What do you think?
Rate this book
Catch-22 #2
Closing Time
Thirty-three years and over ten million copies later...the classic story continues.
Yossarian returns -- older, if not wiser -- to face a new foe.
An instant classic when published in 1961, Joseph Heller's Catch-22 still ranks among the funniest -- and most serious -- novels ever written about war. Now Heller has dared to write the sequel to his 10-million copy bestseller, using many of Catch-22's characters to deftly satirize the realities and the myths of America in the half century since they fought World War II.
In Closing Time, a comic masterpiece in its own right, Heller spears the inflated balloons of our national consciousness -- the absurdity of our politics, the decline of society and our great cities, the greed and hypocrisy of our business and culture -- with the same ferocious humor that he used against the conventional view of warfare. Back again are characters familiar from Catch-22, including Yossarian and Milo Minderbinder, the chaplain, and little Sammy Singer, as they come to the end of their lives and the end of the century -- all linked, this time, in uneasy peace and old age...fighting not the Germans, but The End.
Outrageously funny and totally serious, and as brilliant and successful as Catch-22 itself, Closing Time is a fun-house mirror that captures, at once grotesquely and accurately, the truth about ourselves.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1994
440 people are currently reading
10528 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Heller
76 books3,046 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Joseph Heller was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel Catch-22, a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for an absurd or contradictory choice. He was nominated in 1972 for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Joseph Heller was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel Catch-22, a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for an absurd or contradictory choice. He was nominated in 1972 for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 373 reviews
December 1, 2008
Again, the rating system fails us. I decided to post a review for this after seeing I'd given it an arbitrary 3-stars, when in fact I recall being profoundly moved by this book. Isn't profound movement worth 5 stars? Whatever.
A lot of people have read Catch-22, which is deserving of most all the praise it gets. This is, spiritually and literally, the sequel to that book, which is a little weird, not the least because it was published more than 3 decades after. Appropriate to this lapse in time, Closing Time is about Heller's generation grown old and tired, and with a cynicism that if not greater, is certainly more refined.
Heller is often & rightfully paired with Vonnegut as one of the masterful and distinctly American voices to emerge in the wake of World War II. A word on Vonnegut, because Heller & Vonnegut really are a Yin & Yang of the same subject, in many ways: as funny as Vonnegut's books are, it is often missed that there is a profound and real sadness to his work. Not a sadness with its edge dulled by humor & pathos (though of course those things are woven throughout Vonnegut's work), but just -- sadness. Not humor with sadness -- humor and then sadness. Like Heller's darkly comic moments, you laugh and then you remember why you're laughing, and you stop.
Vonnegut was always probably the more popular writer in no small part because of his talent for brevity, whereas his friend Heller was always more sprawling & digressive in his work. Closing Time is more victim to this than most of Heller's work, a sprawling and sometimes sloppy novel about old age, death, death, old age, the corruption of government and the absurd natures of those who run it, and death.
I'm writing this many years after reading Closing Time, so my memory of the details are foggy. Possibly my opinion of the book at the time was clouded by what it is like for the very young to read of the trials of the very old -- when you're hovering on either side of 20 you don't want to believe that the body breaks down and all your friends will die. Reading this was tantamount to science fiction -- and yet when I read Catch-22 it was my favorite book, and seeing an author revisit his masterwork, his first work, decades after its publication was a profound experience.
Closing Time is a stage for Heller's trenchant cynicism towards the government & the military -- on display in his excellent novel Picture This as much as in Catch-22 -- and paints with marvelous acerbity a portrait of the progression of clowns and lunatics who shape the fate of millions. I've always felt that the film "Doctor Strangelove" was a better adaptation of Catch-22 than the film version of Catch-22 was, and the dark humor of that film does permeate the background of Closing Time (one of the characters, a government contractor of sorts, is even named Harold Strangelove). Appropriately, the main characters of Closing Time (even the returned Milo Minderbinder, ever the entrepreneur) seem to have little real control over the machinery of government.
