Catch 22 (1961) by Joseph Heller

An oldie, but goody, “Catch-22” is a timeless work of fiction that is possibly more relevant now than when it was published in 1961.

This novel attacks the inefficiency and self-serving nature of bureaucratic organizations (specifically the military) with a fervor not readily found in contemporary literature. It is viciously candid and frighteningly accurate, while remaining unbelievably hilarious.

Its subject matter and verbosity (as well as its maddeningly circuitous narrative style) can make it a difficult novel to “get into.” But, once you get a feel for what’s going on in the book, it’s impossible to put down.

The book’s relevance to contemporary life is found in all present bureaucracies, specifically in America’s increasingly sprawling empire of military-industrial complexity. One can see exactly how little (and how much) has changed between the novel’s World War II setting and today’s military reality of brutality, ignorance, self-aggrandizement and profiteering.

The narrative continually shifts between the microcosmic and the macrocosmic, the privates and the generals, the mess halls and the bombing raids, the whore houses in Rome and the whore houses elsewhere, so the reader experiences a broad overview of war. None of it, of course, is spared direct and deserved satire.

It has been said that comedy requires momentary anesthesia of the heart. Perhaps this is why “Catch-22” is so funny, despite its often horrifying subject matter. Readers desire that anesthesia in times of great pain and confusion, which must have been the reason for its initial success and its present designation as a “classic.”

The honesty of “Catch-22” is relieving and hope-inspiring. Read it if you haven’t, re-read it if you’ve read it, and buy a copy for you friends.