CATCH-22: A Novel
Written by Joseph Heller
Narrated by Jay O. Sanders
4/5
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About this audiobook
Several decades after its initial publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest-and most celebrated-novels of all time. In recent years it has been named to "best novels" lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer.
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy-it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he's assigned, he'll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. Since its publication in 1961, no novel has matched Catch-22's intensity and brilliance in depicting the brutal insanity of war.
Editor's Note
A satirical masterpiece…
This satirical masterpiece brilliantly captures the bureaucratic absurdities of war. With a title that’s become synonymous with an intractable problem, Yossarian & co.’s tragicomic plight resonates to this day.
Joseph Heller
Joseph Heller was born in Brooklyn in 1923. In 1961, he published Catch-22, which became a bestseller and, in 1970, a film. He went on to write such novels as Good as Gold, God Knows, Picture This, Closing Time, and Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man. Heller died in 1999.
Reviews for CATCH-22
10,021 ratings267 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Each day I come across Catch-22 situation, thamks to this book I can give them a proper name
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's rare to read a book where each sentence seems to have carefully chosen words that string together in perfect balance on the page. The novel seems to be more about the words than about the plot of the novel. There are many characters and I was glad I kept some notes to keep track of them. I would get lost in the story, but always enjoyed the words.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First read this superb dystopian anti-war novel in 1970: Couldn't put it down; such a great read, but must have as the copy long ago went missing.Finally replenished my library & having re-read I was amazed at just how well Heller's writing stands up to modern day equivalents based on the hard-learned experiences of modern warfare.Heller's book detailing the catastrophic mental and physical anguish of Yossarian (surely one of the greatest 'human' characters in all of literature) is one of very few 'warfare' masterpieces to emerge post-WW2.The novel surpasses Jones' From Here To Eternity (&, different war, but as relevant Remarque's All Quiet On The Western Front) for its devastatingly accurate portrayal of the ordinary soldier trapped within the vast & supremely indifferent High Command mince-making machinery of a so-called 'strategic war effort'.It ranks alongside Red Badge of Courage, For Whom The Bell Tolls, The Debacle, & Regeneration as an epic narration of man's inhumanity & humanity.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A subversive classic.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Groucho Marx channeled by angry, word-bloated 1950s English major on speed flying off the handle about war.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5major major majorly good.