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[Rev. Rye]

It's not as dreary as I remember it, but from the standpoint of a writer, it's far too self-aware a book to do service to the story or, even more importantly for this book, the message. Heller spends too much energy engaging in cutesy self-conscious writing (too many apposite opposites!) which detract from what I sense so far as his point (I'm 180 pages in), which is essentially a paean to the individual in his struggle against reality, against mindless bureaucracy, and against human brutality.

I will finish it this time, I know that much, but I can't yet gauge whether the satisfaction will be a worthy payoff.

Honestly, I've read it a few times and I think Catch-22 works better as a portrait of the insanity of war and the human condition. If the writing style undermines the struggle against brutality and bureaucracy, that's only because, well, reality will undermine the struggle. One person can do so little against the military juggernaut.