As an avid reader, I naturally attempt to make my way through the classics. Whether I'm flying through the slightly guilty pleasurable works of Jane Austin or slaving over the heavy word choices in Moby Dick, each book offered me thought-provoking insight that stuck with me long after reading the final page. However, for some reason, no other book seemed to have impacted me the way Catch-22 has.
Almost a year ago, I decided to pick up Joseph Heller's humorous account of war, the origin of the infamous phrase "Catch-22." Recently, I find my mind wandering back to the book to the point that I not only read the Wikipedia page on the book itself, but I perused the character pages as well. When reading the book for the first time, it may seem like a large jigsaw puzzle with hazy time periods and nonlinear storytelling. Each sentence is a circular "Catch-22," providing both humor and irony. The theory of "Catch-22" is a confusing concept that I had trouble wrapping my mind around, though I wanted desperately to understand the intricacies of the rule in each specific case it was used.
However, by the end of the book, I quickly realized that it was no comedy. Each story strand was tied together in a way that described the horrors of war and the unjust bureaucracy of the United States government. For those who have not read it (though I recommend that you do so as soon as possible), I will not share the ending. I will say that by the end, I understood how the concept of a "Catch-22," in simplest terms, a circular situation that has no viable solution, applied to the overall plot. The loose stories and time periods within the book came together in the end, weaving in "Catch-22" and rewarding the reader for paying attention. This book made me realize how important structure and planning is to a comprehensive story, and this structure coupled with unique stylization makes for a rewarding read. A book like this inspires me to strive to create a timeless concept, my own "Catch-22" if you will, that will remain in the minds of readers years after they first experience it.
