An Expert Exploration Of The Absurb...A True Modern Masterpiece (Catch 22 - Joseph Heller)

Member Name: wampyrii

Product:	Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Date:	11/07/01 (178 review reads)
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Catch 22 is easily one of my most favourite books of all time. It is a totally insane piece of work from the pen of Joseph Heller detailing the exploits of a squadron of pilots on the ficticious Italian island of Pianosa. The story focuses upon Yossarian, a pilot who spends most of his time trying to devise ways to escape from the war and never have to make another bombing run again, mainly by illustrating exactly how crazy he is. In fact, he and every single other member of the squadron we are introduced to in the novel are crazy in their own way, but despite this are unable to be grounded because of a military clause which lends the novel its title. You see, pilots, bombardiers and navigators can only gain removal from the war should they invoke catch 22, which states that people found to be insane can not fly...but which also states that only crazy people would want to fly so if you ask to be relived from this duty then you must automatically be quite sane and sane people fly. Trapped by this and a doctor who is so self-obsessed as not to notice anyone else's plight each member of the squadron must carry on their duties, getting into a variety of hilarious situations as Heller takes us on a truly awesome exploration of the absurd through an increasing number of catch-22 situations.

Each chapter in the book introduces us to a different squadron member as seen through the eyes of the cynical and sarcastic Yossarian, detailing each to be completely insane in their own way with some gloriously intricate and absurd situations and characterisation. War is one enormous absurdity in itself, fighting for a goal whereby nobody wins and lays the foundations for a novel like Catch-22 to flourish on. Heller's writing style is superb, weaving his intricate web expertly whilst delivering some snappy dialogue which will make you laugh out loud at just how crazy the whole thing is. It may start off slow and be a little difficult to access at first until you catc
h hold of what Heller is actually up to here, but once you do then the remaining pages will fly by. I had a real problem putting this one down, reading well into the small hours until I could no longer keep my eyes open because it is that good, laughing out loud often and hard much to the annoyance of those I live with who were trying to sleep! It is quite long, and the final couple of chapters tend to drop the hilarity in favour of detailing some of the futility and horror of war, but overall this a superb peice of work. Easily Heller's finest novel and one of the finest ever written in the English language and if for nothing else, famous for introducing the term Catch-22 into the English language. Heller's later work never really came close to this, not even the follow-up novel 'Closing Time' which details the lives of Catch-22's main characters some years after the war in their twilight years. They are good, but nowhere near as good as this.

Overall: An absolute classic, recommended to everyone, no matter what their taste in literature.

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