The hell of war (Catch 22 - Joseph Heller)

Member Name: FilmstarUK

Product:	Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Date:	15/09/00 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Engrossing

Disadvantages: None

Catch 22 is one of those few books that can be appreciated even by people who haven't experienced war at all. I haven't been involved with WWII, however, this irreverent look at the absurd nature of all bureaucracies still affected me powerfully.

Written like stand-up comedy, this continuous punchline takes the reader on a trip through the hell's of war as seen by Yossarian, a bombadier who thinks, rightly, that everyone is out to kill him. Yossarian's paranoia is truly bizarre yet seems to make perfect sense in a world changed by the presence of war.

This masterpiece of modern literature holds as its core theme that war alters everything and everyone, and that people in such a situation become themselves paradoxes. The doctor who is obsessed with his own health, the chaplain who loses his faith, the tortured pilot who can't sleep unless he knows for sure that he won't be sent home and must fly more missions; all make this war satire one of the best two or three books I've ever read.

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