Genre: Fiction—Novel
Completed: 16 December 2016
Summary & Review:
Captain John Yossarian of the U.S. Army Air Force during WWII is in action over Italy conducting bombing runs with his squadron. Through a series of non-chronological chapters presented from the points of view of numerous characters, the insanity, farce, comedy, horror, and despair of war are examined.
This book has been on my “To Read” list for a long time and I’ve repeatedly seen it cited as one of the best novels of the Twentieth Century. Do I agree with that assessment? Hard to say. The book initially was very entertaining as Heller deftly skewered the incompetent insanity of many people in leadership roles in the Army. However, this satire just went on and on and on. It became a little tedious and repetitive, to be honest. Heller could have easily shortened this book from its over 500 pages to around 250 and we wouldn’t have lost much. However, the last chapters of the book were incredibly powerful in their depiction of the darker side of war. It was a jarring change of tone, one which I think was more affecting due to the comedic chapters that preceded it. All of the sudden you are presented with terror, gore, and mental and physical trauma. Without this ending portion, the novel would have scored much, much lower on my rating scale. I know, who am I to tell Heller how to write when his novel has been so widely celebrated? But, if he had kept the beginning 4/5ths of the novel to around 200 pages and then kept the ending exactly the same this book would have been even better.
Rating: 7.5
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