How America treats its elderly is an implicit subject of this book, in the same way as how the soldier is used by a military bureaucracy was a subject of Catch-22. So, it seems almost appropriate that this book should be considered slight or mediocre or an insufficient project by the genius who produced its beloved predecessor. The characters of Catch-22, human as they were, were larger than life, heroes from an American myth (which of course, as with Vonnegut's work, was no myth) who's darkly human experiences stood for something larger -- commentary on the changing face of a nation & the world as it entered the atomic age. To see those characters rendered old, dying, and above everything -- sad -- is humbling and, to be honest, unnerving.
And yet: In an edition of Catch-22 brought out simultaneously with this book, Heller wrote: "Sooner or later, I must concede, Yossarian, now seventy, will have to pass away, too. But it won't be by my hand." That quote stayed with me. Part of Yossarian -- in many ways a modern day Quixote (only with Cynicism instead of Chivalry) -- no doubt died when Heller did, in 1999. But as the title indicates, Yossarian's "exit" from this life was less like death than the sad statement at a bar's closing -- 'you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.'
A lot of people have read Catch-22, which is deserving of most all the praise it gets. This is, spiritually and literally, the sequel to that book, which is a little weird, not the least because it was published more than 3 decades after. Appropriate to this lapse in time, Closing Time is about Heller's generation grown old and tired, and with a cynicism that if not greater, is certainly more refined.
Heller is often & rightfully paired with Vonnegut as one of the masterful and distinctly American voices to emerge in the wake of World War II. A word on Vonnegut, because Heller & Vonnegut really are a Yin & Yang of the same subject, in many ways: as funny as Vonnegut's books are, it is often missed that there is a profound and real sadness to his work. Not a sadness with its edge dulled by humor & pathos (though of course those things are woven throughout Vonnegut's work), but just -- sadness. Not humor with sadness -- humor and then sadness. Like Heller's darkly comic moments, you laugh and then you remember why you're laughing, and you stop.
Vonnegut was always probably the more popular writer in no small part because of his talent for brevity, whereas his friend Heller was always more sprawling & digressive in his work. Closing Time is more victim to this than most of Heller's work, a sprawling and sometimes sloppy novel about old age, death, death, old age, the corruption of government and the absurd natures of those who run it, and death.
I'm writing this many years after reading Closing Time, so my memory of the details are foggy. Possibly my opinion of the book at the time was clouded by what it is like for the very young to read of the trials of the very old -- when you're hovering on either side of 20 you don't want to believe that the body breaks down and all your friends will die. Reading this was tantamount to science fiction -- and yet when I read Catch-22 it was my favorite book, and seeing an author revisit his masterwork, his first work, decades after its publication was a profound experience.
Closing Time is a stage for Heller's trenchant cynicism towards the government & the military -- on display in his excellent novel Picture This as much as in Catch-22 -- and paints with marvelous acerbity a portrait of the progression of clowns and lunatics who shape the fate of millions. I've always felt that the film "Doctor Strangelove" was a better adaptation of Catch-22 than the film version of Catch-22 was, and the dark humor of that film does permeate the background of Closing Time (one of the characters, a government contractor of sorts, is even named Harold Strangelove). Appropriately, the main characters of Closing Time (even the returned Milo Minderbinder, ever the entrepreneur) seem to have little real control over the machinery of government.
How America treats its elderly is an implicit subject of this book, in the same way as how the soldier is used by a military bureaucracy was a subject of Catch-22. So, it seems almost appropriate that this book should be considered slight or mediocre or an insufficient project by the genius who produced its beloved predecessor. The characters of Catch-22, human as they were, were larger than life, heroes from an American myth (which of course, as with Vonnegut's work, was no myth) who's darkly human experiences stood for something larger -- commentary on the changing face of a nation & the world as it entered the atomic age. To see those characters rendered old, dying, and above everything -- sad -- is humbling and, to be honest, unnerving.
