right away. What constitutes 'sanity' for men in war is problematic on two levels: 1). - who put them in this situation (war) and 2). - what would a 'sane' person do to get out of the situation. Another book I think should be on a 'congressional reading list'.

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
...
Catch-22 did not exist, he was positive of that, but it made no difference. What did matter was that everyone thought it existed, and that was much worse, for there was no object or text to ridicule or refute, to accuse, criticize, attack, amend, hate, revile, spit at, rip to shreds, trample upon or burn up.

A couple of years ago, I bought the Pop Chart 100 Essential Novels Scratch-off Chart. Catch-22 is the 30th book I’ve read off that list. Set during World War II, primarily on a island off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is an ensemble story of a group of soldiers caught up in an insane military bureaucracy. Some of them are crazy, and some have had craziness thrust upon them. The narrative bounces from character to character in a series of vignettes, and shifts back and forth in time. It’s not particularly plot-driven, though there is an overarching story we keep getting glimpses of throughout until it is fully explained in the final pages.

Catch-22 is a Classic, an Important work of Great Literature. But it’s not entertaining, unless you’re the kind of person who would enjoy 500 somewhat repetitive pages capturing the phrase “military intelligence is an oxymoron.” The book is full of contradictions like “Major Major never sees anyone in his office while he’s in his office” and “my only fault is that I have no faults.” It is comic but not funny. It’s neither a heroic nor a gritty war story but an absurdist one, a take that I’m not sure holds up today (though it is, occasionally, gory). And while it is unsurprising that the vast majority of characters were men, it was still jarring that pretty much every female character was simply a sex object, including the one referred to at least a hundred times simply as “Nately’s whore.”

It was impossible not to notice how heavily the TV show M*A*S*H borrowed from Catch-22, from the ensemble cast and vingette structure, to numerous similar characters, to the idea that Klinger’s attempt to get out of combat only reinforced the belief that he’s sane. But I’d argue M*A*S*H was a far better work of art because it examined a far wider range of emotions. Sure, there was the same sarcasm and anti-bureaucracy themes, but there was also joy, love, humor, fear. Catch-22 really only has one note to play, and I grew weary of it long before the book ended. In fact, I was rather like Nately’s whore, who “was bored and indifferent, and wanted very much to sleep.”

Video review

Even more absurd than its countless catches is how such a crazy novel - straight-up silly at times - can be this moving. If you can stomach its ryhthm long enough to start caring about the characters, you are in for a reading experience of incomparable impact. Yossarian lives!

Is it tragic, absurd, or funny?

WHO CARES!

This beats out almost every book that purports to be funny and I'm not particularly unfamiliar with funny books.

Catch-22 grabs you by the skinny hairs and shocks you into the most wonderful and horrible bureaucratic nightmare ever devised. It's not even the clarity that strikes you. It's not the convoluted insanity of a huge cast of truly unforgettable and brilliant characters as they stumble from one mismatched contradiction after another or as they game the system to truly amazing proportions. (Milo.) :)

It's the timing, the clever buildups, the sheer insanity of one damnable event after another and the realization that the only clear solution, the only way out of this trap, is...

No. Wait. That IS the realization. There is no way out.

We can put the book down, but the absurdities live on. Not just the absurdities inside the book, but in our own lives as we deal with one more piece of nonsense after another. There is no escape. None.

And yet, I kept laughing throughout this novel. This brilliant, brilliant novel.

I'm going out on a limb here to say it's in the upper 20 books of all time. Maybe higher. There's absolutely nothing about this book I didn't love. I'm gonna have to read this 4-5 times just for the sheer perverse pleasure of it.

Sure, some Italian whore might come at me with a steak knife or other piece of cutlery, but that's the cost of doing business with the military.

Totally amazing.

A brilliantly witty and cynical deconstruction of military bureaucracy. I found Catch-22 to be genuinely funny, though the style of humour did become somewhat repetitive. I actually laughed out loud often at the clever contractions and absurd conversations. However I did feel that the novel was a little too long-winded, especially considering the lack of plot. The point was made long before the end, with not much new ground covered. Still it was very clever, and a fun ride.