Catch-22 Day
I have decided to henceforth celebrate April 22 as "Catch-22 Day", for the rest of my life! I finished reading the book on April 22 and cannot think of a better celebration to bestow upon this day. Yes, even for the US, "Catch-22 Day" is better than Earth day!
What an amazing novel! Sometimes, as I struggled to breathe during the fits of laughter stimulated by the sharp witticism and intelligent satire of this fantastic book, I felt myself being oddly irreverent to the works of Douglas Adams, maybe because time and again, I was reminded of Adams by the sheer quality of this satire. But I don't think the two writers ought to be compared here. Anyway, Catch-22 stunned me with its sharp mid-air maneuvers, nose-diving from the peaks of the absurdly funny to the depths of dark tragic humour, leaving me in moments of utter despair, only to rise again like a crescendo of laughter. What amazing characters, and what amazing themes. From the anti-heroic, unashamed unpatriotism of Yossarian to the capitalism of Milo to the dilemmas faced by the Chaplain, Joseph Heller has covered the most unusual themes through brilliantly created characters (upon characters) with quirks both subtle and wild. From the inefficiency of the bureaucratic military officers to the questions of faith to the sanity of being insane and the crazy, absurd antics of each and every character conjuring up their own mayhem around the horrors of war, Catch-22 was a treat to read.
I'm going to check out the movie now, partly because I believe it's a really, really mean feat to film this non-linesr mammoth and partly because Alan Arkin playing Yossarian has to be awesome!