And yet: In an edition of Catch-22 brought out simultaneously with this book, Heller wrote: "Sooner or later, I must concede, Yossarian, now seventy, will have to pass away, too. But it won't be by my hand." That quote stayed with me. Part of Yossarian -- in many ways a modern day Quixote (only with Cynicism instead of Chivalry) -- no doubt died when Heller did, in 1999. But as the title indicates, Yossarian's "exit" from this life was less like death than the sad statement at a bar's closing -- 'you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.'
Read
September 22, 2010If you have already read Catch-22, this book will utterly disappoint you. If you haven't, it will not make the slightest bit of sense to you.
That is the closest Closing Time comes to Catch-22.
That is the closest Closing Time comes to Catch-22.
August 23, 2021
Catch-22 is my favorite novel of all time, and I approached its sequel with trepidation. Did I dare peek into the future of those beloved characters? Could I disturb the frantic stasis of that perfect ending? Would it upend the understanding I had come to if I checked in on them again?
But life stands still for no one, and Heller's return to the darling veterans of Pianosa is tenderhearted, wistful, and (naturally) a little loony.
Yossarian exists still in a state of paralysis, caught forever in the fleeting time of good health that comes before disease, presently living life but always conscious of the inescapable permanence of impending death. His doctors try to cheer him up by noting how healthy he is, but Yossarian isn't fooled. Being healthy now does nothing to keep you from being dead later.
Heller's scathing cynicism toward society is no less wry and the bantering dialogue is as delightful here as in Catch-22, following again the form of ridiculous balance between extremes:
So, you see, Heller's writing is still funny. There is much to be lampooned in American society outside the military, no doubt. But this book feels a little too tiredly derivative of its predecessor. Perhaps that is unavoidable. Perhaps it is too true to the tragedy of an old man's life: it is by definition an extension of a young man's life, but with less vigor and lowered testosterone.
3.5 stars out of 5. An inevitably important work that is joyless fun to read.
(Read in 2017, the third book in my Alphabetical Reading Challenge)
But life stands still for no one, and Heller's return to the darling veterans of Pianosa is tenderhearted, wistful, and (naturally) a little loony.
Yossarian exists still in a state of paralysis, caught forever in the fleeting time of good health that comes before disease, presently living life but always conscious of the inescapable permanence of impending death. His doctors try to cheer him up by noting how healthy he is, but Yossarian isn't fooled. Being healthy now does nothing to keep you from being dead later.
Heller's scathing cynicism toward society is no less wry and the bantering dialogue is as delightful here as in Catch-22, following again the form of ridiculous balance between extremes:
So, you see, Heller's writing is still funny. There is much to be lampooned in American society outside the military, no doubt. But this book feels a little too tiredly derivative of its predecessor. Perhaps that is unavoidable. Perhaps it is too true to the tragedy of an old man's life: it is by definition an extension of a young man's life, but with less vigor and lowered testosterone.
3.5 stars out of 5. An inevitably important work that is joyless fun to read.
(Read in 2017, the third book in my Alphabetical Reading Challenge)
Read
March 13, 2017DNF @Page 205
With a heavy heart, I'm throwing in the towel over this book. On page 205 the 'Book 6' starts and I really can't tell you what any of the preceding 5 was about (I did have a clue on Book 1, but the subsequent ones have muddied that perception by now). I am a huge fan of Heller's (even if not of Catch-22, of that one I'm just a fan) and it is therefore I'm sad to say that he ended with this confused and inflated mess. Basically I think that all the things I didn't like about Catch-22 is what makes up the bulk of this. Only less well executed. The slightly 'absurd' humor in dialogs reminds me of Monty python at their worst, or early Woody Allen:
"It's his job to restrain me from telling him secrets like that."
"Like what?" asked Michael.
"Like that one about the bomber."
"What bomber?"
"Our M & ME & A Sub-Supersonic Invisible and Noiseless Defensive Second-Strike Offensive Attack Bomber. I hope you don't know about it."
''I know about it now."
"How'd you find out?"
Other times, it's the quick read parts of A Confederacy of Dunces that comes to mind:
"Mr. Gaffney knows everything, I think, "M2 answered, with faith. "He monitors our fax lines too."
"You pay him for that?"
"Somebody does, I think."
