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Catch-22: A Novel (Simon & Schuster Classics)
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780684865133
Edition: S&S Classic Ed
ISBN: 0684865130
Label: Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: October 05, 1999
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Studio: Simon & Schuster
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Editorial Review:
There was a time when reading Joseph Heller's classic satire on the murderous insanity of war was nothing less than a rite of passage. Echoes of Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier who was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament, could be heard throughout the counterculture. As a result, it's impossible not to consider Catch-22 to be something of a period piece. But 40 years on, the novel's undiminished strength is its looking-glass logic. Again and again, Heller's characters demonstrate that what is commonly held to be good, is bad; what is sensible, is nonsense.
Yossarian says, "You're talking about winning the war, and I am talking about winning the war and keeping alive."
"Exactly," Clevinger snapped smugly. "And which do you think is more important?"
"To whom?" Yossarian shot back. "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."
"I can't think of another attitude that could be depended upon to give greater comfort to the enemy."
"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."
Mirabile dictu, the book holds up post-Reagan, post-Gulf War. It's a good thing, too. As long as there's a military, that engine of lethal authority, Catch-22 will shine as a handbook for smart-alecky pacifists. It's an utterly serious and sad, but damn funny book.
Catch-22 is one of this century's greatest works of American literature. First published m 1961, Joseph Heller's profound and compelling novel has appeared on nearly every list of must read fiction. It is a classic in every sense of the word.
Catch-22 took the war novel genre to a new level, shocking us with its clever and disturbing style. Set in a World War II American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is the story of John Yossarian, who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. Yossarian is also trying to decode the meaning of Catch-22, a mysterious regulation that proves that insane people are really the sanest, while the supposedly sensible people are the true madmen. And this novel is full of madmen -- Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly m order to finish their tour; Milo Minderbinder, a dedicated entrepreneur who bombs his own airfield when the Germans offer him an extra 6 percent; Major Major Major, whose tragedy in life is that he resembles Henry Fonda; and Major -- de Coverley, whose face is so forbidding no one has dared ask his name.
No novel before or since has matched Catch-22's intensity and brilliance in depicting the brutal insanity of war. Heller satirizes military bureaucracy with bitter, stinging humor, all the while telling the darkly comic story of Yossarian, a bombardier who refuses to die.
Nearly forty years later, Yossarian lives.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Like MASH, except if every character was Klinger
In my quest to read every "classic" work in history (seriously) I came across this supposed great work by Heller.
I always wonder what I am missing when the jacket calls the contents "hilarious" and hundreds of pages in, I have failed to ever crack a smile.
It's the type of novel (like Ulysses) that I truly believe most people "like" because they think they should, rather than based on it's actual contents.
It's absurd, fine. And??? The characters are relentlessly ... Read More
Rating:  - Best Book I Ever Read
Catch-22 is a jarring, thrilling, hysterical exposition of the oppression and dominance which pervades lives and lifestyles in the modern era. Full of classic dialogue, superb characters, wonderfully narrated, Catch-22 may be the best book ever written. A heartbreaking achievement of staggering genius!
Rating:  - Lost in time
Full of sarcasm, ridiculously funny, with wonderful prose interspersed. I am sure it was unique and shocking for its day but I believe it to be overrated and does not stand the test of time. He makes use of the dictionary, so keep one handy, and the ranting dialog gets to be too much. What Heller did was to spawn others to do the same, such as the novel "Castle Keep", which was better, and the movies Mash and Kelly's Heroes.
The protagonist, and antagonist is a W.W.II bombardier who finds ... Read More
Rating: - Most Brilliant Satire
Heller uses the most brilliant satire as he pens the story of Yossarian and his comrades, and their fight for survival in the midst of war and death. Sarcasm drips off every page, which makes the book a bit slow at times, but thoroughly humorous and enjoyable. And....what an ending!
If you love M*A*S*H, you will love this book! And if you love this book, you should seriously watch M*A*S*H!
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 ... Read More
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