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GAF Book Club (Jan 2012) - "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

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T

Tim the Wiz

Banned
GAF Book Club (Jan 2012) - "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

wRAub.jpg


"Catch-22 is the only war novel I've read that makes any sense." -- Harper Lee


http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/168668.Catch_22?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

"He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt."

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 someone dangerously sane -- a masterpiece of our time.

Amazon Paperback
Kindle edition


Guidelines:
  • For maximum fun and discussion, follow the milestones with the group. But feel free to read at your own pace if you prefer!
  • If you read ahead and want to drop some knowledge, that's cool--but please use spoiler tags where appropriate! And be sure to indicate how far ahead the spoiler is. [spoiler]text goes here[/spoiler]
  • Unspoilered discussion of anything through the latest milestone is allowed and encouraged. If you’re not caught up, read the thread at your own risk!
  • Suggestions for the next book club selection are welcome at any time. Please vote on the next book once we're finished with this one. If no consensus is reached by the end of the month, we will go with the next book in the tentative order below.


Reading Milestones:
Fri, Jan 6 - Ch 1 - 5
Sun, Jan 8 - Ch 6 - 10
Tue, Jan 10 - Ch 11 - 15
Thu, Jan 12 - Ch 16 - 20
Sat, Jan 14 - Ch 21 - 25
Mon, Jan 16 - Ch 26 - 30
Wed, Jan 18 - Ch 31 - 35
Fri, Jan 20 - Ch 36 - 40
Sun, Jan 22 - Ch 41 - 42
Tue, Jan 24 - Fin


Future Book Club Possibilities (In Tentative Order):
2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Help! A Bear Is Eating Me! by Mykle Hansen
If on a winter's night, a traveler by Italo Calvino
The Long Ships by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Devil In the White City by Erik Larson
[your recommendation here!]


Previous Book Club Threads:
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (December 2011)
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West, by Cormac McCarthy (Oct 2011)
The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov (Sep 2011)
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (Aug 2011)
Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian (July 2011)
The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin (June 2011)
A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan (May 2011)
The Afghan Campaign, by Steven Pressfield (Apr 2011)
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein (Mar 2011)
Flashman, by George MacDonald Fraser (Feb 2011)
 
P

Pau

Member
I'm glad you guys are continuing this! Unfortunately, the last few books have been novels I've already read, and I'd rather read something new... but Catch-22 is one of my favorite novels and I'll try to reread some of it and chime in every once in a while since I know you guys were really low on participants.

For next month I'd like to recommend 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. I've never read any of his stuff but I hear good things. And I really want to read it in the original Spanish so I think it'd be cool to compare notes with those who'd read the English translation.
 
T

tm24

Member
Wow, what a coincidence, i just ordered this book. This thread might get me to read it in a timely manner
 
K

killertofu

Member
I had brought this book to my flight last month to China...never got too far into it but I have another 15+ hour flight back in a couple days. Might as well try again :)
 
T

Tim the Wiz

Banned
Pau said:
I'm glad you guys are continuing this! Unfortunately, the last few books have been novels I've already read, and I'd rather read something new... but Catch-22 is one of my favorite novels and I'll try to reread some of it and chime in every once in a while since I know you guys were really low on participants.

For next month I'd like to recommend 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. I've never read any of his stuff but I hear good things. And I really want to read it in the original Spanish so I think it'd be cool to compare notes with those who'd read the English translation.
Click to expand...

This sounds like a great idea, especially since the personal convenience factor is high - the only reason that matters, obviously. One of those books on my bookshelf I keep meaning to read.
 
D

Dresden

Member
2666 would be cool. I started it but left it somewhere 'round the 100 page mark
because I got addicted to Dark Souls
for no reason at all.

Anyways I think I'll try to chip in every now and then. I have Catch-22 somewhere at home.
 
N

nakedsushi

Member
Nice! I think I only half-read Catch-22 so I'll join in for this one and hope the book club keeps me on track.

Pau said:
For next month I'd like to recommend 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. I've never read any of his stuff but I hear good things. And I really want to read it in the original Spanish so I think it'd be cool to compare notes with those who'd read the English translation.
Click to expand...

Weird, I was just at a party this afternoon where I was talking to another writer who really loved this book. Now I'm curious. Isn't it a pretty hard and dense read?
 
P

Pau

Member
d[-_-]b;33923935 said:
Too expensive for my poor blood, would've liked to join in :(, sounds very interesting none-the-less....
Click to expand...
No libraries you could loan it from? :( It's quite an amazing book - really one of the best out there.

nakedsushi said:
Weird, I was just at a party this afternoon where I was talking to another writer who really loved this book. Now I'm curious. Isn't it a pretty hard and dense read?
Click to expand...
That's what I hear (and considering that I've been neglecting reading in my native tongue I'm going to have a fun time with it) but hey that might create some more discussion. There's always the possibility of people not reading it because it's too much work, but it's always nice and usually more rewarding to read hard books with a group of people instead of on your own.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
I have this on kindle, ipad, and a hardcopy. Don't ask me why - I have no clue...

