Product Description

A reissue of the breath-taking sequel to CATCH-22 - now a classic in its own right. Forty-two years ago Joseph Heller wrote the 20th century masterpiece CATCH-22, capturing the hilarious and tragic insanity of the times and galvanising the conscience of a generation. In the sequel, CLOSING TIME, he revisits many of the characters - now older, if not wiser - that made CATCH-22 so unforgettable: Yossarian, Milo Minderbinder, Chaplain Tappman, Sammy Singer and giant Lew, all linked in uneasy peace and old age, fighting not the Germans this time, but The End. CLOSING TIME is a stunning achievement; a chilling, darkly funny depiction of the moral collapse of the Western world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58884 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

About the Author
Joseph Heller was born in Brooklyn in 1923. He began his career with short stories but won immediate acclaim with CATCH-22 in 1961. He went on to write SOMETHING HAPPENED, GOOD AS GOLD, GOD KNOWS, PICTURE THIS, CLOSING TIME (the sequel to CATCH-22) and PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST AS AN OLD MAN. Heller died in December 1999.

Customer Reviews

The impossible follow-up has arrived; and it's excellent.
When I first saw this, I was sceptical: how was Yossarian, previously concerned with only himself, going to save the world?

Having read the book, some of my initial scepticism faded. However, due to dramatic necessity, he does do a few things which seem out of character.

As a sequel, this works well. Seeing all the characters as they are in modern times is wonderful, and the bringing to the fore of a peripheral character from "Catch-22" works well. However, it is not quite as funny as the original (althought the scene with the government officials swearing at one another is excellent); however, the increased human element, who seem more real, makes the tragedy even more sad.

The only problem is that, at times, it seems to be a valedictory tour around Joseph Heller's life; that is the only explanation I can find for some sections, although they are well-written. However, this is made up for by some superb chapters (the wedding is truly absurd) and the as-ever sharp satire, epitomised by the cause of the end of the world. However, in the true Hollywood style, it is not quite as good as the original.

Possibly the best sequel ever written
How do you follow up Catch 22? Simple, if you are one of the twentieth century's finest authors. Yossarian is back, still cynical, world weary and in hospital despite having no signs of any illness, not even hypochondria.
Heller deals with the nature of a capitalist world where any product can be sold if the marketing is good enough (even a plane that is invisible, noiseless and can bomb the enemy yesterday). Of course Milo Minderbinder is the entrepeneur responsible for providing the Little Prick's government with this weapon. It's amazing that even before it had happened Heller could see the day when a mindless cretin would run America and take it to the brink of Armageddon.
Heller's works are not to all people's tastes, but anyone who loved Catch 22 will also be enamoured with this work. Sometimes savage and brutal, sometimes hysterically absurd at at times genuinely sad, this ranks alongside it's prequel as one of the finest books written in the last century. A true masterpiece.

Sequel to Catch 22
Initially I was a little disappointed with Joseph Heller's sequel to Catch 22 but when I thought about it after completing Closing Time I realised perhaps I was being a little unfair. After all, Catch 22 was possibly the greatest novel written in the 20th century and bearing this in mind it was actually quite brave of Heller to attempt a sequel at all!
The format is very different with Closing Time being made up of a series of smaller books. Also it took some getting used to the little things such as ex-PFC Wintergreen using the F word in every sentence whereas in Catch 22 he never offered a single swear word!
I get the impression this was a very personal novel for Heller who had grown older and wiser with his characters. I read Catch 22 and Closing Time in the space of a month and therefore felt the satire and caustic humour had dipped from the first to the second book. However, those who read Catch 22 as young men and women will thoroughly enjoy their re-acquaintances with some of the characters (most obviously Yossarian and Milo)forty years on.
Closing Time stands on its own as a well constructed novel but it fails to match the originality of the classic Catch 22, although it's likely Heller always knew it would. Worth a read but not a classic.