by Joseph Heller
paperback 462 pages (not sure where I got it . . . )
Audiobook from Scott County Library 16CDs
Read by Jay O. Sanders
Published: 1955
genre: realistic fiction (historical now - WWII)
Although I despised this book, I forced myself to finish it. Here's what I appreciate about it:
1. It's considered a "classic" work of literature (how something is designated as such is a different discussion) and I try to read at least one each year. Done for 2020.
2. I already understood the gist of "Catch-22" as a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario, but reading the book gave me a deeper understanding of the term. (see passage below)
3. Heller uses language in ways that are not common in much of what I read and I appreciate some of the ways he expresses things. (e.g. in one part, he uses "Saturnalia" and "obstreperous" in the same sentence! I love that.)
Reading about the novel on Wikipedia (after writing the rest of this) helps me understand it a little better, but I definitely don't like it. Also won't read the sequel!
Catch-22:
I was probably an unsafe driver as I jotted the notes below. I won't provide context or commentary beyond my scraps of paper:
- craziness / nonsensical comments and questions (e.g. "flies in your eyes")
- Doc Daneeka - whiner!
- ugliness of war
- censoring mail recklessly / swearing / Lord's name in vain . . .
- repetition / lots of characters
- ridiculousness . . . a commentary on war?
- abuse of authority / power trips
- Major Major's dad / farmer paid to NOT grow alfalfa
- CID man telling a bunch of guys they're the only one being told he's a CID man
- Washington Irving
- Major Major Major - so sad!
- Loyalty oaths / meanness / exclusion
- Major Mmhm(?) de Coverly - (I had to look in the book. It only had a blank line for the major's first name. The reader read it like "Mmmhmm" . . . )
- What year was this written? What about the Greatest Generation? These guys are awful! What kind of reception did the book get? I will do a little online digging after I finish reading it.
- Yossarian "falls in love" with a LOT of different people! And very easily . . .
- WHY did Yossarian keep telling McWatt to dive and go back after they had a successful bomb run? Contrary to self-preservation . . .
- prostitutes in Rome
- non-linear timeline . . .
- repetition in paragraphs and in stories. Soldier in white in hospital . . . almost the exact same language used. Purpose?
- Anti-God rant. Sad.
- Chaplain - ugh! I hate this book.
- Whitcomb is awful. Chaplain is too weak. Grow a pair! Stand up to him! You're the superior officer.
- dysfunction. evil. self-centeredness. cruelty.
- Milo and his syndicate. Mayor of Palermo. Milo Minderbinder.
- Aarfy bragging about his fraternity gang raping . . .
- Chaplain's assistant is a surly atheist. Really? You can't request someone else?
- Bordello / naked girls
- How many languages do typical Italians know?
- profiteering / greed
- Milo bombing his own troops (to make more money)
- why would other men agree to this?
- DOUBLESPEAK! Milo is amoral.
- Whitcomb's disrespect, rudeness, and general awfulness . . . ugh.
- I look forward to reading about Catch-22 and context!
- Smack his face!
- I despise this book.
- Cathcart so obsequious to General Dreedle.
- Extreme misogeny
- "The trouble with you is . . . " used by too many characters to find fault in others!
- swearing / foul
- Doc Daneeka's "death" - ridiculous
- four new 21 year old officers in Yossarian's tent . . . at 28, he's an old veteran.
- Prostitutes . . . abuse. Disgusting, cruel, inhumane, sad.
- I'm just enduring this book . . . CD 13 / 16 . . .
- Italian - I don't speak or understand it except when it's close to English . . . "idiota" and "Stupido" made sense.
- Nately's whore - his ideals.
- I love that Heller used the word "transmogrified" in 1955!!! It made me think of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons.
- Wisconsin shingles . . . the chaplain excited that he'd told a lie . . . vice becomes virtue as he rationalizes his choices.
- No character
- Chapter 35(?) - Yossarian prayed! . . . to Nately.
- Milo selling to Germans . . .
- I despise Milo, his greed, his selfishness, . . .
- Yossarian should have flown with Orr! Orr went down and got free . . . with a giggle, I'm sure.
- Colonel Scheisskopf - no parades. Whining. Pathetic.
- General Peckem - karma when Scheisskopf is promoted . . .
- discouraging - lack of concern for life, humanity, doing what's morally right . . .
- lying, lying, lying
- ego. Greed. selfishness.
- Kid Sampson's death - gruesome. McGann's suicide. This book is bleak!
- context?
- Chaplain - handwriting. Falsely accused. Not allowed to defend himself. As a reader, I'm frustrated and angry! Heller's intent?
- Eternal City chapter - soldiers pushed girls out into the streets because of "Catch-22" but Yossarian says Catch-22 doesn't even exist.
- prostitution in Rome - not a new issue. This book made me think of the missionaries who spoke at church and asked us to pray for the sexual sin to end.
- Man beating crying dog with a stick while a crowd watches . . . horrors. Comparison to Christ - why? Innocence suffering? Man beating child a few streets over. Crowd watching. Deja vu.
- Yossarian's helplessness and horror.
- Aarfy raped a maid, held her hostage two hours past curfew, then threw her out the window and killed her. And then he rationalized it. Yossarian's anger and shock at him. Then Yossarian is arrested for being in Rome without a pass and the MPs apologize to Aarfy for disturbing him . . . man's inhumanity.
From Wikipedia:
"Catch-22 is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century,[2] it uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, describing events from the points of view of different characters. The separate storylines are out of sequence so the timeline develops along with the plot.
The novel is set during World War II, from 1942 to 1944. It mainly follows the life of antihero Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th US Army Air Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea west of Italy, though it also covers episodes from basic training at Lowry Field in Colorado and Air Corps training at Santa Ana Army Air Base in California. The novel examines the absurdity of war and military life through the experiences of Yossarian and his cohorts, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they may return home.
The book was made into a film adaptation in 1970, directed by Mike Nichols. In 1994, Heller published a sequel to the 1961 novel entitled Closing Time."
Yossarian as an "anti-hero" is an interesting designation. Satirical, but not at all funny. Makes me wonder at some of the blurbs promoting the print book: