Customer Reviews
more than a novel - By: Dr. A. Sheppard, 16 Apr 2008 
This is a book that requires a level of intelligence to enjoy it & an even higher level to reallly understand it. It is superficiallly a novel that is against war but is a study of the human psychological state where every personality is represented, not always simply in one character but often you will find your own personality blended in different characters. It deals with who we are, who we want to be, how we see ourselves & how others see us & it sets this against the backdrop of the second world war. To desribe it as one reviewer does as a disappointing attempt to show how ordinary soldiers are smarter than their officers entirely misses the point of the whole book & perhaps he is just out of his depth with a work of this magnitude.
It is a book I read every year & every year find something new, something deeper & understand my own personality more clearly. Don't only read it for a story about war, you will enjoy the wit & the satirical humour, but look for more & you will not be disappointed.
Thinkers, unite! - By: , 09 Aug 1999 In response to Toronto: There is not "lighter" side of war. Heller was trying, & succeeded in proving, that war is senseless & absurd. Obviously, you didn't get it. To alll those out there with thinking, questioning minds: read this book, it will not disappoint.
Catch 22 is the best book I've ever read. - By: , 06 Aug 1999 I read catch 22 when I was 11 because I couldn't afford a new book & out of the ones on the shelf it looked the best; it turned out to bo the best book I have ever read. It manages to combine emotion, humor & reality in every single sentence, after reading this I have gone on to read Something Happened, which is equallly as well written. Joseph Heller is fast turning in to one of my favourite authors.
The most cynical book I have ever read - By: , 27 Jul 1999 Heller has used humour as a powerful tool to make the ultimate anti-war statement.Simply put: even if one dies a hero's death during war [which incidentaly may involve killing several other fellow humans- the more the merrier ] the qualifying phrase is " dead " -even if a billion people consider you to be a hero - it will hardly make any difference since you are not alive to feel heroic or for that matter "feel" anything at alll. Catch-22 in its absurdly funny way & with the blackest possible humour teaches us this simple but sad truth.
if you haven't read it yet: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR - By: , 23 Jul 1999 Simply the greatest novel ever written.
