3 Stars
Pros: Subtly amusing in its strange depiction of war and all the back and forth that happens between the many bodies of leadership. It's reminiscent of one giant game of "Telephone" and the message is so garbled by the end that you're not quite sure what the message was to begin with/The repetition, the constant, "I can't hear you, what did you say", "I just said that", "You just said that" was both amusing and infuriating.
Cons: It takes about 100 pages to hit its stride/The somewhat backwards storyline is hard to follow at first but once it clicks, it's moderately entertaining. There are far too many characters, Colonels, Generals, Captains etc, to keep straight and so you don't really form an emotional bond to any of them. They're just names, confusing, random names.
Full Review:
Yossarian is a Captain in the 256th Bombardier Squadron stationed on a small island, Pianosa off the coast of Italy during World War 2. He is positive, without a doubt or hesitation, that everyone, and he means, everyone, is trying to kill him. And since he's currently a fighter pilot in the middle of a war, his concerns are pretty valid. When he voices his distressing realization to his higher ups, a confusing circle of Colonels, Majors and Generals, they all dismiss him and tell him he's crazy. But what's crazier still is the quota that the pilots of the 256th squadron must meet in order to "complete" their mission and be sent home. It's the best "catch" of them all, that of "Catch-22."
A soldier must fly a set number of combat missions (that continues to increase as the novel progresses) in order to be sent home. If a soldier willfully agrees to fly these dangerous missions, then he must be suicidal and insane, so he will be grounded and deemed unfit for combat. But if a soldier goes through the formal process of requesting permission to be excused from flying said combat missions then it stands to reason that he must be perfectly healthy and sane and thus is ordered to fly the missions.
The absurdity of it all is laughable and yet...I think we've all stumbled upon a Catch-22 once or twice in our lives. Damned if you and damned if you don't, they are those situations that truly seem to have no good solution. Many people have felt the gut wrenching unfairness at reading the requirements of an entry level job requiring 5 years experience, and yet, how will you get the experience if you're not given the job?
Yossarian, seeing no good way out of any of it, tries his best to do whatever he can to make it so he doesn't have to fly. He's constantly in and out of the hospital complaining of a pain in his liver, but since it doesn't turn into jaundice and he has no other symptoms, the doctors are baffled. He's eventually discharged from the hospital and the number of combat missions they are required to fly is raised yet again, leading to more and more desperate attempts by Yossarian to find a loophole.
I, at first, wasn't enjoying the book. I had a serious discussion with a good friend on whether or not I should put the book down, since it hadn't really hooked me by Page 100. It was decided that I should put it down for now, but then, that night as I was getting ready for bed, I read another chapter, and that was when the narrative began to pick up. It took awhile to hit its stride, but once it did, I was both amused, confused and dismayed at everything that Yossarian and the others in the 256th Bombadier Squadron must endure.
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