“ So many things to so many people. Groundbreakingly hysterically funny whilst dealing with a truly horrific themeLiam Leddy”
“im only about halfway through this and im loving it”
“The style of this book is unlike all else- it seems to want to show the horrors of war so lightly for the most part that when it eventually plainly states a fact, it suddenly hits us hard. ”
“I have recently started a group that plans to discuss this novel as well other prominent works of fiction:Best English-Language Fiction of the Twentieth CenturyA new group centered on a composite list of the best English-language fiction of the twentieth century. Please give it a look, join up and invite your friends!http://www.shelfari.com/groups/46898/about”
“one of the best books ever and it can be read both by male and female because it is not about the War but by how war transforms us from humans into animals/death statistics.”
“so i have a theory about this book. it was recommended to me by my boyfriend, who LOVED it. i was also told by several other (male) friends that it was one of their all-time favorite books. and now that i've started it, although i like it, i definitely don't LOVE it. i've also noticed, on here, that all the best reviews tend to come from males and females tend to...not be AS into it? i think it has something to do with the all-male characters, the war setting and the analytical (as opposed to lyrical or emotional) writing. this MAY sound awfully sexist but this is just an observation i've made, and i'm wondering if this has held true for anyone else? is Catch-22 a more of "boy-lit" book? ”
“Feel free to offer an opinion :-http://www.shelfari.com/groups/33792/about”
“This editorial overview has it ALL WRONG. It calls Heller, or the book, a "smarty-alecky pacifist," which is insulting at best. First of all, Heller WAS NOT a pacifist. If you don't believe it, search for his online interviews. He says that WWII was a war that HAD to be fought. I'll paraphrase. Heller said that Hitler was a bad man who had to be defeated. What's more, I'll say that anyone like Heller who himself flew on these same terrifying missions as a very young man deserves something more than some schoolboy admonishment written by a fourth grade teacher type! Smart-alecky? Really? Let's let the reviewer find him or herself plunging to death in a fighter plane in flames, and call that person a "smart-aleck." What a trite, sophomoric thing to write! What a hack! Yossarian is the embodiment of Heller and is a symbol for the existential time in which we still live. It is very possible NOT to consider Catch-22 a period peace. To me, C-22 IS the 20th century, a place in which we believe those things we cannot believe while we disavow those things we believed in before. ”
“It's the only book I've ever read that made me laugh outloud time and again. It's a painful humor because it comes from the madness of the modern human condition.”
