I must admit that I was a wee bit daunted when the Classics Club spin number meant I would be reading Catch 22 by Joseph Heller – well it’s so long, and I had been meaning to read it for absolutely yonks, since one of my sons read it at school and loved it. Surprisingly I really loved it too, but I can see that a lot of people wouldn’t get on with it, above all it’s really funny. Heller managed to out-Kafka Kafka. Catch 22 was first published in 1961.
The setting is Italy during World War 2 and at the beginning Captain John Yossarian is in hospital, supposedly with a liver problem which has the doctors baffled but really he’s just there trying to stay alive and dodge having to fly into enemy areas and engage with enemy planes. He’s really incensed that he is still having to go on flying missions, every time he gets close to his last mission according to the rules, his boss extends the mission limit. It was originally 25 but soon it might be 80 missions. He fears he’s not going to survive the war at this rate. He would be able to get home if he was insane, but the fact that he wants to survive is proof of sanity – that’s the catch.
All of the high ranking officers despise each other, there’s really an internal war going on between them which is far more important as far as they are concerned than the actual war. As ever though (or so it seems to me) the craziest one is the one to be promoted. He’s only interested in getting the men to march in their off-time. That won’t be at all appealing to the men who obviously spend their time in Rome when they can, enjoying the charms of the local women.
There’s so much in this book, but it’s a difficult one to write about. It’s anti-authority, religion,
bureaucracy and anti-war, and the main character Yossarian better known as Yo-Yo is so likeable, which always helps. In fact there’s even a cat in my extended family who has been named in honour of the character!
It seems that some people have a problem with this book, I didn’t have but I must say that the more you read, the better it gets.
I have always avoided this book although I enjoyed the film. I must have seen it with my first husband, when he was not yet in the Air Force but knew that he would be going in (for pilot training).
Since you have read it and have good things to say about it, I may give it a try some day.
tracybham,
I haven’t seen the film, I imagine it would be quite a difficult one to do. Some of the darkly funny bits reminded me of M.A.S.H. but maybe it was just the medical setting. I’m certainly glad that I got around to reading it at last.
I read this so long ago I actually can’t remember what I thought of it at the time, and it’s been on my list for a re-read for years. So I’m glad to hear your enthusiasm for it – books from this era often feel very dated now somehow, even more than earlier books. I must try to get to it sometime!
FictionFan,
This one seems to be a bit of a Marmite book, so I hope you do enjoy it if you get around to reading it again.
I have a vague memory of aspects of the book but I don’t think I ever finished it. Perhaps I should try it on audiobooks. Here is my Classics Club Spin THE SECRET GARDEN
Anne@HeadFullofBooks,
It could have been doing with being a bit shorter I think, like many books. I found it very funny in parts though, even though a bit dark.
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