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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
I started this book senior year of high school— it was worth the 6 years it took me to finish. A lot of this book was devastating and absurdly frustrating to read. But that’s the point. If anti-war literature is possible, this is what it looks like. Yossarian lives.
Everyone’s crazy and war sucks. I hate this book with a deep passion but Im not a person who can DNF books. Terrible terrible book.
The absurdity of war.
I read first when i was around 16/17. And it made a very big impression on me. Understandably. It's an excellent book, and a masterful showing of the utter absurdity of war. That being said, it was harder to read now. More poignant, and the humour had a much more brittle edge to it.
It was also a LOT longer than i remembered it. I feel like it could have been a lot shorter.
But it was good, and i enjoyed it, and i doubt i'll ever read it again.
I read first when i was around 16/17. And it made a very big impression on me. Understandably. It's an excellent book, and a masterful showing of the utter absurdity of war. That being said, it was harder to read now. More poignant, and the humour had a much more brittle edge to it.
It was also a LOT longer than i remembered it. I feel like it could have been a lot shorter.
But it was good, and i enjoyed it, and i doubt i'll ever read it again.
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This book was a thrill from the second I picked it up. Unbelievably funny, original and extremely bizarre, the first half of this book has me in tears of laughter from the absurdity of it all - the characters, the plot, and the looming war.
In the introduction by Heller, he mentioned the divisiveness that the second half of book brings, and I have to say, if you hated it, it is likely that you missed the entire point of the book. War is never meant to be funny or bizarre. The longer a war drags on, the more we suffer, the more those in power lose sight of its original goal. The second half of this book, while still incredibly funny and deranged, sobered us into a delirium - if we don’t laugh, we will cry.
My favourite chapter of this book would be when Yossarian deserted to Rome and wandered the street, witnessing its horror/his own horror/the horror of war, he deeply reflected on the banality of evil and the one group unaffected by this, children. I cannot help but to think of the children in Palestine and every other children affected by war. But, like the chaplain said, we must persevere.
This is a classic for a reason. Yossarian lives!
In the introduction by Heller, he mentioned the divisiveness that the second half of book brings, and I have to say, if you hated it, it is likely that you missed the entire point of the book. War is never meant to be funny or bizarre. The longer a war drags on, the more we suffer, the more those in power lose sight of its original goal. The second half of this book, while still incredibly funny and deranged, sobered us into a delirium - if we don’t laugh, we will cry.
My favourite chapter of this book would be when Yossarian deserted to Rome and wandered the street, witnessing its horror/his own horror/the horror of war, he deeply reflected on the banality of evil and the one group unaffected by this, children. I cannot help but to think of the children in Palestine and every other children affected by war. But, like the chaplain said, we must persevere.
This is a classic for a reason. Yossarian lives!
dark
funny
medium-paced
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Pfffff this was a labour, and not of love. The concept and absurdism was truly genius and if this was a short story or a novella, I probably would have given it 5 stars. But this dragged on sooooo long with a story that was too absurdist and pointless to me, and included truly the most insane descriptions of women I have read in a long time. It reads like the author has never met a real woman - it's possible his only interactions were with prostitutes and I'm truly sorry for those women who had to deal with him. I can see why it's a modern classic because of the concept and themes, but I truly hope it doesn't get read too much anymore.
medium-paced
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes