I just read this book for the second time in my life. I first read it when I was in my teens. I recalled laughing a lot and enjoying it so I thought I would give it a shot again in my 30s.
Once again, I found myself laughing every time I picked up the book. In fact, I started to roll my eyes at the humor like, “oh Joseph Heller has jokes…. again…” but he kept me laughing. The book is hilarious, I think that’s its obvious quality.
What started to weigh on me was that it felt like a sitcom. When I was halfway thru the book, I noticed that it was almost like an anthology of Yossarian‘s experience on Pianosa without actually telling me about Yossarian himself or any other characters. Picking up the book felt like turning on the TV to see what those wild airmen were up to in the latest episode. The only growth of Yossarian occurred in the last chapter as far as I could tell. Does anyone have thoughts on the flat characters?
Additionally, there were times that I had trouble following the narrative because the plot would make Yossarian recall something that had happened previously and suddenly the narrative shifts into the memory. It could be difficult to follow, but I thought maybe that illustrated to some extent what it’s like to be Yossarian stationed on Pianosa. Clearly there was a lot on his mind trying to stay alive during the war.
Finally, it seemed to me as if there were a few scenes described multiple times. Was I going crazy or did the scene with Doc Daneeka explaining Catch-22 to Yossarian happen at least twice in slightly different ways?
Curious to hear others thoughts on this book besides the classic comment, “it’s hilarious!” It’s hilarious, yes. I enjoyed reading it, but I may never read it again. Feels like it has many reasons to be great without actually being a great read. Weird.
Of course the last passage of the book is a joke so that the reader can roll their eyes at Joseph Heller one last time before putting the book down.
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