I’m only about 40 pages in and I’m a little apprehensive about continuing on.
First of all, I feel like there are new characters getting introduced at an alarming rate. Secondly I’m not really loving the writing style, everything seems so repetitive and drawn out, for the sake of what? Some very very mundane comedic bit?
“How’s your coffee?”
“My coffee? My coffee is good!”
“Your coffee is good? I’m glad to hear it. I’m glad to hear your coffee is good”
“Yes I’m also glad my coffee is good, I’m happy to asked about my coffee”
“I might also get a coffee”
“You should, the coffees good”
I just made that up, but I feel like that represents the writing style thus far.
Should I stick with it, or is it more of the same for 500 pages?
This book is always so highly regarded around here.
Edit: I’m not outright hating it, I think I’ll plough on to at least 100 pages and see how I feel then. I don’t give up on books easily, even though sometimes I probably should. Fingers crossed it grabs me!
by Wanderson90
7 Comments
It’s the funniest fiction book I’ve ever read and also a spotlight on the heartbreakingly tragic nature of war. It’s slapstick comedy and deep introspection, it’s social commentary and satire of the highest order. But if you don’t like it you don’t like it. If you can get through “the man who saw everything twice” without laughing then this book probably isn’t for you. Humor is very subjective.
[I want to say “if you can get through that chapter then *humor* probably isn’t for you” but I won’t be a jerk about it. Not everything works for everyone, it’s okay, take a deep breath, SoothingDisarray, and don’t be snarky about it.]
I so, so wanted to love Catch-22.
But you see it the way I did, might as well finish if you’re halfway through, it’s not that long a book, but the style won’t change.
A recommendation – Ascent of Rum Doodle. That’s the book I wish Catch-22 was, just hilarious from start to finish.
It reels you in and becomes darker as it goes on, with more “biting” humor and an anti-war sentiment. I enjoyed it from the beginning, so you may not like continuing, but it’s one of those books that if you can tolerate it, I’d recommend to keep going since it’s considered a classic now.
If you’re not able to enjoy the writing style, the book may not be for you. It happens. And I’ll agree that there are new characters popping up everywhere. It doesn’t make it any easier to read. And to some extent, that goes up another gear or two by the time it’s finished.
I’ll also argue that it’s utterly brilliant and unabashedly deserves all the high regard it receives … While still understanding why it might not work for you. Each to their own.
He eventually stops introducing so many characters. It does get better. Difficult at first. There are a few passages I will remember forever (read 25+ years ago)
Not everything is for everyone. If you don’t get the book, don’t force yourself to continue. Or do. I don’t care that much.
It accumulates a large cast of characters, and while doing so it alludes to certain events in the past. Some of the repetition is because Yossarian is fixated on these events while not thinking about them directly. (Some of the repetition is for comic effect.) At some point it stops introducing new characters and then the story simultaneously moves forward and fills in the backstory. It starts out very comic, and gets increasingly serious. We get repeated description of “Catch-22” and they get grimmer each time. The climax chapter “The Eternal City” is one of the most moving chapters I’ve ever read.