Catch 22, Joseph Heller

Incredible book!!!
But not an easy read at all.
The plot is an island in Itali ( Pianosa), during World War II.
I could get hitched to the book only in my second attempt. When I attempted to read it years back, I couldn't progress beyond some twenty odd pages. It seemed so haphazard and complicated then. This time I was determined and as I progressed found it incredibly humorous and satirical.
At the beginning I thought Yossarian, the protagonist, was completely mad, even psychotic. People around him too thought so. But as he tried to get out of combat citing mental instability, there was the 'catch 22'.
Catch 22 was a very straight forward clause as follows:
Catch 22 specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real immediate was the process of a rational mind. A crazy person could be grounded.( taken out of combat duty). All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. He would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.
The simplicity of the clause is astonishing!!!😄
Towards the end, we would come to know that Yossarian was the most sensible person out there.
The narrative is brilliantly haphazard, piercingly satirical, and bitterly humorous.
What a book!! Brilliant!! Incredible!!!

Preetha Raj

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