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klenda_vee's review against another edition
Extremely funny social commentary about the military, but I couldn’t sit through 20 hours of sex jokes; definitely just a personal preference, but the last three hours of the six I listened through (audiobook) all blurred together.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Cursing, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Bullying and Alcohol
The book is satire, and the tagged subjects in this book are there as satirical commentary on these subjectseyesofcrows's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
It’s such an odd book and the timeline isn’t consistent and various characters do awful things—I hate one specific character—but it’s absurd in the best of ways. There’s no direct plot other than Yossarian’s deepest need to get out of the cycle of his military duties. There’s millions of subplots between pages and words that I would love to understand myself. I hadn’t even realised the timeline was inconsistent until half way into the book. When I had, I wanted to reread from the beginning but I carried on.
I liked it. There’s times that made me uncomfortable and the occasional thing but it was a fun book to read and witness. Even in the most serious moments, humour interjects itself in such an absurd manner that it’s actually fitting
I liked it. There’s times that made me uncomfortable and the occasional thing but it was a fun book to read and witness. Even in the most serious moments, humour interjects itself in such an absurd manner that it’s actually fitting
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Rape
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Blood
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.
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.
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.
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
lastonedown's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Violence
Moderate: Racial slurs, Misogyny, Suicide, Rape, and War
Minor: Medical content and Murder
tildafin16's review against another edition
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
This is my husband’s favourite he told me he read it all in one day drinking on the beach (how??) and still remembers it all. Apart from showing you how different my taste is to my husband 🤣, this also clearly is the experience of many fans.
For me, I just don’t enjoy absurdist and repetitive writing; I was assured that it all comes together in the final third and becomes amazing; well, yeah, I guess I can see that , but by that time having slugged 300 plus pages of complex, constantly trying-to-be-funny-and-clever, absurd wordplay - I just didn’t care that much anymore and the impact of the ending section was lessened for me. I have read such gruesome depictions of war elsewhere and been able to immerse myself in the writing but for me, I just couldn’t with this. There was one scene with Milo Minderbinder (the names made me want to scream) that made me laugh, I didn’t laugh out loud often as lots of folk have. (And it’s easy to make me laugh! This is just not my humour)
Finally as many have mentioned the depiction of female characters is just appalling. If he was making a point (and I am not convinced he really was) by this, then he succeeded in rendering all of his main male characters including his hero, absolute arseholes in that regard.
I always feel bad when I dislike such well loved novels but in that regard this is way up there with Walden (shudder) and Life of Pi for me.
For me, I just don’t enjoy absurdist and repetitive writing; I was assured that it all comes together in the final third and becomes amazing; well, yeah, I guess I can see that , but by that time having slugged 300 plus pages of complex, constantly trying-to-be-funny-and-clever, absurd wordplay - I just didn’t care that much anymore and the impact of the ending section was lessened for me. I have read such gruesome depictions of war elsewhere and been able to immerse myself in the writing but for me, I just couldn’t with this. There was one scene with Milo Minderbinder (the names made me want to scream) that made me laugh, I didn’t laugh out loud often as lots of folk have. (And it’s easy to make me laugh! This is just not my humour)
Finally as many have mentioned the depiction of female characters is just appalling. If he was making a point (and I am not convinced he really was) by this, then he succeeded in rendering all of his main male characters including his hero, absolute arseholes in that regard.
I always feel bad when I dislike such well loved novels but in that regard this is way up there with Walden (shudder) and Life of Pi for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Rape, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Death
milo10000's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
5.0
I never read this in high school, choosing Vonnegut instead when it was offered. I don't know if I would've enjoyed it as much then, but reading it now, it's a wonderful book.
Heller's exploration of absurdism and the evils that can be perpetuated by "just going with the flow" is masterful. Yossarian's journey out of the hospital and back into it again is at times both hilarious and hopeless. Highly recommend to anyone who doesn't mind a bit of impropriety
Heller's exploration of absurdism and the evils that can be perpetuated by "just going with the flow" is masterful. Yossarian's journey out of the hospital and back into it again is at times both hilarious and hopeless. Highly recommend to anyone who doesn't mind a bit of impropriety
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Rape
kaibigan23's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
sad
medium-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? It's complicated
4.5
A very funny book about times in war. Yes, war can be so dark but the realities that the character in this book have been felt from my end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, War, and Gun violence