War in Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (Social Issues in Literature) [Paperback]

Dedria Bryfonski (Author)

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 15 and up
  
• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: Greenhaven (May 8, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0737743999
• ISBN-13: 978-0737743999
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,331,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Skip this book, just read Catch-22, January 23, 2012

By 

cpt matt (tanktown, DE) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: War in Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (Social Issues in Literature) (Paperback)

This book is 16 chapters long, each written by a different author with a different perspective on what Catch-22 meant to various groups. I did like the introduction, the Bio on Joseph Heller, but the rest reminds me of intellectuals discussing things of which they have no understanding.

Example, in Chapter 5, we're told Catch 22 is really about the Korean war, it just uses Heller's experiences as a bombardier in WW2 as a backdrop to show his meaning. Chapter 7 states, no, it's about the Vietnam war, which is a real stretch, since the book was written in 1953. (of course there are similarities, but Vietnam was Catch-22 on crack).

Chapter 12- 16 introduces us to Iraq & how everything the US did is wrong (maybe so, but what are these chapters doing here? There is no tie into Catch 22 whatsoever).

Me, I think Heller had an excellent time over the years telling journalists, scholars and truth seekers whatever it is they wanted to hear, whatever would help him sell more books or be outrageous. "War in Heller's Catch-22" is a collection of those observations from writers who could never see Catch-22 for what it is - a riotous, sacrilegious parody of war, society, the military, those institutions attempting to kill the individual or the spirit of individuality. The institutions do not care which dies, it does not matter, so long as one or both are dead. My advice? Read the Catch-22, skip this entirely.