Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

Despite my realization that I really need to stop re-reading books and actually find something new, I picked up Catch-22 for the third time. It was the audiobook’s fault, really. It seemed to be the type of book that would lend itself to a good audiobook rendition, so I picked it up.

Reading Catch-22 the first time was a bit frustrating. I had never picked up a book that had that much stream-of-consciousness to it, so it felt very messy and disjointed. Plus, everyone in it, and everything that happens, is absolutely crazy. Well, yeah, that’s the point, I know, but it was too crazy. But I still enjoyed it because it had a very good mix of comedy and tragedy, and also what do they call it when you get both those things at the same time? It had that too.

I read it the second time for no real good reason except that it was there. Having read it the first time, it was much easier to follow along. Everything made perfect sense, everyone was very crazy and very sane at the same time. Now, I’ve read it (heard it) for the third time. One thing never changes: it’s still one crazy book.

The story is about an Air Force Squadron stationed on a fictional island off the coast of Italy during the last stages of World War II. It mostly follows Yossarian, a bombardier who thinks everyone is trying to kill him, particularly the enemy, which is why he refuses to fly more combat missions. However, the story has a huge cast of characters, each with well developed storylines. The story is told in a non-chronological, stream-of-consciousness style from multiple points of view (though all in the third person). No wonder I was lost the first time. Events are told out of order and described from the point of view of different characters, so that the reader learns more about a particular event each time it is re-described.

I certainly appreciate the writing style of the book much more than I did the first time. It seems to be a chaotic book, where many things happen at once and the storylines make no sense the first time they’re introduced, but Heller is very good at weaving events together and fleshing everything out. He relies on paradox, repetition, and circular logic, and is very good at combining comedy and tragedy.

The audiobook format was not as good as I expected. Jay O. Sanders is the narrator. Generally, he does a good job but he can sound a bit morose and sort of like that monotonous teacher that just drones on and on. I didn’t like his voice for Yossarian, who sounded whiny and like a jerk. It’s also my fault for having read it twice already, because certain memorable moments did not sound the way I had imagined them in my head. The narrator is very good in scenes that have several characters, and there are moments where his delivery makes a moment even funnier. But for a book that has many funny moments, it did not sound that funny because of the narrator’s delivery.