Both tones are equally pleasing and useful to the story. But this isn’t just a thoughtless experiment. Reading Catch-22 was sort of like watching a brilliantly shining coin flipping through a majestic parabola in slow motion, with one side representing laugh-out-loud comedy and the other an intense exploration of the terrors of war, making its way to the ground with the weight of someone’s fate resting on whichever side it falls on. One moment I was laughing like a fool, and the next I was clenching my jaw with agony at the horrors of the World War II thankfully for my taste, Heller leaned more on the comedic/optimistic side. Never have I been pulled through the entire spectrum of emotion quite as enjoyably as this, with Joseph Heller ingeniously switching tones on a dime with a magician’s charm. The novel looks into the experiences of Yossarian and the other airmen in the camp, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they may return home. Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea, west of Italy. It mainly follows the life of Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. The novel is set during World War II, from 1942 to 1944. Army Air Forces bombardier in 256th squadron who has been assigned to bomb enemy posts at eastern France and Italy. This story is about the life of Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. The story is situated in the time of World War 2. Events have been repeated through different point of views. Ideas flow into each other through random connections within the story. Heller uses a non-chronological third person omniscient narration to bind the threads together.

Theme: War and The Absolute Power of Bureaucracy, The Impotence of Language, The Inevitability of DeathĬatch-22 is a revolutionary book by Joseph Heller which was first published in 1961. Setting Place: Pianosa, off the Italian coast, near the end of World War II Major Characters: Yossarian, Milo Minderbinder, Doc Daneeka, The Chaplain, Colonel Cathcart, Hungry Joe, Nately, McWatt, Clevinger, Dunbar Genre: Historical Fiction, Satire, Classic

Joseph heller books