Catch-22
As recommended on BBC2’s Between the Covers
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4.1 • 58 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Discover Joseph Heller's hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man's efforts to survive it.
It's the closing months of World War II and Yossarian has never been closer to death. Stationed in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, each flight mission introduces him to thousands of people determined to kill him.
But the enemy above is not Yossarian's problem - it is his own army intent on keeping him airborne, and the maddening 'Catch-22' that allows for no possibility of escape.
'The greatest satirical work in the English language' Observer
'The most devastating satire ever written about the lunacy of war and military bureaucracy' Antony Beevor
INTRODUCED BY HOWARD JACOBSON
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Catch-22 remains an unsettling read, at once a darkly hilarious survey of the absurdities of military life and a deadly serious meditation on the horrors of war. Inspired by Joseph Heller’s own experience as a World War II fighter pilot, the 1961 novel depicts an Air Force squadron where increasingly unhinged enlisted men and inept officers are each other’s worst enemies. Heller swerves between puckish satire, brutal drama, and a genuinely terrifying climax, introducing us to one-of-a-kind characters like Captain Yossarian, who consistently fails in his efforts to be ruled insane, and Milo Minderbinder, a ruthless war profiteer. This could be the 20th century’s most powerful—and funny—anti-war novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
Hilarious book and stories
Remember reading this while back on a vacation in Croatia where I read it in a matter of days which never happened to me before. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it to everyone who likes crazy humor that also gives you some insight!
my favourite book
it's a slow start because the catalyst of the plot isn't revealed until halfway through, so you have to push on. but this book is really funny and emotional, and gives you a lot to think about. i can't think of any other books that made me laugh out loud.
Rediculously, unpredictably hilarious!
Definitely for fans of randomness and bizarre convoluted scenarios midway between emotionally upsetting and gut-busting hilariousness - you'll get abs reading this book from all the laughing.
For Catch 22, chronology doesn't matter, understanding everything that's going on; doesn't matter - save that for the second time you read it. All that matters in round one is the laughter. Every scene brings a fresh wave of ecstasy. Jokes within jokes within jokes.
It's clever, poignant, heart rending, simultaneously hilarious, and somehow every character, every scene, every line, perfectly crafted to hit my funny bone in the perfect way.
I can't decide who my favorite character is. They're all so awesomely funny! 5.5 stars. Couldn't have asked for more.