Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

15 reviews

obczytane's review

funny inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, War, Blood, Murder, and Death

imaginefishes's review

dark emotional funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Was difficult to read at times because of the repetitions between chapters and non-consecutive storylines, but it had its funny and ironic moments which make you consider if the structures which hold us down (even in civil society) exist at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and War

Moderate: Body horror, Alcohol, Grief, Death, Blood, Stalking, and Suicide

Minor: Rape, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Murder, and Violence

cherub__'s review

dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I first read Catch-22 in high school as a teenager, and after reading it 10 years later as an adult, I can definitively say I did not properly appreciate it the first time around. There's a certain attitude to this novel that doesn't lend itself to a reader who hasn't experienced "adulthood in America" yet.

Despite never having served in the military (much less in WWII), It's one of the funniest, darkest, most unnervingly familiar books I've ever read. Many of the same criticisms of American life could be translated into 2023 and still be just as accurate as they were 70 years ago. Many passages feel as if they were written from a "greatest hits" reel of comedy skits in the 1960s, and it surprises me to learn how few of them have ever been attempted to be filmed. Nevertheless, the comedic brilliance is surrounded by a horrific backdrop of insanity that keeps ratcheting up, chapter by chapter. The slow, methodical descent from absurd nonsense to hysterical, deranged insanity echos the methodology of The Turn of The Screw (though clearly the styles are significantly different). Catch-22 poses as a comedy but is closer to a horror novel, which seems to be the essence of its satire nature.

I'll be thinking about this long after I put it down, and maybe in another 10 years I'll give it another re-read and find I've missed something again.

My only criticism is that the earlier chapters can be slightly repetitive. However, this is offset by the later half of the novel, where the continued repetition and callbacks to such serve to emphasize the visceral horror of what was previously considered merely absurd.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Murder, and Child abuse

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I knew that this was a story about war, but I really had n idea what sort of flavour it was going to have. The whole idea of Catch-22 as I understood it, is that a crazy person is not fit for military duty, but to claim that you are crazy, so as to get out of service, just proves that you are sane.

This is a dark and twisted comedy. The dialogues feel like a twisted conglomeration of Monty Python, Alice in Wonderland, and M* A* S* H* with a peppering of Dr Seuss, Billy Wilder, and Abbot and Costello. From the outset you feel sure that the protagonist is a little mentally unwell, and slightly paranoid, but you soon see that there is a lot of it going around, and that they are all crazy like foxes.  I kept being reminded of that quote from the movie Pump up the Volume, "you're not screwed up.. you're an un-screwed up reaction to a screwed up situation".

I think this book is about equal parts gut-bustingly hilarious and unsettlingly horrific. Through satire and parody it jabs ceaselessly at the heroism of industry and Capitalism, corruption, the glory of war murder, the need to rescue women who are in charge of their own lives, the confusion of love and lust, confusion, certainty, certain confusions, and confusing certainty.

Parts of the story are clearly hyperbole. The absurdism is rife. I'm astounded that I haven't heard more of the punchlines of these jokes in my everyday life, but maybe I have and I was just not keyed into it. It's all incredibly convoluted. The story is told in anecdotes from the points of view of various people around the protagonist. There are recurrent gags, and retellings of parts of the plot from different people, and this all feeds into the feeling of being unsettlingly adrift, and carrying on through a haze of unreality peppered with déjà vu  (or déjà vécu, or presque vu..) where you see things twice, or miss them altogether.

The entire army situation is painted as blustering generals vying for status, while underfunded and overworked conscripts are roped into unwinnable situations, glory projects cost lives, bureaucratic shuffling means everything is officially lost in translation, or redacted, or just lost, and side-hustlers make out like bandits. Every sensible supposition is questioned and turned on its head, even the useful ones.. and it's all incredibly frustrating. You have to laugh or you cry and that combat, high-tension gallows humour is all you are left with... that and the haunting echos of trauma.

This is probably well worth a reread, or I may leave it on as background noise if I want a certain sort of dark chuckle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Stalking, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Murder, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Vomit, War, Bullying, Chronic illness, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Colonisation, Cursing, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Blood, Confinement, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Murder, Grief, Cancer, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Cursing, Death, Dysphoria, Sexism, Police brutality, Gun violence, Sexual content, Medical content, Gore, Violence, Terminal illness, War, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Colonisation, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Classism, Vomit, Rape, Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Antisemitism

lordhaku's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, War, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Cursing, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Police brutality

lastonedown's review

challenging dark funny reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs, Misogyny, Suicide, Rape, and War

Minor: Medical content and Murder

yeah_sure's review

challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Riding the high of finishing this book, it is genius but it is also deceptively LONG and it drags, not in the sense that it's boring but in the sense that it is winding and cumbersome. Finishing it took a great deal of my time and sanity. Not entirely unproblematic either, but if you're in the mood, it is extremely clever,  funny and thought provoking 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Gore

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, and Suicide

Minor: Rape, Vomit, and Murder

bibliorama's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This might change. The beast is done though.
Enjoyment - 2.5
This book really takes awhile before it starts trusting you with its emotional baggage. Most of the humor was used to mask the trauma that Joseph Heller was definitely processing through the writing. The 12 year old virgin jokes got old, milo running around got old, etc. In fact, the Milo the Mayor chapter should have been cut entirely (imo), it has some of the most dated jokes and the important info learned from the chapter is reiterated in the Milo chapter. There were heavy, poignant moments but they were covered up by the writing style and dated humor.
Characters - 3
Atmosphere - 2.5
Plot - 3
Ending - 4
Style - 3.5 

Overall - 3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and War

Minor: Sexual violence and Rape

loverboy's review against another edition

dark funny tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape

Minor: Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Suicide