Explain the appeal of this work to me, please.
I'm about 30% through it and while I'm pretty sure I "get it" so far and it isn't that confusing or anything, it is very, very boring. It is neither funny or particularly interesting, most of the time.
I feel like I'm going through a needlessly tedious read just to "get" a rather simple, basic insight (a good one, but something I don't need this book for).
It's a less erudite and less daring version of Pynchon's musings on the shady, comic side of war and the vaudeville absurdity of the U.S military wrapped within a linear, conventional narrative structure. But since it's coming from a firsthand perspective of WW2 and isn't blatantly fictitious it's still unique and interesting enough to stand on its own.
WESTERN CANON OMG THE UNIVERSE WITHIN ITS PAGES! - no, but still pretty good.
Why the fuck are you reading fiction for "insight"? Its a fun book, you are suppose to laugh.
Stop trying to "get it." Just read the damn book.
People down play catch 22 but the dialogues between the characters are incredible
I liked the priest struggling with belief in God and sin. I loved Dunbar's thoughts on death.
the book is funny as fuck especially Major major major and the things tthat happen in Italy (especially Milo and the orgy)
it's also an amazing satire (hospital scene) and a tremendously sad story that asks why a man must fight and why men must die (flying the plane over the raft).
C22 is an amazing novel and by far the best ww2 novel
its pretty damn funny most of the time
It starts making sense after a while. The whole chronology and characters will become clear later.
fpbp
>Its a fun book
it's anything but, but, admittedly, I only managed to read 50 pages or something of it before I stopped reading, shit's fucking boring
Appeal a banana.
Well there's your problem, it doesn't really take off until like 80 pages in
so, if I were to give it another try, could I just skip the first 80 pages?
The author is Jewish.
it's probably just not your sense of humour
Well these are the kind of replies that I wanted. Seems like it hasn't really hit my sense of humor so far, if that is supposed to be the primary appeal (though I've chuckled at a few of the parts where the higher up officers are trying to look good/save face/just powertripping).
The "message" of the book seems sort of obvious, but I'll still try to read it if it gets funnier later on.
Come back to it later. I loved it the second i started reading it. The first paragraph was hilarious to me and i couldnt out it down. Alot of people ive heard try reading it once then put it down then come back months or even years later and it becomes their favorite book.
The biggest difference is Heller's humor is dry and sophisticated, Pynchon's is wacky and childish.
The first paragraph is just "It was love at first sight."
it might be the kind of book that you'll read now and not really get it, but then you'll read it again in a few years and it'll just click.
I read this in Vegas when I was celebrating my 21st birthday. I had been trying to force myself to get though it and brought it to read it on the plane and during down time. I had probably ready 30% ahead of time. After we landed I sat in the hotel room and read for about an hour. The book the started to get hilarious. I would also jerk off during all of the prostitute fucking scenes. There is something amazing about a book thank makes you laugh out loud in one chapter and makes you want to tug your dick during the next chapter.
>linear, conventional narrative structure
did you even read the book?
>literally this.
?
It's a great book. That said I know exactly where you're coming from OP because I would often get reader's fatigue during the first half. A tighter plot emerges on the second half that keeps you turning pages.
>though I've chuckled at a few of the parts where the higher up officers are trying to look good/save face/just powertripping
that's a big part of the humour, stay with it and it becomes a lot more apparent
Read it like it's non-fiction. Don't expect to laugh a lot, because Heller uses 1950s and 1960s humor, much of which would not be considered funny at all today.
There is a lot of insight as you progress with the book. The old pimp explaining life and death to Nately, a lot of Yossarian's dialogues, especially with the Lt's wife, and other examples are introspective and insightful.
It's a book about life, and how everyone gets screwed over because we can't see the big picture.
It's one of the funniest books I've ever read and one of the most influential to my life on a practical level. I read it when I was 15 and it taught me a lot of things about having a sense of humor and how to make light of tragedy. It's definitely got some stuff I didn't understand when I read it the first time, but above all it's fucking hilarious and the first time through I'd just let it make you giggle. Don't worry about the "insight" user. Just have a good time.
It's hilarious, and one of Reddit's favorite books (for those unaware Reddit is one of the most intellectual communities on the internet). i got a "so it goes" tattoo right next to my ";" after reading the book because it totally changed my life
diminishing a great/enjoyable book written fucking ~50 years before reddit was even created because you met some pseudo at college.
I'm sure you're enjoying much cooler things these days anyway. Probably have moved up to non-fiction.