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Catch-22
 
 
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Catch-22 (Paperback)

by Joseph Heller (Author) "It was love at first sight ..." (more)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (623 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 18.99
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Product Description

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There was a time when reading Joseph Heller's classic satire on the murderous insanity of war was nothing less than a rite of passage. Echoes of Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier who was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament, could be heard throughout the counterculture. As a result, it's impossible not to consider Catch-22 to be something of a period piece. But 40 years on, the novel's undiminished strength is its looking-glass logic. Again and again, Heller's characters demonstrate that what is commonly held to be good, is bad; what is sensible, is nonsense.

Yossarian says, "You're talking about winning the war, and I am talking about winning the war and keeping alive."
"Exactly," Clevinger snapped smugly. "And which do you think is more important?"
"To whom?" Yossarian shot back. "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."
"I can't think of another attitude that could be depended upon to give greater comfort to the enemy."
"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."
Mirabile dictu, the book holds up post-Reagan, post-Gulf War. It's a good thing, too. As long as there's a military, that engine of lethal authority, Catch-22 will shine as a handbook for smart-alecky pacifists. It's an utterly serious and sad, but damn funny book.



From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. It would be difficult to imagine richer material for an audiobook reader, comedically speaking, than Joseph Heller's classic novel of wartime madness. Sanders is the lucky actor chosen to read Heller's masterpiece, and he does well by it, proceeding gamely through the novel's staggering array of comic set pieces and deliriously woozy dialogue. Heller's humor is straight-faced, requiring little more than a steady, sure voice, and Sanders offers just that. Line by line, joke by joke, Sanders reels through the marvelous phantasmagoria of Heller's World War II, tongue planted firmly in cheek. Caedmon's impressive package includes a 1970s-era recording of Heller reading selections from his book. Heller is a delightful contrast to Sanders, his slight lisp accentuating a marvelous Brooklyn accent. Heller reads as if with cigar perched on his lip and turns his novel into an extended borscht belt comic's riff.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
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Customer Reviews

623 Reviews
5 star:
 (466)
4 star:
 (87)
3 star:
 (26)
2 star:
 (18)
1 star:
 (26)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (623 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic for the ages, Mar 7 2006
By Franny and Z. (Fort Selkirk) - See all my reviews
Classic. That's all that needs to be said. But there's more:
Catch 22 is the greatest Masterpiece of the 20th century. It is the greatest ethical novel yet written. The themes that drive the novel are all moral dilemmas in nature, refined so purely to a degree that few other books ever achieve, specifically: if i'm better off not doing what everyone would be better off doing if everyone did it, then why should i? Yossarian's rationales for things are exactly what ethicists are talking about! but Yossarian's complete strategy for behavior is so complex that many of the things in the book come as a complete surprise to the reader, even at the end. Yossarian is often misunderstood to be an Antihero, but we learn that he is perhaps one of the greatest moral heros of any major literary work, in the process, turning all of our ideas about what is right on their heads. The structure of the book is so insanely intelligent it is simply mind-boggling to begin to list the attributes of it. the way certain things are revealed, and in what order, maximizes enjoyment for the reader who is intelligent enough to keep the whole story in his head at once. The book is not merely funny it is a moral masterpiece with an unexpectedly good ending--an ending whose importance may not dawn on the reader for weeks after finishing the book. The impeccable description and use of extremely clever illogic as humor just add huge dimensions to the enjoyment of this great work. Must also recommend McCrae's -----"Katzenjammer"----- for another great and fun read, along with -----"Choke"----- by Chuck Palahniuk.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Catch it now, Mar 7 2006
By Farnold Arnsworth (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
Few books that I've read really opened my eyes to something: Politics, human injustice, or idiotic ideology. Bradbury's "F 451" was one such book, and McCrae's "Katzenjammer" was another. So was Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Enter Catch 22. Catch 22 takes to the extreme many of the American archetypes of World War II. Yossarian, the unwilling patriot; Milo Minder-bender, the ultimate in the capitalistic ideal; Snowden, the mostly forgotten victim; and Colonel Cathcart the ambitious officer. Cynical behaiviour abounds as the pilots try to reach the ever increasing number of missions needed to be flown in order to go home. Peppered with vivid and intense scenes, Catch 22 is one of the funniest and amazing books that exist. It is an emotional and cynical tale that reveals Heller's genius as he turns the reality of World War II into important commentary. One of the best ways to examine why we as a society do some of the things that we do is through humor and Catch 22 does exactly that. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. You must also try -------"Katzenjammer" by Jackson McCrae------- FANTASTIC read!
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5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Just A Satire, Jan 15 2009
By Erin (Canada) - See all my reviews
Heller's satirical plot is interlaced with genuine tragic moments. There is a particular event in the story (Snowden) that is told and retold several times - Heller keeps revisiting it throughout the book, and exposes it in more and more tragic detail each time he does so. These tragic moments are all the more salient, all the more powerful, even all the more beautiful - when they are mired in a satirical text; moreso than if they had been written as part of an intentionally tragic story. It is my belief that Heller wasn't simply trying to depict the absurdity of the American military establishment, in both its practice and ethos. He was also trying to convey that this 'ridiculous' system had very real and tragic human consequences. And he conveyed it brilliantly.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars I'd take a pass on this one
I read this novel because for years people have been using the term "catch-22" in their everyday speak. Read more
Published 20 months ago by NorthVan Dave

3.0 out of 5 stars not among my favorite novels
I never really got into this book, and I'm not quite sure what all the fuss is about. It's at least semi-creative, and it is well written, but I didn't find it all that funny. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Paul J. Fitzgerald

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timeless Classic!
The greatness of Joesph Heller's Catch-22 cannot possibly be overstated. It is simply one of the finest books ever written, and one can only hope that it will continue to be read... Read more
Published on Jul 22 2005 by Max Schmidt

5.0 out of 5 stars Rings True...Regarding Life in General
Catch 22 is a classic.

No book has more viciously exposed the way logic can be a false, coercive tool, or the way men can be coerced by society into fulfilling roles they are... Read more

Published on Jul 11 2005 by Jimmy Taylor

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timeless Classic!
The greatness of Joesph Heller's Catch-22 cannot possibly be overstated. It is simply one of the finest books ever written, and one can only hope that it will continue to be read... Read more
Published on Jun 23 2005 by Max Schmidt

5.0 out of 5 stars Rings True...Regarding Life in General
Catch 22 is a classic.

No book has more viciously exposed the way logic can be a false, coercive tool, or the way men can be coerced by society into fulfilling roles they are... Read more

Published on Jun 1 2005 by Jimmy Taylor

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timeless Classic!
The greatness of Joesph Heller's Catch-22 cannot possibly be overstated. It is simply one of the finest books ever written, and one can only hope that it will continue to be read... Read more
Published on May 3 2005 by Max Schmidt (Chicago, IL)

5.0 out of 5 stars Top of my list
There are only a handful of books that refuse to fall into pre-determined "categories." CATCH 22 is one such book. Read more
Published on Feb 4 2005 by Starkweather,

5.0 out of 5 stars Catch this one
This book has no equal. But what makes it really charged is that somehow, in today's society, with all that's going on in the world, the novel is even more powerful. Read more
Published on Jan 13 2005 by Randy States

5.0 out of 5 stars A great catch
The book is well written and it draws you (the reader) in by really relating you to the myriad characters and their unique quirks. Read more
Published on Jul 26 2004

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