"Who?"
"I've no idea."
"Don't you care?"
"Should I?"
"Can 't you find out?"
"I'll have to find out if I can find out."
"I'm surprised you don't want to know."
"Should I want to?"
Let me just ask you:
"Should I have patience with this?"
"Because I don't."
With a heavy heart, I'm throwing in the towel over this book. On page 205 the 'Book 6' starts and I really can't tell you what any of the preceding 5 was about (I did have a clue on Book 1, but the subsequent ones have muddied that perception by now). I am a huge fan of Heller's (even if not of Catch-22, of that one I'm just a fan) and it is therefore I'm sad to say that he ended with this confused and inflated mess. Basically I think that all the things I didn't like about Catch-22 is what makes up the bulk of this. Only less well executed. The slightly 'absurd' humor in dialogs reminds me of Monty python at their worst, or early Woody Allen:
"It's his job to restrain me from telling him secrets like that."
"Like what?" asked Michael.
"Like that one about the bomber."
"What bomber?"
"Our M & ME & A Sub-Supersonic Invisible and Noiseless Defensive Second-Strike Offensive Attack Bomber. I hope you don't know about it."
''I know about it now."
"How'd you find out?"
Other times, it's the quick read parts of A Confederacy of Dunces that comes to mind:
"Mr. Gaffney knows everything, I think, "M2 answered, with faith. "He monitors our fax lines too."
"You pay him for that?"
"Somebody does, I think."
"Who?"
"I've no idea."
"Don't you care?"
"Should I?"
"Can 't you find out?"
"I'll have to find out if I can find out."
"I'm surprised you don't want to know."
"Should I want to?"
Let me just ask you:
"Should I have patience with this?"
"Because I don't."
January 27, 2023
Did one of the greatest satirical anti-war novels ever written really need a sequel?
For me, absolutely not. It made no sense whatsoever.
But seeing as there is one, and seeing as I Loved Catch-22 a lot, I was willing to give it a try - despite its overall poor rating.
Whilst not terrible, it's so far off the levels of C-22 that the drop off was almost like going from Jaws straight to Jaws: The Revenge. Now that's bad. Closing Time was OK at best, and I just had to skim through the last third as it was doing very little for me. More thoughts to come...
For me, absolutely not. It made no sense whatsoever.
But seeing as there is one, and seeing as I Loved Catch-22 a lot, I was willing to give it a try - despite its overall poor rating.
Whilst not terrible, it's so far off the levels of C-22 that the drop off was almost like going from Jaws straight to Jaws: The Revenge. Now that's bad. Closing Time was OK at best, and I just had to skim through the last third as it was doing very little for me. More thoughts to come...
January 23, 2011
Epic absurdity and dire pathos. Heller's hysterical and brilliant at the same time. The book is flawed, definitely, though. But it actually feels superior to the original in that it satirizes the end of days of an entire world, its ambition so much farther reaching than its, still great, predeccessor. The world as Heller depicts it is a hollow bacchanal on the cusp of total annihilation and much like kurt vonnegut (love the references ot him in the text) heller prefers to cry, laugh, cry, and hopefully cry again. Unsettling, but brilliant. Depressing but a great pierce of american writing from one of the late greats. Read it and stick with it. It's a maddening frenzy worth the trip for the sheer awesome force of literature that it is.
September 17, 2007
Catch-22 is probably my favorite book of all time. Some of Heller's other work, also, stands up as classic and important. Closing Time isn't really one of those novels. It's a sequel to Catch-22, and like most sequels, it was probably unnecessary. On one level, I can see what Heller was trying to do. He parallels his own aging with the aging of Yossarian and the heroes of the original. We see them now aged, some with grandchildren. The humor from the original, however, has turned a little more bitter yet somehow less funny, less biting, less defiant. It's hard to swallow, especially as someone who is still relatively "young". I'm willing to give it the benefit of doubt and plan to reread it one day, possibly, to see if I just can't relate now. Maybe I'm just mad at what was done to these characters, at how the life was sucked out of them. Maybe I am just too attached to the original. But on a gut level, if not a purely critical level, this just feels like a mistake.
