Customer Reviews

Something Happened

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The title of this book by Joseph Heller is "Something Happened." Another title could have been "Life: The Book." This is one of the very, very few books I know that accurately and realistically portrays real life - life as it actually is - warts and all. The book I read immediately before this one was James Joyce's much-touted masterwork, Ulysses. Now, that book can, and has been, described the same way by many, and it is, in many ways, the very last word on realism. That said, it has much in common with this book, and Something Happened is, in many ways, the better book. Classicists and romanticists may well prefer Joyce's novel and consider it downright blasphemy to have it compared with this modern masterwork, but the fact is, this is a very good and much underrated book, and will probably be preferred by post-modernists and existentialists over Ulysses. The book is very long - nearly 600 pages - and does have a tendency to ramble at times - often seemingly without a point. It's written in the style of a first-person narrative, and this is one of the few books where you truly get into the head of the main character. That is the main difference between this book and Ulysses: unlike the latter work, which follows the adventures of three separate characters as they follow parallel courses and sometimes intertwine, Something Happened consists entirely of one character's thoughts and actions. And, since it deals only with other people insofar as they relate to him, it can get a bit solipsistic at times - however, that said, Heller's intention with this book (I think) was to accurately and realistically describe the thoughts in the head of a fairly normal, everyday American male. He does a rather remarkable job of this. The only real criticism of the book I can make is that it does tend to repeat itself quite a lot at times: certain situations are mentioned again and again with little or no variation, often seemingly for no reason - but, as anyone knows, this is, indeed, how most people's minds do work. The main character, Bob Slocum, is not a perfect person - but he is a REAL person. This is not another cardboard cutout character that we see all too many of: this is a real living, breathing flesh and blood character, warts and all - HUMAN, just like us. Many of the situations he finds himself in - both in the workplace and domestically - as well as the thoughts and emotions he finds himself experiencing, will no doubt hit home with a great many readers. Although Heller more than likely constructed Slocum to portray a certain generation of people - the anguished, confused veterans of the war - he is applicable to the Average Joe: he's the true Everyman. Heller seeks, in this book, to answer the real question: What, just what, DID happen, to that great, blinding glow of post-war euphoria? Or, as Roger Waters put it, "Whatever happened to the post-war dream?" Where's the American Dream? Where's all the sun and rainbows? WHAT HAPPENED? Something did.

I highly reccommend this book. It is a masterpiece, and criminally underrated. It's a shame that Heller's reputation rests almost solely upon Catch-22, when he has so many other notable and distinct works, such as this one. As another reviewer pointed out, I believe this book was overlooked by Modern Library when they made their list of the Top 100 Books of the 20th Century: it truly belongs on it. Don't make the mistake of overlooking it.

A warning to all readers: This is a hard novel. It has none of Catch-22's hilarious, irresistably warm characters and there is no actual plot to speak of. It consists almost entirely of the main character's thoughts, on his past, his work and his family.

This book is certainly not pretty. Bob slocum is sexist, racist, homophobic, a womaniser and a bully, as are most of the people who inhabit his world. But he is more real than you can ever imagine.

Despite my criticisms, Something Happened is undoubtedly a work of Genius. Heller shatters the American Dream. It is a larger than life portrayal of the same world Holden Caulfield (of The Catcher in the Rye) is so dissillusioned with.

While you might at times get frustrated with the book's repetition and seeming lack of direction, stick it out - it's definitely worth it. You'll be rewarded with a true and moving insight into the darker side of modern society (even truer now, 40 years on).

Despite attempting a far sadder novel here, than with Catch-22, Heller certainly hasn't lost any of his wit. A hard but ultimately rewarding read, definitely worth a look.

Quite simply, Joseph Heller's "Something Happened" is one of the great novels of the twentieth century. The narrative style is more consistant with a story being told in person than reading a novel. When I first encountered this work as a younger man, I was impressed that fiction writing could be so powerful and yet so realistic. Years of exposure to the corporate world described have made me realize that the book is even more profound than on first reading. It is the deconstructing of the American Dream, and the casualties are each of us in his own way.

I was dismayed to read one reviewer write that nothing happens in "Something Happens." If one's criteria are shoot-outs and car chases, I suppose that this is true. What happens is internal, very personal, and unique to each of us. The protagonist confronts not only his own mortality, but that of an entire system. In contrast to the characters in Catch-22, who wear their absurdity on their sleeves, the characters in this book were harder to portray accurately. That Heller does this without missing a single note is a tribute to his craft.

