Catch-22

De: Joseph Heller

Narrado por: Jay O. Sanders

Fifty years after its original publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest - and most celebrated - novels of all time. In recent years, it has been named to "best novels" lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer. Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy - it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he's assigned, he'll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: A man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

Since its publication in 1961, no novel has matched Catch-22's intensity and brilliance in depicting the brutal insanity of war. This 50th-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller's masterpiece with a new introduction by Christopher Buckley; personal essays on the genesis of the novel by the author; a wealth of critical responses and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers from Joseph Heller's personal archive; and a selection of advertisements from the original publishing campaign that helped turn Catch-22 into a cultural phenomenon. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.

©1955, 1961 Joseph Heller. Copyright renewed (c) 1989 Joseph Heller. All rights reserved (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved

Stop randomly adding music

Great narrator. He gets voices that are unique and easily identifiable. The story of course is a classic. Overall it's a fantastic audiobook except for one annoying thing. Randomly. Out of nowhere. Music just comes blaring in. Interrupts the entire flow of the story. I have no idea why it's there, it serves no purpose in the story. I've been noticing some audiobooks doing this and it's just awful. Please. Just stop.

Didn't expect to finish and ended up laughing

I didn't expect for even a few minutes that I was going to enjoy this book. I was only a few chapters in, and I noted in the "Private notes" section of Goodreads things like

What am I reading?

Seriously, who cares?

The word "gibberish."

What the actual f*** am I reading?

I thought this book would be a DNF for me, but again, as with A Tale of Two Cities, I was wrong.

The members of a reading group I belong to on Facebook urged me to stick with it a little longer, and I'm glad they did and that I listened to them.

The novel does begin with a lot of gibberish arguments between characters. There are funny flashes in those first few chapters among and between the gibberish arguments. It's also a book that remains nonsensical throughout on several levels. You have the baseline nonsense like a conversation between characters that goes like this

Character 1: *says something*
Character 2: Why?
1: Why what?
2: Why the thing you JUST said?!

This happens repeatedly at the beginning of the novel. Conversations are illogically circular and repetitious.

Then there's the real meaty nonsense of the book - the overwhelming, crushing bureaucracy and Catch-22 itself, which is a policy that doesn't actually exist on paper but is used to control the men.

Catch-22 is funny and horrible and sad and horrifying and gruesome and hilarious. There were plenty of scenes where I literally laughed out loud or chuckled or smirked. I was almost convinced that Milo made a profit buying eggs for 7 cents and selling them for 5 cents and thought for a moment that I might be losing it. I even shed a tear over McWatt. Of all the deaths in the novel, McWatt's touched me the most because it felt the most senseless and unnecessary. It was also really sudden and unexpected and shocking.

Narration by Jay O. Sanders was excellent. I loved the way he voiced the characters. The voices were distinct and easily recognizable.

This book certainly isn't for everyone, and I can understand the reasons why people may not like it. Honestly, I consider myself to be an intelligent person, and it made me feel smart that I "got the joke" and saw the humor in Catch-22. For me, it was a complete sleeper that I didn't see coming and thought I wouldn't finish but genuinely enjoyed reading.

Classical WWII Satire

A brutal yet goofy dramedy that shows a unique yet honest view of WWII; ignoring the honor and propaganda for the corruption, hypocrisy and fear poisoning the American Army. It does however walk a fine line between wacky and depressing.

Entertaining

A little confusing but a real good book. As usual, real issues were tackled covertly by humor.

Sanders is brilliant

Sanders brings depth to an already brilliant book. Heller's narrative is unparalleled in American literature, and this reading only makes it better. Sanders' tones of voice and accents for the wide variety of characters are very well executed and consistent throughout the narrative.

One of the best narrators I've heard

Ive listened to several audiobooks and this narrators reading is one of the favorites Ive heard.

Fantastic Narration

The book is a head scratcher and similar to Vonnegut. I can some inspiration for MASH and Hogan’s Heroes. The narrator was amazing with voices and nuance.

What a life.

The ending wasn't super satisfying, but as a whole the story was great. The performance was also good, with clear distinction in voice between the different characters. I could have done without the random marching music in the middle of chapters though.

Very interesting

This is a total classic. I enjoyed the story and though that it brought a full range of emotions. The reading and performance were done very well.

Amazing narrator

This story is insane. Insanely funny and insanely dark. The narrator is AMAZING and has a unique voice for every character.