Gender: Male Location: Slums of MA (aka Springfield)
Discussion: Joseph Heller's Catch-22
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller was an amazing novel. I highly recommend it to those of you who are interested in good sattires with a lot of black humor, good vocabulary, and details about World War 2. Has anyone here read it?
Gender: Male Location: Slums of MA (aka Springfield)
Heh, well that is what the book is based around, a lot of senselessness used by different characters. Catch-22 has a decent quote of it
"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22. 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 says, "You're talking about winning the war, and I am talking about winning the war and keeping alive."
"Exactly," Clevinger snapped smugly. "And which do you think is more important?"
"To whom?" Yossarian shot back. "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."
"I can't think of another attitude that could be depended upon to give greater comfort to the enemy."
"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."
catch 22 is unusual in the way each chapter is almost completely different in style, depending on the character it's based around. Certain ones therefore being more enjoyable than others. I don't ever remember laughing out loud at any other book, in the same way i did when reading parts concerning, for example, Major Major.
I have to be honest, i got completely lost regarding the trade scam they had going, and unfortunately now the book's completely lost as well so i need to borrow a copy to finish it...
another one of those books that i felt i ought to read because the phrase is in such common useage i wanted to check out where it came from. The original catch 22 situation you quote Maverick is brilliant --- essentially, claiming insanity is proof of sanity. Even though i would not class it as one of my favourite books, i have tremendous admiration for Heller for being able to write such a conceptually original book. Controversial too i understand at the time, having such an honest, self preservationist as a hero
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Jan 20th, 2005 01:36 AM
