# Make me finish Catch 22… (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367 "2004-01-28T02:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/1 "2004-01-28T02:16:36Z")
I’m only 150 pages in but I’m seriously questioning going much further. Things are moving so damn slowly. Really all I’ve read so far is a lengthy exposition of the characters. I do find it interesting to see the “greatest generation’s” seedy underbelly though. It’s not every day you read about the less than heroic men of WWII; the cowardly, inept, corrupt, paranoid, selfish, and generally unlikable souls. However, that novelty is quickly wearing thin if something other than a series of disjointed flashbacks doesn’t happen soon I’m going to give up on this book. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/2 "2004-01-28T03:49:36Z")
It has been a few years since I read _Catch-22_, but I recall having a hard time getting through the early pages mainly because of the annoying repetitiveness of the notion of “catch-22”. However, I stuck with it and by the end I loved it. At first I didn’t care much for Yossarian, but as the story progresses and his anxiety increases, he grew on me, and by the end I was rooting for him. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/3 "2004-01-28T05:03:33Z")
Hmmmm, I’ve always just assumed that the humor is at the heart of the novel, and thus it’s what you read it for. Now there is more plot material in the second half of the novel than in the first, and some memorable serious dramatic scenes, but those aren’t the real reason for reading it. The point, I would say, is that each of the one-chapter character sketches in the first two thirds of the book is supposed to be entertaining in and of itself. While there have always been plenty of humorous stories and cartoons relating to warfare, Heller is the only one I know of who meshes the funny and the horrible in quite that way. I guess it’s a matter of taste. ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/4 "2004-01-28T05:12:59Z")
A good portion of the book is disjointed flashbacks, but that’s part of what makes it interesting. The book isn’t really about plot, because there isn’t really a main plot. It’s more about all the different characters and how they affect one another. It all comes together towards the end where Yossarian is faced with a final challenge, to not give too much away. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/5 "2004-01-28T13:23:58Z")
The central part of the plot is when Yossarian learns Snowden’s secret (a spoiler that I will NOT reveal and I hope no one else does.) This happens on a bombing run, and the novel bounces back and forth between incidents before and after that critical event. This adds to the humor, and adds to the sensation of both physical and ethical chaos of the war. Towards the end of the novel, there is a chapter called “Snowden” in which you read about Snowden spilling his secret to Yossarian. From that point on, the novel moves linearly. It’s really a brilliant bit of story-telling. I would say, stick with it. Yes, it’s confusing and disorienting, ride along with the sense of humor and let it carry you. As an aside: [What’s Catch-22?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcatch22.html) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/6 "2004-01-28T14:36:43Z")
Where are all our Snowden’s of yesteryear? One of my favortie books. Read it all. Don’t worry everbody gets a share. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/7 "2004-01-28T14:51:37Z")
Man, I couldn’t finish it, I sure won’t try to make you do so. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/8 "2004-01-28T16:12:13Z")
Death to Vowels!!! I’ve always wanted to say that. That aside I agree with the others who’ve already posted. ---
**Author:** ![hroeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@hroeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hroeder)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/9 "2004-01-28T16:18:31Z")
> [@cainxinth](#): > > . . . It’s not every day you read about the less than heroic men of WWII; the cowardly, inept, corrupt, paranoid, selfish, and generally unlikable souls. . . . If you don’t finish Catch-22 you’ll never be able to finish Heller’s sequel, which takes place in NYC 50 years later. . .same cast, same occupations, only not military. But :eek: You need to look at the book differently. If you don’t get black comedy, then you’ll probably never get Heller. If you think the men of WWII were any different than any other generation of men. . .Tom Brokaw and Company asside: Heller was there. He flew the missions. Norman Mailer was there. He fought in the trenches that became The Naked and The Dead. Dos Possos, Hemingway, cummings, Pound, etc. were in WWI and reported those “delights of humanity” as well. Life is one great big Catch-22. Joseph Heller just did the War because it’s easier to see there than in any other situation, except, perhaps, college registration lines. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/10 "2004-01-29T00:56:12Z")
When I read it in high school, I felt pretty ambivalent about it - it took a while to get rolling, it was funny but not _that_ funny, etc. But then when we were writing our papers, a friend and I were talking about it in a coffeeshop and it got _funnier and funnier_ until finally we were laughing so hard we could hardly breathe just thinking about it. YMMV, of course, but to me this was the kind of book that gave back the more thought I put into it after the fact. You kind of had to take it as a whole to appreciate it. When I went away to college the year after that and the roomate request form asked me to describe my perfect roomate, I said “The dead man in Yossarian’s tent.” Somebody in Housing must have known what I meant, because my first year roomate was so quiet and small-presenced that often I wouldn’t notice she was there. Wonder whatever happened to her? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/11 "2004-01-29T01:43:07Z")
Well, it’s definitely a very character-driven novel. You don’t read it for the plot, you read it for all the bizarre eccentricities and contradictions of the various players. If you’re 120 pages in and the book hasn’t already had you on the floor from laughing so hard, it might just not be your sort of novel. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/12 "2004-01-29T13:26:00Z")
Was it Norman Mailer who said you could take 100 or 200 pages out at any point in _Catch-22_ and still have the same novel? Think it was Norman Mailer. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/13 "2004-01-30T02:23:02Z")
“One could take out a hundred pages anywhere from the middle of Catch-22, and not even the author could be certain they were gone.” –Mailer, “Some Children of the Goddess.” ---
**Author:** ![Vezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b38774/32.png) [@Vezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vezer)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/14 "2004-01-30T06:05:30Z")
I love Major----De Coverly. He brings it all together for me. Just that image, of an unknown man leading the way of an invasion…by accident…for hookers and hotels. Beautiful. The further devolution of that officer devoted to parades is also amusing. Milo picks it up and you relize that it isn’t all just fun and games for him…he starts to tread water. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/15 "2004-01-30T07:47:11Z")
I hate to say this, but I think you should bag it. I loved the book from the very first page. If you don’t find it funny and ironic so far, there really isn’t any big bombshell later in the book that’s going to change your mind. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/16 "2004-01-30T10:48:37Z")
> [@hroeder](#): > > If you don’t finish Catch-22 you’ll never be able to finish Heller’s sequel, which takes place in NYC 50 years later. . .same cast, same occupations, only not military. There’s a sequel? What’s it called? _Catch-23_? ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/17 "2004-01-30T13:04:44Z")
Thanks for the confirm, **pseudotrition.** **Priceguy,** the sequel’s called _Closing Time._ One of the last books Heller wrote before he died. ---
**Author:** ![hroeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@hroeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hroeder)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/make-me-finish-catch-22-spoilers/226367/18 "2004-01-30T15:58:50Z")
If you liked Catch 22 and haven’t read **Closing Time** then pick it up. Yossarian is still the main character. And Milo is around, etc. Only it takes place in New York City. I won’t say any more, because it is definitely a joyous read, even for non-Heller fans. But for Heller fan’s it is an absolute positive must.