Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208 in Books
• Published on: 1994-10-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Financial Times
Blessedly, monstrously, bloatedly, cynically funny, and fantastically unique.

Observer
The greatest satirical work in the English language since EREHWON

Chicago Times
An apocalyptic masterpiece

Customer Reviews

One of three
Believe it or not, my parents recommended this book to me. All I can say is, for once they were right. I've only read two other books that so blew me away in their conception and execution and those were "Clockwork Orange" and "Katzenjammer" by McCrae. But even those can't compare to "Catch 22. What a wild ride this well crafted book is. To say it's thought-provoking is a cliche, but there it is. Sort of like "1984" probably was before 1984. Some have likened this to MASH and the Korean war, and I can see those similarities, but the book is really meant to be read on a much broader level; a level of humanity in general and not one specific event or time period. The book is funny and challenging, but that seems to me to be what one would be looking for in a great novel. There's reason this book has been around for eons--it's simply a great novel that holds up to the test of time.

Precursor of MASH and more
This is the original (at least in terms of modern relevance) satire of modern warfare and decision making. However, it achieves a level of humour very rarely achieved elsewhere. It is a very personal book, and some of the personal touch, sidesplitting jokes, and very dark serious undercurrent make this resonate more with me than some of the other great "political / moral" satires - Animal Farm and 1984 after all can leave you feeling somewhat cold.

Brilliant
Im amazed at some of the criticism here, to be honest. The books is brilliant, funny, and extremely clever. Todays 'absurd humour' seems to consist of saying random words accompanied with random adjectives at random times, completely wittless, this book oozes wit on every page. This humour doesnt feel dated at all and i am 24. As for those saying 'war is not funny', i think you are massively missing the point. The book is long and i think the first half of the book is more engaging, but overall, one of the best books i have read. As for people saying the humour is adolescent, would you really give this to kids and think they would enjoy it?

A superb book deserving of its reputation, and a shame for those that havent enjoyed it here.

And i agree, funnier than Catcher in The Rye.