Anyone here read it? I love this book so very, very much. The logic and the characters are amazing, and Heller's talent for absurdity is better than anything else I've read to date. Thoughts and opinions?
It's one of my favorite books, and I read it about once a year. The first time I read it, I had a hard time figuring out what was going on because there are so many characters being introduced in the first few chapters. I think you have to read this book more than once to fully enjoy everything that's going on. This book is definitely one of the best (if not the best) war novels I have come across.
We actually had this as assigned reading when I was a junior in high school. That might not seem so remarkable until you realize it was 1969 and I attended a Catholic high school. I still don't know how our lit teacher got it approved. The first time I read it, I found it hilariously funny. The second time I read it, I found it very bitter. The third time, it struck me as philosophical. I also thought that everything Heller wrote afterward was painfully bad.
Have you read Something Happened? It is hard to say I enjoyed reading it (Kurt Vonnegut once called it black humor without the humor) but I thought it was a very good book. I agree though that most of his later stuff doesn't hold a candle to Catch-22. But then again, Catch-22 is a masterpiece.
I thought it was good, philosophical and funny, but it relied too much on the same basic joke I thought.
I tried reading it once long ago and was put off by the style. I picked it up again day-before-yesterday and am going to finish it this time.
Catch 22 is one of my favorite books, it is my number one non-horror favorite. It is hilarious and explains the world and life perfectly. It's one of the only books I've ever read that actually makes sense.
I think it's a book everyone should read, but I absolutely hated it and felt it read like a long and not so funny joke. It gives you some important things to think about, though.
