Catch-22 (Paperback)

by Joseph Heller (Author) "It was love at first sight..." (more)
Key Phrases: bloated colonel, tighter bomb pattern, intelligence tent, Colonel Cathcart, Major Major, Colonel Korn (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
There was a time when reading Joseph Heller's classic satire on the murderous insanity of war was nothing less than a rite of passage. Echoes of Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier who was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament, could be heard throughout the counterculture. As a result, it's impossible not to consider Catch-22 to be something of a period piece. But 40 years on, the novel's undiminished strength is its looking-glass logic. Again and again, Heller's characters demonstrate that what is commonly held to be good, is bad; what is sensible, is nonsense.

Yossarian says, "You're talking about winning the war, and I am talking about winning the war and keeping alive."
"Exactly," Clevinger snapped smugly. "And which do you think is more important?"
"To whom?" Yossarian shot back. "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."
"I can't think of another attitude that could be depended upon to give greater comfort to the enemy."
"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."
Mirabile dictu, the book holds up post-Reagan, post-Gulf War. It's a good thing, too. As long as there's a military, that engine of lethal authority, Catch-22 will shine as a handbook for smart-alecky pacifists. It's an utterly serious and sad, but damn funny book.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. It would be difficult to imagine richer material for an audiobook reader, comedically speaking, than Joseph Heller's classic novel of wartime madness. Sanders is the lucky actor chosen to read Heller's masterpiece, and he does well by it, proceeding gamely through the novel's staggering array of comic set pieces and deliriously woozy dialogue. Heller's humor is straight-faced, requiring little more than a steady, sure voice, and Sanders offers just that. Line by line, joke by joke, Sanders reels through the marvelous phantasmagoria of Heller's World War II, tongue planted firmly in cheek. Caedmon's impressive package includes a 1970s-era recording of Heller reading selections from his book. Heller is a delightful contrast to Sanders, his slight lisp accentuating a marvelous Brooklyn accent. Heller reads as if with cigar perched on his lip and turns his novel into an extended borscht belt comic's riff.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (September 4, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684833395
• ISBN-13: 978-0684833392
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (797 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #703 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

164 of 188 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the 100 best American novels, July 3, 2002

By	Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

We read "Catch-22" in our "alternative" high school back in the 60's. It was just as the Viet Nam War was rising to its shocking crest, people were rioting in the streets, the young were questioning everything and rebelling, the draft was taking older brothers and friends, and it was a very crazy time. We asked the teacher who selected the novel and who had served in World War II "Is this an accurate representation of the madness of war?" He replied that, in his experience, it was.

After recently re-reading Heller's novel, I realized that this book wasn't, as we had studied it, just about the madness of war. Sure, that was foremost on our minds at the time the book was published. But Heller really caught the moral dilemma of an individual caught up in the mob hysteria of war, where the rules of civilization and laws are temporarily and deliberately suspended by the authorities.

The key paragraph, for me, is: "Man was matter, that was Snowden's secret. Drop him out a window and he'll fall. Set fire to him and he'll burn. Bury him and he'll rot, like other kinds of garbage. That was Snowden's secret. Ripeness was all." In other words, Man is no more than meat and bone EXCEPT for a brief period when he is alive...and if he does something to preserve his soul. This is deep and perceptive.

At the end of "Catch-22", Yossarian is faced with a tempting choice. He has, however, learned something from the horrors and insanity. His decision takes into account not only his personal safety, but goes beyond to the greater good. He has risen.

For that reason, "Catch-22" is more than just an amusing novel, a bestseller and the novel that gave birth to M*A*SH*. Yossarian's moral dilemma is one each of us must ponder, whenever we choose to go to war. I think this is one of the best 100 American novels.

89 of 100 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning masterpiece on every level, November 10, 2002

By	Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

CATCH-22 is masterful in so many ways. It begins as comic farce, proceeds to the increasingly surreal, and then transforms into a nightmarish tragedy before ending triumphantly. No novel that I know so successfully blends all these disparate moods. I believe it was Hugh Walpole who wrote, "Life is a comedy to those who think, and a tragedy to those who feel." No book illustrates that better than this novel. This truly is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It is also one of the most tragic.

CATCH-22 also introduces one of the most insane collection of great characters in fiction: Yossarian, the Chaplain, Orr, ex-P.F.C Wintergreen, Milo Minderbender, Maj. Major Major Major, Nately, Doc Daneeka, Danby, General Dreedle, Nately's girl (not the description in the book, but Amazon's software will bleep it), Cathcart, Nurse Duckett, The Texan, Major ----- de Coverley, The Soldier in White, and a host of other characters. It is one of the most gloriously populated novels of the past half century.

This is a novel I can almost not discuss except through superlatives: greatest war novel I have read, funniest novel I have ever read, greatest English language novel of the past 40 years. But the best thing is that it is, on top of being a superb book, an exceedingly fun book to read. Even at its nightmarish, this is a fun, delightful book. And few novels contain as many unforgetable moments as this one.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "It proves you're still alive...", May 15, 2002

By	Meg Bordonaro (Mercy High) - See all my reviews

Catch-22 is not a book America wants to read, especially in her present state of patriotism. One cannot picture Heller's Yossarian sporting a "These Colors Don't Run" T-shirt and waving a flag. Indeed, the opening chapter explicitly refutes any interpretation that suggests Yossarian's actions are rooted in a deep sense of nationalism: an uber-patriotic Texan drives almost all the men out of a hospital ward and back into combat. Catch-22 is a book that challenges the logic of war. It combines wry humor with startlingly affecting anecdotes to force the reader into asking questions. It is the portrait of a man who is dangerously sane, but trapped in the insanity of war by catch-22.
When I started reading Joseph Heller's Catch-22, I had no idea what to expect. I scanned the buzzwords on the back cover..."apocalyptic, bitter, hilarious, monumental, original, subversive, classic." What I found was a moving satire, centered ..., an allegory who manages to retain his humanity. The fact that Heller's Yossarian was indeed so easy to relate to contributed to the book's power. The novel brings you deep into the world of war, as viewed by a soldier. Yossarian's experiences are not entirely realistic, and much of what happens over the course of the novel seems to make no sense at all. In presenting war in such a manner, Heller asks the reader whether the reality of war makes any more sense than does Yossarian's story. Heller says that war itself is a great catch-22, a paradoxical trap that humans walk into time and time again. He questions the logic of the illogical, and asks the reader to try and rationalize the irrational.
Catch-22 is significant because it claims that not only war is a catch-22. The metaphor extends to include life itself. We see that the characters are not merely fighting to survive the war...they are fighting to be immortal. Each has his own way, whether it be by enduring boredom to make time move slower, or by gaining global power through commerce and enterprise. They are all trying to cheat death. Heller's novel reveals many deep and often unpleasant truths, but it does it with humor and style. For this reason, Catch-22 has reached "classic" status and will probably remain a classic for generations to come.
As a book, Catch-22 is flawless. It is moving, witty, and ultimately one of the greatest novels I have ever read. It deserves every one of its five stars. However, to those who are interested in reading it, I warn you to take Heller's work with a grain of salt. Many may find the satire offensive in light of the current global situation. Please do not let current events get in your way. Catch-22 is a wonderful, eye-opening novel; but as with all "subversive" literature, it must be approached with an open mind.