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Catch 22

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Catch 22

By: Joseph Heller
Narrated by: Trevor White
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About this listen

 Nominated for the Audiobook Download of the Year, 2008.

At the heart of Joseph Heller's best-selling novel, first published in 1961, is a satirical indictment of military madness and stupidity, and the desire of the ordinary man to survive it.

This is the tale of the dangerously sane Captain Yossarian, who spends his time in Italy plotting to survive. Yossarian is a bombardier in the 256th Squadron of the US Army Air Forces during World War II, stationed on Pianosa, a fictionalised island in the Mediterranean between mainland Italy and Corsica. The squadron's assignment is to bomb enemy positions in Italy and eastern France. Yossarian's mission is simply to stay alive.

©1961 Joseph Heller (P)2008 Hachette Audio Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction War & Military Witty France Funny Thought-Provoking Military War US Army Air Force

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Critic reviews

"The greatest satirical work in the English language since Erewhon. ( Observer)
"Wildly original, and brutally gruesome, a dazzling performance that will outrage as many readers as it delights. Vulgarly, bitterly, savagely funny, it will not be forgotten by those who can take it." ( The New York Times)
"An apocalyptic masterpiece." ( Chicago Times)
Most relevant  
This reading is one of the best audiobooks I have in my library
The pernicious effects of unnecessary bureaucracy brought to compelling life.
You cannot listen without laughter and yet at the same time realise how awful the subject matter is.

Highly recommended

Poignant

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I had been trying to read this book for years but found that using the audible version was a lot easier! It's a crazy story of crazy times and even crazier characters but definitely worth the read as a 20th century classic

A long and complicated comedy but worth it

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A modern classic read fantasically well.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the performance brought Heller's characters to life. I've recently listened to a good book read badly and was so disappointed. This was a breath of fresh air.

Fantastic performance brings book to life

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Not very often you read a book and laugh out load to yourself, this book is clever and very funny in parts. it has its own unique kind of twisted humor.

The real CATCH22 here is that there is no real story, It felt like watching stand up comedy, great, but i couldn't watch for 16 hours. I didnt finish this book, i got 8 hours in and didn't find a reason to finish it. I figured that the next half would just be more of the same...

That being said i didn't dislike it at all, and i can see how some people really love this book. Just not quite my thing.

Funny yet boring

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One of my favourite ever books. The performance was well done and added to the story. I would strongly recommend.

Excellent book, read very well

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loved how well the narrator was able to change voices and easy to follow. excellent!

well spoken and easy to follow

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The original book is one of my all time favourites that somehow manages to rationalise presumably irrational thought in such a way to think otherwise seems insane. some of the humour is lost in the spoken medium but a lot of confusion will be lifted by the reader putting on accents etc for each character for most new to this classic book of ironic, backwards thinking.

Great book which looses some humour when spoken

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loved every minute. loads of laughs with some joltingly poignant moments. Done 24 years in the military and some things haven't changed a bit 😂

Hilariously written and read!

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Expertly narrated, and highly recommended! Read the book far too long ago, and just watched the excellent mini-series. The narration in this audio book works incredibly well after watching the series, which surprised me a bit. Accents and tone sounds eerily like the actors in the series!

Absurd, delightful and horrifying!

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Enhanced tremendously by the narrator, who is able to convey the sense of ridiculousness and despair so brilliantly.

Essential reading (listening!)

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