Another book that I read as a 19/20 year old and thought was really funny and spot on then, and that I think is probably one of the great novels on re-reading now. Parts of the absurdity of it made me laugh out loud, again, but I also realized that it is so much more than a book about bureaucracy or against war. It's a book about the absurdity of the human condition, a point made by Yossarian when he walks through the streets of Rome trying to befriend Nately's whore's kid sister.
Catch 22 isn't just a bureaucratic trick; it's the trap that we are all caught in just being alive. War is just of way of making that more clear to the rest of us. I found it hard not to dismiss Yossarian and to root for him all at the same time. Of course, when he refused the deal from Colonel Korn, especially after looking for the whore's kid sister, it is one of the few "stand-up" moments in the novel.
I also had a lot of trouble not thinking that all of my life was absurd when I got up from reading it. Everything in the universe seemed like a huge joke was being played on me. But then, it really is a huge joke being played on me.
Author: Heller, Joseph
Date Published: 1961
Length: 19hr 59min
Narrator: Sanders, J. O.
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