Catch 22

ABBEY’S BOOKSELLER PICK —— It is 50 years since Joseph Heller’s wonderful creation first appeared. My first encounter was as a young backpacker in Liechtenstein. Entering the hostel dorm, a young German was lying on his bunk with escalating outbursts of laughter. When curiosity finally overwhelmed me I asked what on earth he was reading.

Catch 22 is like no other book you will ever read. The narrative tumbles out, eddies and circles back, piling absurdity upon nonsense until your want for sense and order surrenders. Give yourself over to Heller’s anarchic playfulness and you will be richly rewarded with a story about the enterprise of war that is both tragic and comic. Craig Kirchner

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Explosive, subversive, wild and funny, 50 years on the novel's strength is undiminished. Reading Joseph Heller's classic satire is nothing less than a rite of passage. Set in the closing months of World War II, this is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. 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. If Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions then he is caught in Catch-22: if he flies he is crazy, and doesn't have to; but if he doesn't want to he must be sane and has to. That's some catch...