Reviews tagging 'Death'

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

45 reviews

jwisener'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. 

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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.

olls's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Death

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Rape

jessireads's review against another edition

challenging lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Rape, Death, and War

c_mcd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Violence

Minor: Sexual violence

kwichris's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

cherub__'s review against another edition

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 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

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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 against another edition

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

genevievesbooknook's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

"He was never without misery, and never without hope"

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I actually liked this book. Originally, I watched the recent George Clooney adaptation and decided not to read it. A few months later, however, I changed my mind because I had an urgent desire to read this book which I am extremely grateful for.

I started to really get into this book once I got to the bed sheet fiasco in Chapter 7, however, there were other funny moments throughout the book as well. Reading the book gave me a better appreciation of Heller's work (unlike the show), particularly with characters such as Hungry Joe and Chief White Halfcoat that weren't in the adaptation and those that were like Orr and Clevinger. Despite the fact that this book looks specifically into the Army, I feel that this book can be relatable to everyone because of the bureaucracy within it. I read this book when I was unemployed and hopeless, but this book helped me to feel less alone with my struggles because I could understand exactly where Yossarian was coming from.

There are a couple of gory moments and there are times when, because of the male-dominated environment, it is sexist. If you don't like those things then this book is probably not for you. If you like books that have surreal humorous takes on bureaucracy and army life, then I would definitely recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

There's one scene in particular that's a little graphic, that's all I'm going to say.