‘Catch-22’ by Joseph Heller
I first read Catch-22 when I was in 11th grade, and in all honesty, I don’t know if I actually read it. I know that I read at least the first hundred or so pages because I religiously highlighted the lines I thought were funny. There was the introduction of Major Major, the briefing before the missions (“Why is Hitler? Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear? Hoho beri beri”), the antics of Lieutenant Scheisskopf and my favourite scene is probably when Clevinger gets called to tell his commanding officers about what Yossarian didn’t say when he was in the bathroom (“Stop contradicting me!” “I’m not contradicting you, sir” “Yes, you are. Even that’s a contradiction!”). But somewhere after the hundred-page mark, I lost my flow, possibly because I let the book lie for a little too long and lost the thread, or lost interest, unthinkable now but quite possible. I don’t think I actually read till the end. I did know how the book ended, but I don’t know if that’s because I’d read about it somewhere else or if I’d skipped to the end and read ahead.
About a month ago, I came across an interview of Joseph Heller on YouTube. So I decided to re-read the book. I started reading it on my Kindle, but after the first half of the book, I ordered the book on Amazon, from the newly inaugurated Swedish website.
Catch-22 is my favourite novel. The voice is so strong. I cannot imagine that Heller was able to write anything else after this that wasn’t in this voice. The long, rambling sentences loaded with double, triple negatives till it’s so hard to keep track of the meaning that you give up.
Every chapter starts with one of these contradictions, In the beginning, it’s funny:
The old man reminded Nately of his dad because he was nothing like his dad.
Ok, fun. And then there’s this chaos that happens in the middle of the chapter where you forget about the contradiction. And at the very end of the chapter, it comes biting back and you realise, it’s not funny at all; it’s actually very sad.
Nately was profoundly upset by his seedy and undesirable appearance, and whenever he came to the apartment he wished that the corrupt, immoral old man would put on a clean Brooks Brothers shirt shave, comb his hair, wear a tweed jacket, and grow a dapper white moustache so that Nately would not have to suffer such confusing shame each time he looked at him and was reminded of his father.
Oof.
My favourite chapter from the book is Chapter 30, “Dunbar”. It absolutely shattered me and I struggled to not cry in bed, reading the next chapter as quickly as I could. I’m sure I would have begun sobbing if I’d waited.
I’m now going through some of the highlights I’ve made on my Kindle:
The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likeable. In three days no one could stand him.
The Texan wanted everybody in the ward to be happy but Yossarian and Dunbar. He was really very sick. But Yossarian couldn’t be happy, even though the Texan didn’t want him to be, because outside the hospital there was still nothing funny going on. The only thing going on was a war, and no one seemed to notice but Yossarian and Dunbar. And when Yossarian tried to remind people, the drew away from him and thought he was crazy. Even Clevinger, who should have known better but didn’t, had told him was crazy the last time they had seen each other, which was just before Yossarian had fled into the hospital.
Clevinger had stared at him with apoplectic rage and indignation and, clawing the table with both hands, had shouted, ‘You’re crazy!’
‘Clevinger, what do you want from people?’ Dunbar had replied wearily above the noises of the officers’ club.
‘I’m not joking,’ Clevinger persisted.
‘They’re trying to kill me,’ Yossarian told him calmly.
‘No one’s trying to kill you,’ Clevinger cried.
‘Then why are they shooting at me?’ Yossarian asked.
‘They’re shooting at everyone,’ Clevinger answered. ‘They’re trying to kill everyone.’
‘And what difference does that make?’
’Opportunity only knocks once in this world,’ he would say. Major Major’s father repeated this good joke at every opportunity.
She was adult and self-reliant, and there was nothing she needed from anyone. Yossarian took pity and decided to help her.
The whole book is full of these contradictions.
The temptation to quote the whole book is hard to resist, but I’ll stop here for now.
