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Catch-22: A Novel
Escrito por Joseph Heller
Narrado por Jay O. Sanders
Acciones del libro
Comenzar a escuchar- Editorial:
- Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publicado:
- Aug 29, 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781508251521
- Formato:
- Audiolibro
Nota del editor
Descripción
Several decades after its initial publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest-and most celebrated-novels of all time. In recent years it has been named to "best novels" lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer.
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy-it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he's assigned, he'll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. Since its publication in 1961, no novel has matched Catch-22's intensity and brilliance in depicting the brutal insanity of war.
Acciones del libro
Comenzar a escucharInformación sobre el libro
Catch-22: A Novel
Escrito por Joseph Heller
Narrado por Jay O. Sanders
Nota del editor
Descripción
Several decades after its initial publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest-and most celebrated-novels of all time. In recent years it has been named to "best novels" lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer.
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy-it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he's assigned, he'll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. Since its publication in 1961, no novel has matched Catch-22's intensity and brilliance in depicting the brutal insanity of war.
- Editorial:
- Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publicado:
- Aug 29, 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781508251521
- Formato:
- Audiolibro
Acerca del autor
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Reseñas
The rambling repetitiveness in the narrative is, I think, supposed to represent the futility of the characters' struggles, their insanity, and the how the war would never really end for them. Unfortunately, it was just too much circular non-logic to tolerate.
Another problem for me was the way the story jerked between bitter satire, outrageous farce, and annoying accounts of everyday drama.
Heller's depiction of World War II seemed more fitting for a government office than a warfront. Even if that is how he remembered the war, the setting didn't feel real. I didn't care about any of the characters and often struggled to tell them apart. The plot was inconsequential. I felt that I was wasting my time once I'd absorbed the gist of the book.
This book turned into a survival guide for me the whole time I worked for the state, the whole time I was in the military. Or at least it made me feel as if someone else knew what was going on.
And I always wanted to meet some one named Major Major Major.
My chief complaint is that the humor is wearing thin. Heller keeps leaning on the same kinds of jokes--twisted, circuitous dialogue that ends in frustration and misunderstanding all around. It's funny at first, but the effectiveness of the technique is more and more sporadic as the story goes on. The narrative structure of the book has a similar gimmick--the story twists and turns through time, wrapping around and through itself repeatedly in an obvious metaphor for the bureaucracy that Heller is sending up. Applied in this broader way it's fine, and doesn't really hurt anything--it might actually work to the benefit of the book, though not greatly so. But on the smaller scale, it gets monotonous.
Nearly as big a problem, though, is the misogyny that permeates the book. Again, this is obviously intentional, and surely it's supposed to reflect poorly on the male characters (as well as probably reflecting poorly on the institution of the army, the situation of war, etc.). But mostly, it's just disgusting. It's no fun to go through, and comes up awfully frequently. Heller's slapstick satire isn't really a robust enough tool to probe this issue in a sustained way. One or two such instances in the book would be poignant. The dozens of them that riddle it, though, strip away any meaning that might briefly have been there.
I'm vacillating between 1 & 2 stars for this book. Because while it has some good writing and interesting aspects, it's overly indulgent in a way that amplifies its weaknesses. If it were a shorter novel, it might work quite well. So in the end, I think it's too simplistic to just give it the lowest rating, and I'm going to go with 2 stars. But I certainly don't recommend reading it.