BOOKCLUB MEETING

It took me 10 days to get this book from the library and what poor condition it was in when it arrived.  I received it on Friday afternoon.   In my attempt to read at least part of it, I was amazed at the vocabulary and the descriptive phrases in this book written 1960. I had no intention of reading the 463 page book for our Monday meeting, ending up watching six episodes of Catch-22 on HBO!    

"Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved".

Catch-22 was based Joseph Heller's experiences in WWII.   The feelings that the bomber crew felt were taken directly from the problems he went through while on duty.  He wrote a satirical account of the lives of soldiers and one sees through, both the film and the reading, the horrors of war.