Fruitcake Rave V: Omg Joseph Heller!

Fruitcake Rave V: Joseph Heller

The inner lit vamp inside of me needed fresh blood (and lots of it) to sink her fangs into. So in addition to Survey of Brit Lit (again?), I also took an independent study Am Lit with some other DA kids. Nevermind that they're both male seniors (aliens from another planet!), it's been pretty fun. Recently we've just finished reading Joseph Heller's Catch-22.

...Sigh. What can I say? Catch-22 stands out amongst a crowd and has made a lasting impression on me. Much like how a brand makes a lasting impression on you. Like, a cattle brand. Funny, but now that I think about it, reading Catch-22 felt a lot like being branded. Yet despite the immense torture, I emerged, victorious, and in love*.

Reading Catch-22 was like nothing I ever read before (and remembered. Sometimes, traumatic events get wiped from your memory). Initially, the book was pretty hilarious; that is, it got a couple of smirks and a bunch of 'oooh, that's clever'. Eventually, however, you realize that the jokes are getting old. And then after that, you realize that there is no plot. And after that, you realize that you aren't getting anywhere. And then, comes the final realization, you are going to die. Just kidding. But in all honesty, the book soon evolves into an upward battle. You constantly trudge through the same monotony, over and over again, and look back, and realize, absolutely nothing has happened.

At all.

Seriously.

I mean it.

Yet throughout the stagnacy, hope gleams. Merely because nothing has happened and the fact that Catch-22 is renowned as am lit, you continue to hope that maybe, maybe Joseph Heller is the messiah and can somehow manage to tie all of this together into an amazing wonderful conclusion in the next 30 pages.

And he does. He manages to pull it off. After roughly 400 pages of emotional abuse (there is no other way to state it. Yes. I have been manipulated by an inanimate book), he pulls through and creates this amazing ending which makes it all worth it. The suffering, the pain, the boredom is all tied together (or at least, most of it), and the ending...well, let's just say it's one of the most beautiful things in this world.

...Of course, it could be, (as Alanna puts it) just that Heller manipulates you so that you expect dirt nothing, and then gives you a carrot, so you're like "A CARROT!!!! ", which is definitely viable, considering how this book reads.

But, emotional abuse aside, this book is a work of art after you read the ending. Midway you begin to notice the deaths of Yossarians friends, very flatly narrated, but still poignant (and in the case of Hungry Joe...slightly ridiculous?), and if you're really nice to Heller, you may admit seeing the delicate growth of madness (through reading the book, what else!) growing not only on Yossarian, but on you, until it all explodes during the end, and if you do fan-worship Heller, you realize that this is the most amazing balance of ridiculousness and monotony until you're practically forced into Yossarian's viewpoint.

All of this, however, depends on the ending. The ending, I believe, is what reveals this as a work of art. Because otherwise, it is (pardon my language) a piece of c***. So if you do decide to read Catch-22, you must read everything. You can't pull out midway (because otherwise you'll be even MORE psychologically scarred), so if you begin, you must persevere to the end. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and while I don't recommend reading Catch-22 (because it's a pain), if you do decide to read it, my heartiest congratulations, and prayers, because you will need it. It's an interesting balance of one of those things I hate and love, that I adore but would totally not read again or recommend to a friend (maybe to a serious enemy, but even that seems a little extreme).

Three things are for certain; this really does deserve its place in the American literary cannon; I have been irrevocably scarred and manipulated by a book**, and Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is certainly not for the faint hearted.

Squeal! now I'm a fangirl. This is Quiet Girl, off to read more books!

-Shhhh....

*with the book. Just saying.

**No, I'm kidding. But I do feel like I've gone through an ideal, and emerged stronger.