Reviews

I couldn't finish this book. I got about 25% of the way through before deciding I didn't want to spend any more time on this book. It was too long winded for me to follow.

dianagangan's review against another edition

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5.0

One of best novels to ever come out of war. Hell, one of the best novel to ever come out of anywhere.

rachelkollar's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

3.25

lofrando's review against another edition

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5.0

This is a master class of comedy. The way he weaves horror elements into this is almost the exact opposite of Vonnegut. Comparing 2 stories about WW2, Slaughterhouse five and Catch-22, with Vonnegut he draws horror out of absurd lapses in reality. With Catch-22 Heller draws horror out of brief moments of reality in the absurd. I hope this makes sense, I am running off no sleep within the last 36 hours

newishpuritan's review against another edition

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I read this many years ago, and thought I'd come back to it. It's clearly a great post-War novel, with a unique voice – Kafka as farce – and an unusual structure, which is basically that of the anecdote, circling backwards and forwards in time, briefly following a personality or landmark event strong enough to impose itself on the narrator's attention for a while, before moving on to another. This has a disconcerting side effect: this is a war story, and many characters are killed during its course, but because of the structure it's never immediately clear who's alive and who isn't in the elusive present of the act of narration.

Nonetheless, despite these undeniable strengths, I got about half way through and suddenly found my will to continue evaporating. And nowadays I don't force myself to persevere with books I'm not enjoying. So: DNF.

luca4417's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

4.25

barney100's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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