Catch-22

Catch-22 is one of those books that people tend to “know” without having read, which is a bit of a shame, because it's actually rather delightful to read. That walk the case with me:I knew what a catch-22 was, and as such never bothered reading it before now.

I've seen reviews of Catch-22 that refer to it as a book about war; that's true on one level, obviously, but it's true in the same sense as SunTzu's Art of War is, where it's about war, but it's also about politics, business, and any other large-scale social institution. Heller's not just saying war doesn't make sense, but rather that life itself is a absurdist farce - even though the book predates it, the t ext kept reminding me of that WoodyAllen line about god being a comedian playing to an audience that's afraid to laugh.

My one complaint is that the book drags a bit in the middle; at 350 pages this book would have been perfection; at 450 it has to settle only for excellence.c