Catch-22: a novel

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Author

Heller, Joseph

Publisher

Varies, see individual formats and editions

Publication Date

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Language

English

Appears on these lists

The Great American Read - 2018
Veterans Guest List
Veterans Write About War

Description

Catch-22 is like no other novel. It is one of the funniest books ever written, a keystone work in American literature, and even added a new term to the dictionary.

At the heart of Catch-22 resides the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his skin from the horrible chances of war. His efforts are perfectly understandable because as he furiously scrambles, thousands of people he hasn't even met are trying to kill him. His problem is Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions that he is committed to flying, he is trapped by the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade, the hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule from which the book takes its title: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

Catch-22 is a microcosm of the twentieth-century world as it might look to some one dangerously sane -- a masterpiece of our time.

More Details

Contributors

©1955, 1961 by Joseph Heller Copyright holder
Buckley, Christopher,1952- author of introduction
Heller, Joseph Author
Sanders, Jay O. Narrator
Sanders, Jay O.,1953

ISBN

9781451621174
9781451626650
9780061262456
9780060890094
9780684833392

Appears on these lists

The Great American Read - 2018
Veterans Guest List
Veterans Write About War

From the Book

Texan

Clevinger

Havermeyer

Doc Daneeka

Chief White Halfoat

Hungry Joe

McWatt

Lieutenant Scheisskopf

Major Major Major Major

Wintergreen

Captain Black

Bologna

Major-de Coverley

Kid Sampson

Piltchard & Wren

Luciana

Soldier in white

Soldier who saw everything twice

Colonel Cathcart

Corporal Whitcomb

General Dreedle

Milo the mayor

Nately's old man

Milo

Chaplain

Aarfy

Nurse Duckett.

Subjects

Bombardiers -- Fiction
Classic Literature
Fiction
World War, 1939-1945 -- Aerial operations, American -- Fiction
World War, 1939-1945 -- Fiction

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Summary

Video And Music

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About The Author

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Series

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Professional Reviews

Also Available As

Paper Book

Awards and Honors

Awards

National Book Award (Finalist — Fiction — 1962)

Audie Award (Finalist — Classics — 2008)

Audie Award (Finalist — 2008)

Notable Lists

The Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read (Comedy)

ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (Fiction — 1999)

Whitcoulls Top 100 Books (2008)

The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: The Readers' List

Koen Book Distributors Top 100 Books of the Past Century

+ 21 more Notable Lists

See All 28 Awards

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Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745

Though their works belong to different eras and regions, Joseph Heller and Jonathan Swift write loosely plotted, irreverent, and thought-provoking satires. Both their writing features rapid shifts from silly, whimsical humor to shocking displays of violence and political cruelty demonstrating the authors' cynical worldviews. -- Derek Keyser

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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Black humor permeates a savage, often raunchy attack on war in which a World War II flier tries to convince his comrades that he is insane so he will be relieved of duty.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

Publisher's Weekly Review

It would be difficult to imagine richer material for an audiobook reader, comedically speaking, than Joseph Heller's classic novel of wartime madness. Sanders is the lucky actor chosen to read Heller's masterpiece, and he does well by it, proceeding gamely through the novel's staggering array of comic set pieces and deliriously woozy dialogue. Heller's humor is straight-faced, requiring little more than a steady, sure voice, and Sanders offers just that. Line by line, joke by joke, Sanders reels through the marvelous phantasmagoria of Heller's World War II, tongue planted firmly in cheek. Caedmon's impressive package includes a 1970s-era recording of Heller reading selections from his book. Heller is a delightful contrast to Sanders, his slight lisp accentuating a marvelous Brooklyn accent. Heller reads as if with cigar perched on his lip and turns his novel into an extended borscht belt comic's riff. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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