Catch-22 Book Review

Catch-22 Holiday Book Review

Catch-22, written by Joseph Heller (1923-99) and published in 1961, is a satirical novel about an air force squadron stationed on the island of Pianosa in the Mediterranean during WWII.

The protagonist is Captain Yossarian, a bombardier whose chief motivation is to “live forever or die in the attempt,” which he attempts to do with various schemes as the commanders keep raising the number of missions the airmen need to fly to return home. The book also follows a massive cast of supporting characters, which become quite difficult to follow as they tend to be mentioned briefly and then discarded for the most part, only to return for short passages in the book. These characters include Milo, the  mess officer; other airmen such as Nately, Clevinger, Orr, McFly, etc.; commanders such as Colonel Cathcart and Major Major; the chaplain;  Doc Daneeka; and others. These characters are, for the most part, minor, as they are only mentioned briefly and only a few are really focused on, but they are all important. The book follows all of these characters in different situations in the war, from the gruesome deaths of their friends to a ridiculous black market syndicate run by one of the characters.

The novel opens in the hospital, where Yossarian is avoiding flying more missions, and subsequently jumps around to other events during the war. The jumpy storytelling, while undeniably confusing at times, does mirror the circular logic used throughout the novel. For instance, the titular ‘Catch-22’ says that to be grounded because of insanity a pilot must request to be evaluated, but wanting to be grounded to avoid more missions proves sanity, so they can’t be grounded and must fly more missions. This same sort of situation is repeated throughout the book, particularly through the bureaucracy. The bureaucracy constantly twists people’s words, and everything ends up circling back to where it began, providing much of the humour in the book. These paradoxical situations can get frustrating and confusing to read, but they do usually end up leading to something in the end. The book often goes off on tangents, and everything leads to something else through various associations and often comes back to where it started.

However, Catch-22, although slightly confusing in its circular logic and endless characters, was a very good novel about the absurdity and insanity of war. Yossarian’s life is just as threatened by the bureaucracy on his own side as it is by the ‘enemy,’ due to the ridiculous logic and motivations of the bureaucracy (Colonel Cathcart, for example, only volunteers the squadron for more missions so they can get into the Saturday Evening Post), that are both nonsensical and almost rational. The book also deals with the mindless patriotism of some in the war, religion, death, and other themes, and switches often between being humorous and dark, although it does end on an optimistic note. It’s extremely difficult to give a synopsis of the plot as it jumps around a lot, and it really is a book you need to read for yourself, and although it is confusing, it pays off in the end.  I really enjoyed it overall and recommend it.