epub, 518 pages
français language
Published June 1, 2004 by Grasset.
Catch 22, l'Article 22, est un « attrape-nigaud » qui permet à un colonel américain d'imposer un nombre de missions sans cesse croissant à son escadrille de bombardement basée dans une petite île de la Méditerranée pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale... Yossaran, héros tragi-comique de cette épopée burlesque, est décidé à tout tenter pour sauver sa peau : il estime que sa seule mission, quand il s'envole, consiste à atterrir vivant. Simuler la folie dans cet univers délirant lui paraît le meilleur moyen de tirer au flanc. Hélas, l'Article 22 stipule : « Quiconque veut se dispenser d'aller au feu n'est pas réellement fou. » Cette première oeuvre de Joseph Heller compte parmi les meilleurs romans américains de l'après-guerre.
Interesante, aunque acusa el paso del tiempo. Caótico, variopinto. No salen las mujeres muy bien paradas (no lo estaban en ese tiempo).
I decided it was finally time to read Catch-22 so I could get the cultural references that come up from time to time. I couldn't finish it.
In each chapter, we meet some odd characters with odd names that are probably supposed to make the reader laugh. We encounter some kind of circular logic. We have an absurd situation. And nothing really changes, and then we move onto the next chapter with new odd-named characters, new circular logic, new absurdities. 8 chapters into the book I skimmed through the chapter titles, which are nearly all odd character names, and realized it was likely going to be the same pattern again and again. The problem is that I wasn't entertained, and so in the middle of my 8th mission I decided that it just wasn't worth it and deserted. I won't make it to 42 missions.
Repetition to drive home a …
I decided it was finally time to read Catch-22 so I could get the cultural references that come up from time to time. I couldn't finish it.
In each chapter, we meet some odd characters with odd names that are probably supposed to make the reader laugh. We encounter some kind of circular logic. We have an absurd situation. And nothing really changes, and then we move onto the next chapter with new odd-named characters, new circular logic, new absurdities. 8 chapters into the book I skimmed through the chapter titles, which are nearly all odd character names, and realized it was likely going to be the same pattern again and again. The problem is that I wasn't entertained, and so in the middle of my 8th mission I decided that it just wasn't worth it and deserted. I won't make it to 42 missions.
Repetition to drive home a point can be very effective. It seems that a lot of people have been entertained by Heller's writing. I wasn't, so I couldn't deal with the monotony. Heller, I think, wanted to show us the absurdity of the military in a time when we were still feeling good about the military after WWII. It was a bold thing to do, and the success of the novel shows it was effective for a lot of people. I appreciate the idea behind the novel, the execution just didn't work for me at all.