I wish that this work had been included in the Modern Library's 100 Best. It is richly deserving of that accolade. Read it and you will not be the same.

Most of us know about Heller cause of Catch-22, but this novel should be ranked up there with his most famous classic. 'Something Happened' takes a look at the ordinary day life of a succesful, middle aged, business man who is obsiously growing more and more unhappy. It's a fairly common theme in a lot of modern art, but Heller adds his own touch by giving characters strange traits, which sometimes seem trivial -like someone's last name or their physical stature- and always turn out to add a unique twist to the plot. Along the way, Heller never fails us psychological insights into Bob Slocumb, the main character, and his relationships with his co-workers and family. I would bet anything that this book inspired some recently popular movies, such as Fight Club and American Beauty -as all have strong themes of irony, comedy, and tregedy. What still sets this book apart, is Heller's uncanny capacity to twist logic and words to make ordinary life seem so bizarre and surreal. It is definitely not self-help friendly, and it will make you look closer at yourself and others around you than might have been used to. As Heller seems to imply, such introspection will most likely show you something you's rather not consider, and its up to you to address it and not ignore it.

I suppose the first thing that one should know before reading this book is that the title is a bit of a misnomer. I spent the entire 569 pages of this book waiting for something to, in fact, happen, but nothing does until the very end (and when it does the book pretty much comes to a screeching, unapologetic halt then and there).

If you can get past that, you'll do fine with this book. It is written entirely in stream-of-conciousness, from the point of view of Bob Slocum's confused and lonely mind. Truly the best thing about this book is the characterization of Bob himself; his sheer humanity is such that the more you get to know him, the harder it gets to be sure whether you should sympathize with him or depise him. It is often easy to do both simulataneously. This book takes you into the darkest corners of the mind of someone who on the surface would seem to be an average guy, and really makes you think about yourself and other people you know, the kinds of secret thoughts that everyone has and that everyone is ashamed to have.

Most of the book focuses on Bob's relationship with his family; his unnamed wife, son, and daughter and his brain-damaged son Derek. There are some very poignant moments here, although it does tend to stagnate in places where he simply reiterates the same point over and over again. He also has a tendency to jump back to certain specific details of his past for seemingly no reason at all and retell the same bits multiple times, and in sets of parantheses which often last for pages. We are, however, rewarded for our patience with these flaws whenever Bob tells us of his work life, for it is here that we get a taste of the wry humor and snappy dialogue that made Catch-22 such a joy to read.

I gave this book three stars because I did enjoy it, but it truly was difficult to get through at times. There is a lot to like here, but there is also a lot to get frustrated about, and there are moments when the bad outweighs the good. Still, any fan of Heller should add this to their collection - just be sure to read Catch-22 first.

Something Happened has to be one of the most underrated novels of the century. It is almost unbearably funny and sad. It dissects modern Western life (not just American) so well that there are large passages I've underlined so that I can go back and enjoy them again. Heller is such a sharp observer of our problems, anxieties and dreams. SH must have been a much harder book for Heller to write, because it is about the problems of peacetime, whereas Catch-22 was about the fairly obvious problems of wartime. If anyone wants to know what life was like for the middle-classes in the late twentieth century, this is the book they will turn to.

Catch-22 was a land-mark novel, but I think 'Something Happened' was Heller's greatest piece of work. The shock denouement, which the rest of the book masterfully sets up, left me gasping: I had to re-read one key paragraph over and over again, the effect was that great. I read Philip Roth's 'American Pastoral' recently and found parallels between it and 'SH'; however, Heller left us with a deeper, more affecting novel - and I'm a big Roth fan.

Many of us, I'm sure, at one point or another in time have lived a life very similar to that of Heller's main character, Bob Slocum. I also have a daughter and a son close to the ages of the characters within, and have found it astounding the way he'd sometimes hit the nail on the head with resemblance in many of the conversations between father and offspring, spouse as well. The irony and comparability to my marriage, and life in general, was both hysterical and intense. I have a disabled son too, and know quite well the difficulties and complications that can and will arise, and the stress that it can place on a marriage as well. Heller did a good job at describing that (although I must credit myself with being a bit stronger about it than Bob Slocum ... to a point). There were differences as well, traits of Slocum that I didn't exactly care for, or couldn't seem to relate to; for he was in no way a perfect human being, but neither am I, nor are most of us. Though he did seem to be a bit of a bigot, a hypocrite, a womanizer and a male chauvinist, and somewhat vain and self-centered as well, these were mere flaws in the personality of a man who was basically fairly decent and normal. As different as we all may be, we all have our individual and personal flaws. Good people do have a tendency to struggle through life a lot, blindlessly at times ... constantly trying to figure it out by asking questions such as: "Why?"

This was a personable, brave, and heartfelt story from Heller, of one man's bout with fatherhood and modern life and its trials and tribulations. Though a tad depressing at times, there isn't much that can be done about that, so is life ... it's not always easy. I've read 'Something Happened' a couple of times and enjoyed it immensely both reads, though years between each. I may even read it again someday.

This is Heller's masterpiece, not the vastly overrated Catch 22. That book was an entertainment; this one is a work of art. It might be described as a portrait of Hell, set in the affluent suburbs of Connecticut. I read this work twenty years ago, and it's still vivid in my mind (how many books can one say that about?). In fact, I checked in to the Amazon site because I plan to read it again and was curious to see what others had said about it. Heller's powers of description are awesome, as is his ability to `explore' his protagonist's psyche. I felt I was right there with Bob Slocumb, inside his mind. A disagreeable individual he may be, but he is also infinitely human, and as another reviewer stated, a modern American Everyman, with whom (alas) I identified.

I read through some of the previous Amazon reviews and am baffled by those who panned this book and said it was tedious. On the contrary, I found it a real page-turner. The writing is fresh and moves right along. Perhaps those reviewers who hated it were expecting another Catch 22, or in some way approached it with pre-set ideas as to what a novel should be and were therefore disappointed. The `repetitiveness' that some complained about was neither sloppy writing on Heller's part, nor careless work by his editor. It serves the purpose of getting inside the character's mind and portraying his life, and it held my attention throughout. Is every thought or feeling that each of us have day in and day out always startling and fresh, and do we never repeat ourselves? I think not. The portrait Heller creates is masterful.

Next to some of the post-modern, magic realism dreck that passes for fiction these days, Something Happened is incomparable. By all means, pick this book up; you won't be disappointed, unless you're expecting it to be something else.

A problem well-described is a problem half-solved. But only half solved! Bob Slocum's problems, which he defines in Something Happened with a precision bordering on mathematical formalism, took Joseph Heller a painstaking twelve years to put down on paper. To dismiss this book in a paragraph, especially with moral indignation, is to willfully ignore human suffering. To dismiss it with a chuckling "nothing happened!", as so many have already, is to be blissfully ignorant. How splendid it must be to find a book like this merely boring! How reaffirming it must be to find oneself enveloped in the warm and loving unconscious irony of finding shock value where none was intended!

Something Happened pits the narrator, a post-war middle management executive, husband, and father, against his own feelings of impotence. It inhabits an extramoral space in which human empathy is an unworkable idea whose time has passed, and there is nothing left for our narrator to be aware of but his own anxiety, seemingly condemnded to continue half-living indefinitely as a dispassionate spectator of his own lonesome life. The first words are "I get the willies when I see closed doors", the first of many motifs Heller amasses into an impressive arsenal of symbols and recurring thoughts he weaves into the fugue of dispair we know as Something Happened. We watch anxiously, pining for just one precious drop of careless hyperbole by which to dismiss this deliberate, sober, and masterful piece of work. But the book is possessed of a terrifying uniformity, it is ghastly in its mundandity, and Heller never falters. Kurt Vonnegut had this to say about Heller's sadistic and methodical patience:

"Slocum's sentences are so alike in shape and texture from the beginning to the end of the book, that I imagined a man who was making an enormous statue out of sheet metal. He was shaping it with millions of identical taps from a ball-peen hammer.

"Each dent was a fact, a depressingly ordinary fact."

Now to let Heller speak for himself:

". . .people tend to grow up pretty much the way they began; and hidden somewhere inside every bluff or quiet man and woman I know, I think, is the fully formed, but uncompleted, little boy or girl that once was and will always remain as it always has been, suspended lonesomely inside its own past, waiting hopefully, vainly, to resume, longing insatiably for company, pining desolately for that time to come when it will be safe and sane and possible to burst outside exuberantly, stretch its arms, fill its lungs with invigorating air, without fear at last, and call:

"'Hey! Here I am. Couldn't you find me? Can't we be together now?'

"And hiding inside of me somewhere, I know (I feel him inside me. I feel it beyond all doubt), is a timid little boy just like my son who wants to be his best friend and wishes he could come outside and play."