First off, I read a lot of reviews and people seemed to despise reading it. Or it took them quite a while to get done with it. On the contrary, I read it in 7 days, and could not put it down. I think it also took me 6-7 days because some of the vocabulary was so… prolix? Trust me, I’m a literature major and reading classics is what I do all the time but the usage of some words had me completely stumped. I ended up building a giant vocabulary list but I’m musing whether I’ll end up using them anywhere. But yes, I am glad this was my last read of the year. I loved it, I loved Yossarian, I loved the tautology present at the centre of the text and the critique of the bureaucratic system as well as war, the military and organised religion.
When did you first read the work? How did it impact you, and what’s your takeaway?
by BooksMirth
7 Comments
It is one of the greatest books ever written.
Finished it today. My main takeaway is the lack of agency any (or maybe most?) characters have because of the circumstances they find themselves in.
Read it as a 17 year old. First book that ever had me bent over double laughing. Remember being amazed at the power of writing that it could do that to me.
I first read it at 17; I’m now 45, and I’ve read it probably a dozen times. It’s crazy, I get something different from it each time – the absurd humor, the nastiness, the futility, the disgusting ambition, how desperately sad it is, and the hope. I’m aware of all these things each time, but my mind tends to zero in on one facet with different rereads. I think it’s an extraordinary book.
>prolix
I’m giggling just reading that tbh. Infundibuliform is a personal favourite.
It’s possibly my favourite novel of all time. Kafka but funny, and I’d guess a major reason we have the Hitchhiker’s Guide and all of Pratchett, they’re all working off a trick Heller invented here.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it, and it never loses its humour, or its impact.
As a non-native speaker, I haven’t read it in English, mut I remember starting and giving up on a translation pretty early on, then returning to it years after and, so to say, experiencing, the story in a big way.
I may have to get my hands on an original, to see if my English skills fail me dramatically.
I first read it in high school. My ap english teacher knew my family from teaching my two older brothers so he liked to challenge me a lot. He had me read Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko as a teenager, probably just to watch me attempt to act like I knew what the hell was going on lol. He insisted I read this as one of my books that year. I enjoyed it, but so much of it was way over my head at 17. I revisited it in my late 20s and loved it. The end in particular still stands out in my mind. He just leaves. So simple, so powerful, and also darkly hilarious. It’s such a great book, I will def reread it again at some point.