Reviews with content warning for Gore - Catch-22

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

niamhbereading's review

challenging dark funny tense slow-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

4.5

catch 22 is one of the most fun american classics i've ever read. it has the strong, profound writing that all the american classics share, but it's digestible & its plot is relateable even if you never fought in wwii.

this book is not plot based at all. the plot is introduced in the first chapter: yossarian, a fighter pilot based in pianosa, has flown enough missions to be released from service & sent home in the states. however, everytime he Should be sent home, colonel cathcart raises the mission requirement, so yossarian and the other pilots are stuck there. this is elaborated on further into the book: the only way to be sent home other than flying the required missions is to be crazy, but in order to be found crazy you must admit to the doctor that you're crazy, & that in itself is proof that you're not crazy. that's the catch 22! but as soon as that's established like 50 or so pages in, the book shifts. most of the book focuses on other side characters, like the chaplain, milo, nately, & so forth. though yossarian is the protagonist & holds the main conflict, the book is not about him. it's an ensemble piece focusing on everyone in the squadron.

i, personally, loved that this book was an ensemble piece! each character's story was so unique & fleshed out, balancing comedic scenes & darker ones. the book is constantly moving, though the pace is manageable. i said that this book has a slow pace because the plot is very loose & doesn't move quickly. however, a lot still happens in this book, it just doesn't always play into yossarian's conflict.

the one thing about this book that irked me is the cast of characters. it's just so Huge. there's at least twenty-five characters who each have their own backstory or importance to the plot. they're all well written & distinct, but i just don't know how to imagine that many characters LOL. after a while, when a new character was introduced, i'd struggle to give them a face. then later on, when characters from earlier were being called back, i forgot how i imagined them. it didn't help that this book is about american wwii soldiers so most of the characters were white men. this may not be a problem for you if you're good at imagining characters, i just felt the need to mention it.

catch 22 has a lot to say on the impact of war & how it functions in american society. so much so that my brain is kinda blown apart from it. but this book is NOT preachy! overall it is more fun than anything else. you could have a field day dissecting this book. it is a surprisingly intellectual read.

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paperknotbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I think the only flaw is that this book is just joke, after joke, which drags a bit long.

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loverboy's review against another edition

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dark funny tense 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

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proceduralbob's review

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dark funny medium-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

4.5

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seanml's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny slow-paced

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

3.25

Reading anything called a ‘classic’ is a gamble; you don’t have to go too far back for them to be super problematic. In this instance, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 ended up being a mixed bag. It’s a comedy novel that takes place during World War II, and was written in the 1960s. It is very much a product of its time. The book is “clever,” but clever in the way that a high school freshman would ask you “Is water wet?” and then once you answer they’re prepared to argue the complete opposite point in order to confuse you. In Catch-22 the military is basically run by the Marx Brothers: misunderstandings are frequent, and nothing is safe from being a gag to the point of death. Each chapter is in a way a skit focusing on a soldier or a commander, one of the handful that the book revolves around. They range from entertaining to infuriating. Luckily our protagonist is a soldier named Yossarian who happens to be the only sensical character throughout the entire thing. So as I went crazy from the never-ending chapters, Yossarian was right there with me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t relate to him in the chapter when he sexually assaults a nurse out of the blue. Yeah, this is the 1960s and every female character has at least one line about the shape of their breasts. This does not in any way pass the Bechdel test. In any case, the book does a good job at portraying the mania-fueled spiral of someone told to die for the good of their country again and again and again. Did I misunderstand most of it? Maybe. Should I read it again? Maybe, it depends on if it was good. Was it good? I’d have to read it again. Catch-22. 6.5/10.

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