Excellent Choice Tim.
 
H

hamchan

Member
Alright I'm joining this! I've had the book for awhile but never got around to it, so now is the perfect chance.
 
M

Maklershed

Member
Am I seeing this right? The kindle version is $12.99? This seems like something that would be $6.99 or lower.

EDIT: Damn East of Eden is $13.99. What is going on with Amazon's ebook pricing all of a sudden?
 
H

Heel

Member
I'm in! Gonna pick it up from the library tonight. I've heard good things about this here book.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
I forgot how many catch 22 situations there are in this book, and how often it jumps from storyline to storyline.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
ProdicalFlame said:
I'm really late and haven't participated in this before but I want in please.
Click to expand...

Come in...some of us are foolishly reading this as part of their fifty books to read this year... That's one a week, and this book is 500 pages! Kindle count FTL. I've turned to iBook to get me through.

I've can say that I got to the 9th chapter, and the book just hit its stride I think. 100 pages down, 400 to go. I think my next book will definitely be shorter. I'm just such a slow reader, pencil out and every thing.
 
B

brianjones

Member
finished this the other night.. great book

i have a strong desire to watch dr. strangelove now.. seems like a great companion piece
 
A

Archurro

Member
Will read once I get back to my dorm on the 11th. I just finished Slaughterhouse-five, this will be an interesting follow up.
 
C

Clever Pun

Member
I just finished chapter 9 last night so I'm still a little behind the milestones, but I'll spoiler tag my thoughts so far just to be safe:

I don't think this book is a slow start so much as it takes 40 or 50 pages to get a feel for the rhythm of the comedy, dialogue, and time period jumps. Once that kicked in for me I really started to enjoy it, and the scene where Clevinger is "on-trial" is absolutely hilarious. Major Major Major Major was also great. At this point I'm really looking forward to what comes next, and it's already getting hard to put it down.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Clever Pun said:
I actually recorded as many as I could find. I could post them here (spoilered of course) or a link to them if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...

Its the end of the month. Spoilers be damned. :p

What's the next book by the way? I want to recommend reading four short novelettes. One for each week.
 
C

Clever Pun

Member
Ashes1396 said:
Its the end of the month. Spoilers be damned. :p

What's the next book by the way? I want to recommend reading four short novelettes. One for each week.
Click to expand...

Ok, here are the ones I found. I don't doubt there are more, so if anyone else has any to list please do!

“There was only catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind….Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to” (46). This is basically where the book defines the issue.

P. 58 contains an explicit reference to Catch-22, in which Doc Daneeka says it means “you’ve always got to do what your commanding officer tells you to.” P. 101 contains a Catch-22 in relation to the dead man in Yossarian’s tent. Major Major has forfeited the right to remove the dead man’s belongings and thought Yossarian had the right, but Yossarian himself had no right to do it either.

P. 105 – Ex-P.F.C Wintergreen refers to Catch-22 explicitly in relation to his having to keep going “back over the hill” to get his job back, but that the next time he does he will be placed in the stockade. P.114 – the men of the squadron are faced with a Catch-22 when they must sign the loyalty oath, otherwise Milo won’t feed them and they will starve to death.

P. 133 – Yossarian faces a Catch-22 with regard to the maid in the lime-colored panties when he falls in love with her “because she seemed to be the only woman left he could make love to without falling in love with.” Yossarian faces another entertaining Catch-22 on p. 159 when he asks Luciana to marry him, but she refuses because he’s crazy. When he asks why he’s crazy, she tells him it is because he wants to marry her.

We see that Colonel Cathcart has created a Catch-22 for himself on p. 187 when we learn that he thinks highly of himself whenever he thinks of all those his own age who have not attained the rank of major, but then gets depressed when he thinks of those his age and younger who are already generals!

Aarfy describes a disturbing Catch-22 (p. 241) involving his fraternity brothers forcing girls to sleep with them, by threatening that if they didn’t they would tell their parents that the girls were sleeping with them.

The old woman who ran the brothel tells Yossarian that the soldiers came and drove them away because of Catch-22 on p. 407. Yossarian is presented with the Catch-22 of betraying his friends and speaking well of Catchcart and Korn or being forced to fly more missions on p. 428.

Colonel Cathcart becomes caught in his own Catch-22 when, having forced so many men to fly upwards of 70 missions, he can’t allow them to go home because he would have to requisition too many inexperienced men, thus causing an investigation (p. 442).
 
C

Cyan

Banned
I finally gave up tracking down my old copy (no doubt lent to someone years ago) and just bought a new one. It's a nice edition anyway.

I'll be reading and posting occasional thoughts. :)
 
H

hamchan

Member
Oh man, I could only make it through 40% of the book before the end of the month. :p

Will keep reading it since I'm enjoying it. The book feels like it's a series of vignettes to me, which is why I don't feel like marathoning through like I do most books.
 
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