Catch-22

Fantastic book.

The author's vocabulary is amazing. When I started reading the novel, it was a tough read because sentences were long, occasionally complex, and contained lots of words that I didn't know. But gradually, it gets easier and the book is so enjoyable that these things don't bother much. I just read quickly to get the story and although I may be missing out on the descriptive richness, I am not stripping it down to bones.

It's also very very funny. It is intelligently funny too. Puns would be too easy. The book has many conversations that just keep hitting you with unexpected humor in the way sentences are interpreted and they just keep coming. A two page conversation can contain so much fun and absurdity, which really however makes sense, that a climatic statement at its end will just make you roar with laughter. It isn't stupid though.

And the insights are very real and deep, though portrayed in a easy-to-read manner and though comical events. Toward the end of the novel, the layers of comedy start to come apart and you get a glimpse into the reality of war, bureaucracy, greed in capitalism and more. The structure of the novel is so perfect. For example, things are tied up at the end without disappointment.

This is a book everybody has got to read!