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| Closing Time | 
 enlarge | Author: Joseph Heller
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £7.98 (100%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 282145
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
ISBN: 0684860198
EAN: 9780684860190
ASIN: 0684860198
Publication Date: July 1, 1999
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Good Clean Condition. Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 A mixed bag October 10, 2008
First of all, I was not expecting another Catch-22, both in terms of my overall enjoyment and the stucture Heller was to employ. Therefore this isn't a comparison to Catch-22 alone by any means.
I found Closing Time sometimes exhilerating, sometimes very hard going.
This sometimes the reflects the two strands of the book - Lew and Sammy looking back at their lives was at times repetitive and seemingly unnecessary, while Yossians shennaigans were often highly amusing and, like in catch-22, Heller's love for the paradoxical and the absurd shone through in the hilarious dialogue.
In parts however, the opposite was true. Lew and Sammy were occasionally very touching: Sammy's description of his wife Glenda's rapid surrender to cancer, mirroring what happened to Heller's own wife, moved me greatly. Additionally, Yossarian, Mylo and co were occasionally predictable, lumpen and annoyingly preposterous - the overly-stupid generals in the flying wing meeting, for example.
Overall, I think it was a commendable and brave effort from Heller to try to piece together his and his characters' thoughts on getting old, and satire the modern America that he and they fought for, but for me Closing Time has the feel of something unfinished - wonderful in places, but wearing in others.
 a kick in the teeth to catch-22 fans April 30, 2008
i found myself hating this book by the time i finished and unwilling to read anything by heller again (i'm certainly not in a hurry to).
long monologues from a minor character in catch-22 form large parts of the book and even longer monologues from a character who ezperienced the war from the army take up even larger parts of the book.
these are well written and even interesting but they go on for so long you tire of them and find yourself dreading the next one.
then there's Yossarian's adventures which have taken a dark, deeply cynical tone (you get the feeling he's become an autobiographical version of heller - with his constant classical music references which will leave most people in the dark) and is only funny on a couple of occasions.
and then there's the constant retelling of events that we read about in catch-22 except here they've been stripped of their energy and humour, often told by one of the characters in a whimsical tone as though they're a couple of catch-22 fans discussing their favourite moments.
So that's my view on it, usually i'm a horder when it comes to books, even if i didn't really enjoy a book i find i have to keep hold of it, perhaps Closing Time has taken me on the first step to curing this affliction as i couldn't wait to send it to a charity shop as soon as i'd read the rather dull finale.
avoid like the plague March 29, 2008
i was so pleased to finish this book - because it felt like such a drag.
this is a long boring book with a dull ending.
i would have quit reading but i wanted to know what happens to yossarian.
not much is the short answer.
 Better than "Catch -22"!!!...(kind of)... September 26, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the best book I have read since "Catch-22", and is in many ways better.
The satirical view of Yossarian's America is easily as funny, if not funnier than, Yossarian's WW2.
Yet the laugh-out-loud surreal hilarity of Milo Miderbinder's corporate ambitions is somewhat diluted by Lew Rabinowitz's and Sammy Singer's more serious accounts of growing up and growing old in today's society.
However, this is by no means a bad thing: whilst those looking for a laugh-a-minute book throughout will be dissapointed, "Closing Time" succeeds where I believe "Catch-22" originally failed: "Catch-22" for me did not quite convey the seriousness I believe Heller to have been trying for, whilst "Closing Time" succeeds in being both the funniest book I have ever read(apart, perhaps, from "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakhov), and also perhaps the most striking, touching, and heartfelt satire in existence.
Technique-wise, Heller here is brilliant, his genius shining through his untouchable prose. The structure of "Closing Time" is markedly different from that of "Catch-22", and (in my opinion) more effective - Heller's developement as a writer can be seen clearly between original and sequel (incidentally, his first and last books).
In my opinion, "Closing Time" is not only genuinely the best work of literature of the last century (I know, grand claim, huh?), but is also an incisive commentary on the modern world. My only advice, however, is not to read this book with any pre-conceptions or expectations, which has obviously ruined this book for several reviewers here...enjoy!
Sequel to Catch 22 June 4, 2004
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
Initially I was a little disappointed with Joseph Heller's sequel to Catch 22 but when I thought about it after completing Closing Time I realised perhaps I was being a little unfair. After all, Catch 22 was possibly the greatest novel written in the 20th century and bearing this in mind it was actually quite brave of Heller to attempt a sequel at all!
The format is very different with Closing Time being made up of a series of smaller books. Also it took some getting used to the little things such as ex-PFC Wintergreen using the F word in every sentence whereas in Catch 22 he never offered a single swear word!
I get the impression this was a very personal novel for Heller who had grown older and wiser with his characters. I read Catch 22 and Closing Time in the space of a month and therefore felt the satire and caustic humour had dipped from the first to the second book. However, those who read Catch 22 as young men and women will thoroughly enjoy their re-acquaintances with some of the characters (most obviously Yossarian and Milo)forty years on.
Closing Time stands on its own as a well constructed novel but it fails to match the originality of the classic Catch 22, although it's likely Heller always knew it would. Worth a read but not a classic.
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