In 1953, Joseph Heller was disgusted. Serving as a bombardier in the U.S. Air Force during World War II, he had been forced to fly sixty missions overseas before finally returning home in 1945. As most people who undergo traumatizing experiences, Heller felt compelled to do something about the injustice he felt during his years in the service. Because of his passion for the written word and the power of literature, he thought the best method for exposing the corruption of war was to publish a book of his experiences and musings. What followed was the American Classic, Catch-22.

The novel centers on Captain Yossarian, a remarkably average American man with so many faults he can’t help but be endearing. Yossarian and the rest of the 27th Air Force Brigade are stationed on Pianosa, a small island off the coast of Italy. As Heller himself makes note of in the book’s disclaimer, “It is very small and obviously could not accommodate all of the actions described.” That’s certainly an understatement. Catch-22 is bursting to the spine with outlandish characters, enormous detail, and horrifying ordeals.

The oddest thing about the novel is the initial lack of plot. Until about page 100, the book basically consists solely of character descriptions and scattered dialogues. Heller likes to move back and forth through time, so at first it feels more like background reading than a complete story. But then, once he feels that you’ve been thoroughly introduced to all twenty-something of his capricious characters, Catch-22 becomes quite the action-packed novel. After your interest has been sparked and you’re completely hooked into every word, the 400 pages really do fly by.

Through the course of a year, Yossarian faces all the trials and undergoes all the experiences of a typical US soldier. He realizes the power of the uniform on local women, meets danger head on, grieves when death pounces, rebels at incompetent superiors, and slowly grows aloof and apathetic. Although it seems the setup of your average wartime novel, Catch-22 is able to rise above mediocrity and earn its place on the bestseller list. The book has many opportunities to dive into cliché conversations and cookie-cutter, commonplace themes, but somehow Heller manages to keep everything fresh. Even when something so common as questioning death is mentioned in the novel, he’s always ready to add some new perspective to consider, or just a concise, perfectly written observation. Heller’s writing style is the element that ties everything together and makes Yossarian’s journey so interesting and memorable.

It’s very unnerving how Catch-22 can make you feel dozens of emotions simultaneously. I burst out laughing; I stopped to catch my breath; I winced; I cried – sometimes all in the same paragraph. War is such a complicated thing, and Heller makes no move to simplify the concept. With so many people offering their steadfast, never-wavering, “correct” stances on the subject, it’s comforting to know that there’s someone in the same boat as the rest of us. And maybe, for that matter, our emotions and reactions really are not so different as it seems. After all, no matter how varying our quirks, distinctions, and traits (and the characters in Catch-22 certainly have many), in the end we’re simply human.

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Created Jul 15, 2004 at 12:25am • Submit your own review...