55 (Catch 22 - Joseph Heller)

Member Name: pje

Product:	Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Date:	14/08/01 (157 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The greatest novel of the twentieth century, Full of unforgettably eccentric characters

Disadvantages: Chaotic, full of insanity and people die. Just like war.

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Yossarian slumped with disappointment.
'Then I really have to fly the fifty missions, don't I?' he grieved.
'The fifty-five,' Doc Daneeka corrected him.
'What fifty-five?'
'The fifty-five missions the colonel now wants all of you to fly.'
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Doo yoo want the good news or the bad news?

Uh-oh, what's the bad news..?

Word from on high is that we've got to doo more miles...

Who says?

Colonel Cathcart.
He made an announcement over at operational command.

Damn it! I'd nearly reached my quota. What a swizz.

Yep, I think a lot of people were almost there,
that's why he's raised the target from fifty to fifty-five.
I think he's trying to suck up to Major ______ de Coverley.

Major who?

Major ______ de Coverley

______?

Sorry?

What kind of name is ______?

Oh no-one knows - no-one's ever dared to ask him!
I expect Cathcart is hoping to get a feather in his cap for this.

I'd like to give him a black eye!
Maybe I should complain to Major Major...?

You can't.

Why not?

Because he's in his office.

Huh?

He won't see anyone while he's in his office, he'll sneak
out the window later though - you'll be able to go in then.

Go in where?

His office.

But if he's climbed out the window he won't be there...

No, that's the idea, he doesn't like seeing people.

This is driving me mad!

Well that's good, if you go mad you won't have to doo
any more ops, Doc Daneeka can exempt you...
...just as long as you don't ask him to.

What???

Well no-one in their right mind wants to doo more
ops,
so if you ask him to exempt you then that proves you must
be sane and you'll have to doo more ops. That's the catch.

That's some catch.

It's the best there is, it's called Catch-22.

I've heard of that. Didn't some guy called Heller invent it?

That's right, Joseph Heller, he died last year. You know, someone once asked him how he felt about not having written anything as brilliant as Catch-22 since, and his reply was: "Who has?"

Good point!
But everyone in the book's completely insane aren't they?

Oh yes, everyone except me! My name's Yossarian by the way.

Pleased to meet you, I'm Phillip. How ya doing?

OK, considering everyone is trying to kill me! There is a war on you know! Remember, this crazy book is set on an American air force base on an island in the Mediterranean during World War II. With the war going on all around them, they all know that they could die at any time. They have no control over their own lives...
...or deaths. So, to escape from the pressure of being in such
a dangerous situation they withdraw into worlds of their own.
Nowadays I think psychologists call it displacement behaviour.

I've heard that the story-line is all over the place though...

Well, the chronology seems all shot to pieces, like a parade of out-of-sequence flashbacks. So sometimes you encounter the aftermath of an incident before you find out what happened before or during. The fragments fit together in the end though,
after you've see things from several different perspectives.

It's a masterpiece of satire isn't it?

Well, it's not a bad little op, but I wouldn't go that far...
...oh you mean the book!
Yes it is, it anatomizes the lunacy of warfare. It's also hilariously funny. Although, as you would expect with a book about war, there are so
me harrowing incidents and not all the characters make it through to the end.


Hang on, what was the good news?

Oh, that. Milo Minderbinder's been wheeling and dealing again.
He's bought a consignment of eggs for seven cents apiece and he says he's going to make a profit by selling them to us for five. Ipointed out to him that this didn't make sense, but he reckons that everyone in the syndicate will be better off somehow...

He's crazy. Unless there's a catch...

Oh, there's always a catch - that's the catch!

Catch-22?

Yes, Catch-22. The best there is.

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