tankard's review against another edition
5.0
9/10
I’ve been putting this book off for a while now. But I shouldn’t have doubted Heller and Catch-22 lived up to all the hype. It was extremely funny and poignant. Probably the best military satire I’ve ever read. It pokes fun at war and the military in general. At times it is so ridiculous and yet believable. The absurd and somehow relatable characters were delightful to read.
I’ve been putting this book off for a while now. But I shouldn’t have doubted Heller and Catch-22 lived up to all the hype. It was extremely funny and poignant. Probably the best military satire I’ve ever read. It pokes fun at war and the military in general. At times it is so ridiculous and yet believable. The absurd and somehow relatable characters were delightful to read.
weasley101's review against another edition
5.0
“Where were you born?"
"On a battlefield," [Yossarian] answered.
"No, no. In what state were you born?"
"In a state of innocence.”
An amazing book that is filled with a large and complex set of characters and their often ridiculous situations, that could be seen as hundreds of short stories about different characters. This book is funny, beautiful, thought provoking and sad, covering so many different tones and emotions that make it a great read. So many good quotes and conversations that you just want to read out loud, and even though its long, it never gets boring, and can literally make you laugh out loud. Above all my favourite part about this book is it's constant call backs to previous jokes and situations, and the interesting and intricate characters, that despite being hard to keep up with all of them in the beginning, by the end you know so much about them and feel personally attached to each one.
"On a battlefield," [Yossarian] answered.
"No, no. In what state were you born?"
"In a state of innocence.”
An amazing book that is filled with a large and complex set of characters and their often ridiculous situations, that could be seen as hundreds of short stories about different characters. This book is funny, beautiful, thought provoking and sad, covering so many different tones and emotions that make it a great read. So many good quotes and conversations that you just want to read out loud, and even though its long, it never gets boring, and can literally make you laugh out loud. Above all my favourite part about this book is it's constant call backs to previous jokes and situations, and the interesting and intricate characters, that despite being hard to keep up with all of them in the beginning, by the end you know so much about them and feel personally attached to each one.
gritvmd's review against another edition
5.0
So right up my alley, I don't know where to begin!! I LOVED this. It is hysterical and so bold. I read this right after I quit my job, which worked well. The irreverence for the idea of command and the comical levelling of the idea of war make this timely. It is cynically sad and there's a lot more going on than there is in say MASH which must have been based on this book. But, I had an insider's smile on from the moment I started it and some tears halfway through. TERRFIC BOOK! Where in the world is my Yossarian?
joeam's review against another edition
5.0
The Best. If you haven't read it, you're missing out. Yossarian lives.
readsbyetta's review against another edition
5.0
Very funny. Full of absurd hypocrisy. Accidentally laughed out loud during morning commute in places (2nd time reading it too)
finigan's review against another edition
4.0
I've not read a book like this before. It's a sprawling, dense novel that requires full attention from the reader.
The structure is challenging to understand at first and becomes more and more engrossing as it progresses.
Certainly one of the more humorous takes on the absolute horrors of war that you'll ever read.
The structure is challenging to understand at first and becomes more and more engrossing as it progresses.
Certainly one of the more humorous takes on the absolute horrors of war that you'll ever read.
rhganci's review against another edition
5.0
I'm really glad that I finally got around to reading this American classic, and teaching it as an independent study novel was just the kick-in-the-pants I needed to get around to reading it. It's an extremely difficult book to read; maybe I should start there. Through the first 200 pages, I really had to force myself to pick it up. But once you get the tone and the rhythm of Heller's narrative style, it becomes very easy and very entertaining to read. His ability to weave a nonsense conversation really makes this book the classic that it is--you as the reader can just feel the asinine and inane verbiage driving you made as you experience World War II with these characters. When Heller deviates from his satire, his observations and thematic cues are powerful, especially Yossarian's "Someone who's dead doesn't care who wins the war" and "He understood how Christ must have felt" - the scenes into which those powerful observations were embedded were perfect for underscoring the ideas that Heller was hitting at, because the book does so much more than satirize and ridicule the idea of war - it strikes at the value of human lives, the selfishness of people in power, and what witnessing true violence can do to someone. I really liked this book, in spite of the fact that I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to, until I hit my stride around page 200. It would be a nightmare to teach to someone who wasn't interested in reading it, but for someone who's willing to get through the layers of words into the genius beneath, it's every bit the classic it's revered to be.
lucy_12's review against another edition
3.0
I've been trying to read Catch 22 for about 17 years and have only managed to finish it thanks to an animated and engaging audio version. It is really funny and really clever, but only in small doses. All together it just seems a bit too try-hard for me. And the plot is so convoluted I have no idea what actually happened in the story!