Book review: "Catch-22", by Joseph Heller

Catch-22

by Joseph Heller

Synopsis: Set on the fictional island of Pianosa during the American campaign to liberate Nazi-occupied Italy during the Second World War, Yossarian, a 28 year-old bombardier grows increasingly paranoid that he'll NEVER be sent back home, as Colonel Cathcart keeps raising the number of missions his men have to fly before they can take leave. His methods to stand his ground and save his life grow ever more inventive, but there's no doubting that the longer he stays on duty, the more creative and imaginative his would-be assassins become... As dangers reveal themselves from above, below and even from his own circle of acquaintances, Yossarian will slowly discover that "death-by-Nazi" will be the very least of his concerns...

Review: Some con artist tailors came to town, and offered to make the Emperor a set of new clothes. He agreed, and they got to work... doing nothing. After weeks of them sitting around idly, the Emperor came to collect his new threads. When he asked the tailors why he couldn't see or feel the clothes, they told him "They're made of the finest silk- so fine and unique, that only the wise and sophisticated can see and feel them..."... Suddenly, the Emperor decided that actually, he COULD both see and feel them... He had messengers sent throughout the kingdom, telling his subjects that only the wise would be able to see his clothes. Convinced that he must be wearing his new suit simply because he'd been tricked into thinking that it was real, the Emperor walked out naked in front of the entire kingdom. The crowd cheered and applauded his minimalist fashion show, boasting to each other about how beautiful the Emperor's new wardrobe appeared to them...

This is the same with Catch-22. When it first came out, apparently it was slated by critics for being simply awful. However, soon, certain people started saying "It's not awful- it's cult. It's subtle and dry- a wonderful satirical delight that I guess is something that only us sophisticated readers can truly appreciate..."... Suddenly, people started responding, "Oh...! Wait a second... Now that I take a CLOSER look, I can see that, actually, it is a really good cult classic... how wrong I was before. Yes- very sophisticated humour, which I DEFINITELY understand"... a forced and uneasy smile on their faces...

Don't get me wrong; undoubtedly there will be some genuine fans of Catch-22 out there... but I suspect that a lot of people who say they like this book say so simply because they feel they should. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if Joseph Heller sat down one day and thought to himself, "As a social experiment, I'm going to write a mediocre book, and then see how many people will be convinced by peer pressure that it's actually really good..."...

Well, the original critics had it right. This book is not great literature. The characters are unlikeable, under-developed, and uninteresting... to the point where, on the rare occasions when things actually DO happen to them, you're so far from any emotional investment in them, that you just think, "Who even cares?".

If you want a rough outline of what to expect: imagine a book which takes the social awkwardness and hilarity in misunderstandings of "The Importance Of Being Ernest", mix it in with the complete madness and ludicrousy of "Alice in Wonderland", and then place it on a similar 1940's Mediterranean island to that of "Captain Corelli's Mandolin", and you'll start to get an outline of "Catch-22". And, to its credit, there are times when reading it where it does make you chuckle, it does make you think about the absurdity of it all, and you do dream of the clear blue ocean stretching under a glistening sun, the peace aggressively torn apart by American bomber squadrons. But, for such a LONG book, these occasions are strikingly rare. Take, for example, its main message- that war is complete madness. That the people who start it and run it are all mental, and that the sane, innocent people who get dragged into it start to lose their minds, eventually. An important message, yes, but hardly ground-breaking, even for the time. And you could appreciate that fact in a fraction of the time, and with much more impact simply by watching an episode of "Blackadder Goes Forth".

All is NOT lost, though: the failed efforts of the young Nately to tame both his prostitute girlfriend and the other members of his squadron into "settling down" are predictably and comically shot down, and the running joke at the end of that same prostitute appearing cunningly and in disguise to try to assassinate Yossarian doesn't grow old (in fact, it lifts the tempo towards the end of the book, in a morbid, black-humour kind of way)... But even these fun parts aren't enough to justify the book's reputation. 

I really don't like writing negative reviews. But this kind of trickery has to be called out. There is probably some young person out there who wants to get into reading great books. In which case, I have a responsibility to save them a few quid, along with a number of reading hours they could be spending engaged in genuinely fantastic literature. It doesn't take a scholar to see that the reputation that Catch-22 has gained is a scam; a trick played on society to expose its conceited mindset. All it takes is that one uninhibited little boy to suddenly shout; 

"The Emperor's got no clothes on!"

Score: 4/10