Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

‘Racial prejudice is a terrible thing, Yossarian. It really is. It’s a terrible thing to treat a decent, loyal Indian like a nigger, kike, wop or spic.’ Chief White Halfoat nodded slowly with conviction.

This humorous quote is a perfect microcosm of Catch-22 and using it as an archetype, I can explain the entire book. If you have any whisper of a humor, you’ll find it funny. This is in part because it so directly and crudely contradicts itself. Contradictions, intentional ones, are packed into every cranny of every page, which should be unsurprising because catch-22’s are basically situations where outcomes contradict efforts (e.g. An insane person isn’t allowed to fly a plane but if you file for insanity that proves your sanity). It is catch-22 scenes like this that are stitched together to make this book basically plotless (there is without a doubt no climax), which is not necessarily a bad thing. Heller trapezes from different points in time, focusing on different characters and sometimes their perspectives on a situation that has already been experienced by another character. And when good writing employs something like this and is funny and uses black comedy and has such eccentric characters who contradict themselves and a plot that is barely perceivable then that makes the book pretty subversive. Which is exactly why I think it is seen as so brilliant and why it garnered a number seven spot on the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century list. Mind you, that is only two platforms below my beloved Lolita. But Catch-22 is not that genius. Notice I said good writing a couple sentences previous and not great writing. However, this is also not to say that Heller is not a great writer. I think he strained so hard to create these eccentric characters and ridiculous situations that his writing did not flow freely and naturally; consequently, it seems forced. On the other hand, there is distinctly different prose in certain paragraphs where he is writing seriously, without trying to be funny, and it comes off as beautiful, effortless writing. I really enjoyed these passages, though sparse, throughout the book and if you ever read this book I think they will definitely stand out. But as I said before, I think he was trying too hard to be funny (but he was successful at this!) and as a result good prose was forsaken. What was really annoying was the constant use of superfluous adverbs. It seemed like he was going out of his way to use big words to describe an action. Rarely would somebody say something without an unnecessarily large word describing how that person said it. But I’m more of a he said she said kind of guy and not a he vociferated she iterated kind of guy.

But that’s enough negativity. I did enjoy this book. I thought it funny but did not see its brilliance. Let’s talk more about the Modern Library. I would argue that Catch-22 is good the same way a Stephen King novel is good, however different they may be. Stephen King is extremely well-known and his books are loved and many have been turned into movies (The Shining, Carrie, The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, etc.) But would you call him brilliant? I mean, the guy’s swimming in his own money so his books have to be somewhat good, but not one of them cracked the list and there was no backlash against this. I kinda see Catch-22 in the same light. It’s certainly good and a page-turner for most people, but I can’t fathom how its prose drops jaws the same way Lolita or The Great Gatsby does. As I mentioned earlier, it is only in those rarely seen paragraphs where Heller just seems to be writing, not trying to be funny or continue his onslaught of catch-22 situations, that he shows he’s worthy of discussion in the top 100. Let me repeat, this book is at number seven on a list which a Hemingway novel didn’t crack the top 40 (to my memory.). This is what keeps me up at night. I can fathom how Catch-22, as its cover claims, is a “classic bestseller” but should this 25-vaudeville-acts-stitched-together of a book really be considered a great literary achievement? Somebody throw Hemingway a friggin’ bone here.

With this book, war novel month has begun. This should be especially interesting because I just realized I’m going to be reading A Farewell to Arms.

One last thing... If you ever read Sideways Stories of Wayside School when you were little then Catch-22 is a lot like the grown-up version of that in how each chapter in both books focus on different completely eccentric characters in absolutely ridiculously situations. This is an amusing comparison.