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| Catch-22 | 
 enlarge | Author: Joseph Heller
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £2.75
You Save: £5.24 (66%)
New (32) from £3.79
Avg. Customer Rating:  132 reviews
Sales Rank: 858
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0099477319
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780099477310
ASIN: 0099477319
Publication Date: October 6, 1994
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 By Paul June 22, 2007
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
An amazing book. I read it about 10 years ago when I was 18. I find myself always coming back to it. Anyone who doesn't get it has no natural or healthy cynicism of the world in which we live. The book is absolutely absurd. Outstanding.
American Classic! June 15, 2007
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
I recently reread this book for the first time in 25 years and it is still one of the funniest books I have ever read. Catch 22 demonstrates the absurdity of bureaucracy in war in a hilarious way. The most appealing attribute of the book is how it re-enforced catch 22 throughout the novel and you realize the concept is applicable not only in the military but also in the government, at the office, and even family. The characters are real flesh and bone and in the end I was sad to see them go. Anyone who enjoys watching the ineptitude of interoffice politics and bureaucracies will enjoy this book.
Wish I'd read it twenty years ago May 29, 2007
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
There's a page in Catch 22 that took me perhaps 15 minutes to read because I was laughing so hard I couldn't progress onto the next line until I'd calmed down. However, this particular act of comedy wasn't one I was unaware of - I'd seen it performed on comedy sketch shows many times before - it's just that I was reading the book with an intention I'd started it with; the open appreciation of its age and Joseph Heller's prodigy at the time of publication. It was a comedy act that wouldn't have gone amiss in a Monty Python or Two Ronnies sketch, and it couldn't have been written any better.
Catch 22 is not purely a work of comedy; it just features moments of extremely enjoyable humour. It is perhaps fair to say that it features many more dark passages than light ones as book progresses and the satire gives way, along with the lead character's hope, to the grim reality of men at war and a society suffering war and lawlessness. Catch 22 has so much to be admired for.
I took a long time to get into this book, which centres around the anti-hero Yossarian and builds, chapter by character-centric chapter, into its well-deserved acclaim of being one of the best pieces of fiction to emerge from the 20th Century.
If you're a fan of Mash then you will not only love this book, you'll discover the prime influence for the Mash film and TV series.
Where's the 6th star?! May 20, 2007
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
Honestly I have never written one of these revews before but after finishing this book I had to let everyone know just how brilliant it is!
I bought the book out of sheer idle curiousity on my Dad's recommendation and loved every written word of it! Never before or since has a book made me laugh out loud the way I did as I was reading Catch-22. The sheer ridiculousness and twisted logic provide a light-hearted contrast to the at times all too apparent dangers of war as one by one the squadrons' ranks are thinned, however Heller does not press the issue to the point where other less accomplished writers might; causing offence if they were to attempt to satirise the pain and loss which conflict inevitably causes.
Coming from a military career myself I would thoroughly recommend this to any current or former service personnel particulary as the best moments for me were by far those that I could relate to - the ridiculousness of military administration, the fluorescent distinction between men and officers and above all the stark realization of what it costs to be a 'hero.'
Unfortunately the only bad thing about this book was having to buy a second copy! My Dad, after I left it lying around in the living room, kidnapped the first after finding himself once more ensnared by its engrossing attributes!!
A true classic, worthy of a place on any bookshop. I doubt you'll find a second hand copy in a local book store; I'm certainly not letting go of another copy!
Hilarious Satire April 15, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Believe all the newspaper reviews.
It is certainly the best book I have ever read.
Even after half-a-dozen readings, it still makes me laugh out loud.
Example. Milo Mindbender made so much cash on the black market that he was able to negotiate a big-money contract with the Germans to bomb his own squadron.
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