Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

5 reviews

jujubeans's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Ok imagine the speed and subject of the plot like this: completely straight and consistent line for about the first 85%, then a quick drop in tone and weirdly enough, style, then a crazy steep climb at the very end.  It is incredibly crass, vulgar, violent, gory, confusing, and humorous in the way “Who’s on first“ would be humorous if the characters were depressed, lonely, terrified, and traumatized to a great extent. 

I don’t know how I feel about it to be honest. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, War, Alcohol, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Classism, Cursing, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, and Vomit

This is not a book for light reading. It will disgust you and horrify you. The sexual violence was most disturbing to me. I’m gonna say that again for good measure: repeated, horrifying, insane degrees of sexual violence all throughout the book.

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.

---

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 against another edition

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

---

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

friesenag's review against another edition

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

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

3.0

This book is so interesting considering that the author himself was a B25 bombardier and that this is not speculation and the plot isn't too far fetched because it is based on his personal experiences in the war. I think Heller perfectly balanced the humor of the absurdity of how the U.S. Air Force was run and the gruesomeness of what war does to a person. He highlights the silliness of rank and order and doing things just because you're told and how that has more control on weather a man lives or dies rather than his own actions and how those actions along with the trauma of their compatriots dying makes them all go insane. 
The way Heller writes gave me a headache though, as the plot would go back and forth I had to keep my spark notes open to make sure I was really comprehending what was happening. The first half of the book there is no chronological order and the repetition of words, phrases, or actions also created maximum confusion. When I think about it more it definitely is a plot device to give the book a lack of structure and repeat things which gives the reader a sensation of the chaos that is occurring in every single characters brains and on the base. Insanity and deja vu are major plot points in the book and I think Heller wanted to amplify it in the readers, which did give me the feeling that I was going crazy while reading this book. I see the genius and deliberate work that he put into it, but that does not mean I have to enjoy it. 
I want to preface this last part by saying I know that this guy is like a boomer and it was written in 1961, but the MISOGYNY in this book was APPALLING. Women were only mentioned in a sexual connotation and used as a plot device and weren't really well thought out in my opinion. There was a character that wasn't even given a name and just referred to as "Nately's Whore" the whole time and she was bored and not interested in Nately until he "saved her" and then tried to control her and THEN he DIED and all of a sudden she cared enough about him to try to kill Yossarian???? Idk, there was just not a single female character that wasn't a sex object or stupid or a plot device. 
Overall this book is good on the pretense that it was anti-war and the structure of the book makes you feel sick to your stomach, much like the structure of war and American bureaucracy, but I can't look past the misogyny, sexism, racism, etc. to give this more than three stars. I know I'm looking at this in a modern lens but there's not way I can separate the good and bad of this book. I would be very concerned if a man said this was their favorite book, its definitely an interesting read but I would classify it as pretty problematic. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Suicide, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racial slurs, Misogyny, War, Death, and Vomit

Moderate: Antisemitism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Classism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Medical content

haleyd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, Excrement, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Vomit

A sometimes humorous, sometimes depressing classic full of paradoxes and contradictions that only prove themselves true, this take on WWII was a bit difficult for me to get through. Once I knew the writing style was to intentionally include these opposites, I became bored and would fall asleep after a few pages. It went more quickly toward the end, but then it was just so sad in some of the final pages, it was that what became the challenge for me. I'm reading this as part of a goal to get through several lists of "banned books" I've found. While I don't think any books should be truly banned, this one made me think several times, "Eek. This is part of the reason this was banned." Most of that is because it is so repulsive and very graphic. But also, things were quite different when this book was written which is evidenced by some of the behaviors wherein described. It could possibly be argued that children's minds are too vulnerable, but I would personally argue that I'd be confident letting my own teenage child read this, knowing that I've raised her well. However, I would definitely warn her that she likely wouldn't want to.