where to start with a book like this one, A book that is a third Kafka, a third Vonnegut, a third Pynchon and completely insane For the firstorpages, it is like a broken record or a movie loop with Sisyphus rolling that boulder up a hill in American WWII battle fatigues and a flight suit and a Mae West life preserver sans the inflation module thanks the MampM Enterprises.
Then, when the flak starts flying and the blood is splattered everywhere it is intense right up until the end,
It features Chaucerian cast of characters that would not be out of place in the German chaos of Gravity's Rainbow or The Tin Drum, A few examples:
Major Major Major Major: "He was a proud and independent man who was opposed to unemployment insurance and never hesitated to whine, whimper, wheedle, and extort for as much as he could get from whoever he could.
He was a devout man whose pulpit was everywhere, " But if you want a meeting with him, you'll have to wait until he has climbed out the window of his office and run down the gully,
Colonel Cathart: "a slick, successful, slipshod, unhappy man of thirtysix who lumbered while we walked and wanted to be a general, . . he was impervious to absolutes, He could measure his own progress only in relationship to others, and his idea of excellence was to do something at least as well as all the men his same age who were doing the same thing even better.
" Even if or especially if that meant raising the number of combat missions fromtoto impress General Peckham or General Dreedle or gasp General Scheisskopf !! whose wife was well, just a little promiscuous.
Then there is the Anabaptist chaplain who started to wonder about whether God exists and is tortured by his assistant, the sadistic Colonel Whitcomb and spends a lot of time wondering whether everything he sees is déjà vu, presque vu or jamais vu.
Also, the illfated young Nately and the equally illfated old man debating whether America was winning the war or whether Italy was since Italy has already survived more than two millennia more than the US even existed: "This sordid, vulturous, diabolical old man reminded him of his father because the two were nothing at all alike.
"
And then there is Yossarian, the protagonist, Perhaps the insane Captain decorated for making a second bombing pass that killed Kraft being the sanest person on the island of Pianosa despite being haunted by Snowden, the soldier in white, the dead man in his tent, persecuted and nearly killed by Nately's whore and all the death and absurdity around him.
Yossarian is an everyman who is justifiably paranoid, but just a cog in the system and the only person that retains a sense of outrage at the senseless violence all around him.
This is the most antiwar book I believe I have ever read, It makes MASH look like a US Army recruiting poster in comparison, I was horrified by oneman syndicate MampM Enterprises of Milo Minderbender the cynic who deals with total impunity openly with both sides even manning the antiaircraft flak machines on the Italian coast shooting down US bombers and bombing his own squadron with loads of casualties.
This of course scarily parallels the Trump links with Putin and Russia and the massive amounts of money that Trump stands to make as POTUS, Kid Simpson's slaughter was perhaps the most gruesome of them all, but the the scenes of terror and anarchy that Yossarian sees in Rome before being arrested for being there without a pass leaving the murderous Aarfy smiling and careless as always were chilling.
Do not come here seeking logic or sanity because in war, neither has any place not in Catchand I suppose in real life either, It reminded me of a cab driver I had once in New Orleans true story who was bragging to me about burying Iraquis in their trenches by rolling over them with tanks and bulldozers during the first Gulf War.
When I mentioned that it was against the Geneva Convention to bury men alive, he shrugged in the rearview mirror and said "They told us that those rules didn't apply to us since this was just a conflict and not a war and besides, we were the US Army and not bound by some stupid European rules.
"
If, as I did, you struggle through the firstpages, the pace picks up as does the violence and you will find yourself cheering for Yossarian and racing to the end if not, as Yossarian, to Sweden.
I would give itstars, but the firstpages are really torture to get through, so for lack of being able to give a,, I rounded down tostars, Regardless, I can clearly see, however, why this classic is held in such high esteem, May we never go through another war like this again, I can also see some of the inspiration for Alan Alda for creating MASH in thes and, reading Fire In the Lake about Vietnam, we learned absolutely nothing from the errors that Heller describes.
Reading the second Rick Atkinson book of The Liberation Trilogy about the Allied campaign in Italy, Every bit as brutal and chaotic as Heller portrayed it particularly the brutal inchbyinch campaign up from Salerno to Rome! Anzio was particularly horrendous, Curious fact: Roger Waters' father the one he eulogizes in The Wall died at Anzio,
Highly recommended as a piece of essential antiwar black humor,
Did anyone watch Clooney's adaptation on Hulu Is it worthwhile While I agree with everyone who says the book is important, I also think it could have been chopped down by aboutpages.
The story is about how lives are ruined when the wrong people are put in charge, why war isn't some grand adventure, and the ridiculous nature of bureaucracy in general.
It's not so much funny as it is satirical, and the joke wears thin as it spins in circles with nonsensical stories that add very little to the overall reading experience.
My opinion, of course,
I am extremely glad I read this because most people know what you mean when you say Catch, but maybe not everyone knows it originated from this book.
Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach, "Is Orr crazy"
"He sure is," Doc Daneeka said,
"Can you ground him"
"I sure can, But first he has to ask me to, That's part of the rule, "
"Then why doesn't he ask you to"
"Because he's crazy," Doc Daneeka said, "He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he's had, Sure, I can ground Orr, But first he has to ask me to, "
"That's all he has to do to be grounded"
"That's all, Let him ask me. "
"And then you can ground him" Yossarian asked,
"No. Then I can't ground him, "
"You mean there's a catch"
"Sure there's a catch," Doc Daneeka replied, "Catch. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy, "
There was only one catch and that was Catch, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.
Orr was crazy and could be grounded, All he had to do was ask and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions, Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them, If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to, Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catchand let out a respectful whistle,
"That's some catch, that Catch," he observed,
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed,
I appreciate learning more about the source material for stuff like this, But the story doesn't go anywhere but in a sideways circle, so I was absolutely gagging for this to be over with after a relatively short time, And this is not a relatively short book, By the end of it, I had exhausted all of my patience and was annoyed by everything from the dialogue to the character themselves,
If you're a reader like me who needs things to kind of go somewhere in a somewhat concise time period, then you may need to temper your expectations with this one.
Still, I'm not sorry I ticked this one off the bucket list, Here is my more indepth review:
sitelink be/RcTgSiCYk
Sorry, I don't get it, So many circular conversations that at the outset we know aren't going anywhere, Too many characters to care about any of them, Failed as a moving war novel and failed as a comedic novel, It just wasn't funny!
Almosthours on the audiobook, and I wish I could get those units of my life back,
Connect With Me!
sitelinkBlog sitelinkTwitter sitelinkBookTube sitelinkFacebook sitelinkInsta I have tried three times and can not drop into this book.
It's too disjointed my brain doesn't work that way I guess, I wanted to like it, I loved the premise, the concept, It just didn't work and I'm more disappointed about it than anyone else, :I'm really surprised that I gave this bookout of, as I have always vocally bemoaned how much I didn't enjoy it, The satire / humour I found a tad too infantile for me, so I guess what must have earned my rating, would be how the nonlinear story line builds up a whole picture as you read the book Whether I like it or not it is a modern classic, and I can see why It's just not my cup of tea.
out of.
read I originally read this aboutyears ago, When I joined Goodreads and added the books I had previously read I remembered it as astar book, I am not sure if it is beingyears older or the fact that I did the audiobook this time, but it was easilynow!
The first thing that came to mind after I was a few chapters into this was the show “Seinfeld”.
Always touted as a show about nothing, this book was kind of about nothing, It is series of smaller anecdotes, usually somewhat silly, that really dont have a specific function in moving the plot, It is a satire about war, red tape, chain of command, etc, and the inherent futility involved, While war and the tragedy that goes with it are usually not considered amusing, this feels like a therapeutic, tongueincheek poke that needed to be made to maintain sanity,
There are a plethora of characters some of which are more caricatures that may get your head spinning at first, Luckily, Heller gives them all memorable names which helps keep them organized easily, Maybe that was not his intention, but when you need to remember if it was Milo Minderbender or Major Major Major Major yes, that is his name my spell check did not like me repeating a word four times! who did something, the reader is definitely given naming tools to keep them connected!
I mentioned that there is not necessarily an overall story, but there are definitely themes.
One is doing
what is best for you no matter who gets stepped on in the process, Another is twisting the facts to make sure the ultimate outcome is what works best for you, And, of course, the BIG idea that has become a common colloquialism I know I use it just about every day is the situation of Catch, Early in the book, the first example of Catchis that if you say you want to fly bombing missions, you must be crazy so they will take you off the missions only someone crazy would want to fly missions.
But, if you are not on the missions, your sanity is no longer in question so they will make you fly them, If you say you dont want to fly them, you are sane so you will have to fly them, Basically, no matter how you feel about flying missions, you will end up flying them anyway! Situations like this are repeated throughout the book where there is no good answer to the situation at hand often with hilarious and frustrating results.
Now, I mention that the book is humorous satire, but it does have many dark moments as well, This kind of goes back to my mention of the discourse within the novel being therapeutic, War is crazy and what can happen is brutal, Oddly enough, a Jimmy Buffett quote from Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes comes to mind: “If we weren't all crazy we would go insane, ” That pretty much sums up the book in a nutshell!
So, should you read this book Well, I think that question is a Catchin itself, I think aboutof the people who try this will hate it or dnf it, I think the otherof the people who read it will love it, quote it, put it on their favorites list, Where the Catchis that I think any person has the capability to be in either category depending on where their mindset is right now, If I recommend it to you now you may hate me, or you may thank me profusely, Inyears is would be visa versa! I do think the audiobook helped me appreciate it more and it is now in my favorites, Will that happen for you I definitely cannot be the one to decide that!
The novel is set during World War II, fromto, It mainly follows the life of Captain John Yossarian, a U, S. Army Air Forces Bbombardier, Most of the events in the book occur while the fictionalth Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea, west of Italy, The novel looks into the experiences of Yossarian and the other airmen in the camp, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they may return home.
sitelink
A shiny new batch of awesome for my "all time favorite" shelf, It has been awhile since Ive so throughly enjoyed reading a novel that has, at the same time, left me as intellectually awestruck as Joseph Hellers classic sermon on the insanity of war.
What a sublime, literary feast, To prepare:
. Start with a surrealistic, Kafkaesque worldview basted in chaos
Knead in a plot reminiscent of Pynchon, taking particular care that the bizarre, placidly disjointed surface fully camouflages the powerfully nuanced, and deceptively focused central message
.
Marinate the whole thing in a dark, hilarious satire that would have made Vonnegut beam like a proud papa,
. Bake at, season with zesty prose, and serve,
Voila a singular, absurdilarious serving of inspired genius that I can not recommend more highly,
This novel was so much more than I was expecting,
Despite its pervasive, laugh out loud humor, Hellers story is the most horrifyingly effective depiction of the insanity of war that Ive ever read, Im not referring to the evil and vile atrocities perpetrated in war that have been so extensively catalogued throughout the annals of literature, Rather, Heller's insight is geared to showing us the illogic of war, the outofcontrol nihilism, and the chaotic, existential absurdity of it,
Note: this observation is coming from someone whos never been closer to war than the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, so season the above with grains of salt as necessary.
It's brilliant,
PLOT SUMMARY:
I think any attempt at a plot summary is doomed to inadequacy, so let me just briefly frame the story.
The novel follows the exploits of the fictionalth fighter squadron, stationed on the fictional island of Pianosa, during the height of WWII, With a large cast of characters and a nonchronological narrative that switches viewpoints constantly, Heller creates a delicious cauldron of madness and bureaucratic ineptitude that is just heaven to follow.
Our chief tour guide through the nuthouse is Captain John Yossarian, bomber pilot, whose main ambition in life is to “live forever or die in the attempt”.
Yossarians life wish is so strong that he doesnt even distinguish between the “enemy” and his superiors, As far as he's concerned, the enemy “is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on, ” To avoid the final finality of death, Yossarian concocts a series of ingenious and hysterical methods for staying alive, including poisoning his own squadron and redrawing a the combat map during the “Great Big Siege of Bologna” so as to alter the bombing target.
Despite his often less than moral shenanigans, Yossarian acts as the conscience of the story and helps to keep the rampant lunacy and chaos in context, His is the voice of indignity and righteous anger against the war and the cold, faceless bureaucracy that perpetrates it, Even against the God that allows it such horrors to exist in the first place,
Don't tell me God works in mysterious ways, Yossarian continued, hurtling on over her objection, There's nothing so mysterious about it, He's not working at all, He's playing. Or else He's forgotten all about us, That's the kind of God you people talk about a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed, Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements Why in the world did He ever create painTHOUGHTS:
Pain Lieutenant Scheisskopf's wife pounced upon the word victoriously.
Pain is a useful symptom, Pain is a warning to us of bodily dangers,
And who created the dangers Yossarian demanded, . . Why couldn't He have used a doorbell instead to notify us
Loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it, loved itand loved it.
The writing is brilliant, the characters are unique, engaging and memorable, and the story will scar you with wonder and awe, I cant believe I hesitated so long to read this, and I intend to sit down with this many times in the years to come,
For those that have experienced this before, and for those who just want a stroll down memory lane, here are a few pearls that showcase this novels rather large package of absurd, satircal win.
“Fortunately, just when things were blackest, the war broke out, ”
"I'll tell you what justice is, Justice is a knee in the gut from the floor on the chin at night sneaky with a knife brought up down on the magazine of a battleship sandbagged underhanded in the dark without a word of warning.
"
“Colonel Cargill could be relied on to run the most prosperous enterprise into the ground, He was a selfmade man who owed his lack of success to nobody, ”
“Colonel Cathcart was indefatigable that way, an industrious, intense, dedicated military tactician who calculated day and night in the service of himself,
And a personal favorite all leading up to the very last line:
The chaplain had mastered, in a moment of divine intuition, the handy technique of protective rationalization, and he was exhilarated by his discovery.Finally, I wanted to share one last piece of awesome with you, The following is the contents of the letter sent by the base commander to the wife of one of the main characters,
It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice.
Anybody could do it it required no brains at all, It merely required no character,
Dear Mrs. , Mr. , Miss, or Mr. And Mrs. no spoiler: Words cannot express the deep personal grief I experienced when your husband, son, father, or brother was killed, wounded, or reported missing in action,Pricelessand whats even funnier is that the set up of the joke occurs aboutpages before,
Masterful.
.stars. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!
.