NC
NC
May 22, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in October 1999.
Almost thirty five years after finally finding a publisher for Catch-22, Heller wrote a sequel. Through this period, every book he has produced has suffered from comparison with his first novel. He has never managed to combine the elements of farce and tragedy so well as was made possible by his theme of helplessness in the face of official stupidity.
Many elements from Catch 22 are present, transformed, in Closing Time. In Pianosa, the characters were terrified of being killed in the war. Back in the States fifty years later, they are terrified of dying of cancer. Sudden death from illness replaces sudden death from warfare as the driving force in the background. This is a fear which it is easier for most readers today to identify with, I suspect.
Using these characters from the past makes Closing Time an unusual novel in at least one respect. Few novels have all the main characters in their sixties and seventies; adolescence is probably the most common age for a protagonist.
There is a different emphasis, too, in the attitude towards official stupidity and duplicity. The anger of Catch 22 is replaced with resignation. "This is how the world is, and nothing we can do will change it" is a viewpoint more appropriate for the seventy year old. There is less energy in Closing Time; it does not grab you in the same way that Catch 22 does.
One result of this is that you read three quarters of the book feeling that it is not as good as Catch 22. Then Heller suddenly pulls out the rug from under your feet, and its then a rollercoaster ride to the end. You are too gripped to distance yourself from the book, even just far enough to consider its quality. But, after finishing it, I was not convinced that it was up to Catch 22's standard. The tragic is not so tragic - the death or nearness to death of a seventy year old is difficult to make so affecting as that of the same character at twenty - and the comic is not so comic - this is the lack of energy again. Perhaps the best thing Heller has written since Catch 22 (though I have an affection for God Knows, because I like the idea behind it), Closing Time is not quite its equal.
Almost thirty five years after finally finding a publisher for Catch-22, Heller wrote a sequel. Through this period, every book he has produced has suffered from comparison with his first novel. He has never managed to combine the elements of farce and tragedy so well as was made possible by his theme of helplessness in the face of official stupidity.
Many elements from Catch 22 are present, transformed, in Closing Time. In Pianosa, the characters were terrified of being killed in the war. Back in the States fifty years later, they are terrified of dying of cancer. Sudden death from illness replaces sudden death from warfare as the driving force in the background. This is a fear which it is easier for most readers today to identify with, I suspect.
Using these characters from the past makes Closing Time an unusual novel in at least one respect. Few novels have all the main characters in their sixties and seventies; adolescence is probably the most common age for a protagonist.
There is a different emphasis, too, in the attitude towards official stupidity and duplicity. The anger of Catch 22 is replaced with resignation. "This is how the world is, and nothing we can do will change it" is a viewpoint more appropriate for the seventy year old. There is less energy in Closing Time; it does not grab you in the same way that Catch 22 does.
One result of this is that you read three quarters of the book feeling that it is not as good as Catch 22. Then Heller suddenly pulls out the rug from under your feet, and its then a rollercoaster ride to the end. You are too gripped to distance yourself from the book, even just far enough to consider its quality. But, after finishing it, I was not convinced that it was up to Catch 22's standard. The tragic is not so tragic - the death or nearness to death of a seventy year old is difficult to make so affecting as that of the same character at twenty - and the comic is not so comic - this is the lack of energy again. Perhaps the best thing Heller has written since Catch 22 (though I have an affection for God Knows, because I like the idea behind it), Closing Time is not quite its equal.
July 26, 2007
The comical sarcasm and wit seems to have turned rather sour in Yossarian’s old age, something which Heller is aware of and has a female character state this. But I found it to be true, in youth and being surrounded by lots of people who wanted to kill him, the sarcasm was funny and refreshing but becomes rather tedious in old age. But then he is still immature at heart, so it’s fitting he has not changed I guess. Still chasing women of course no matter his age, which I also found rather tiresome. But it’s what Heller seems to enjoy…
This book is a great follow-up to Catch-22 as it gives other characters their own voices, albeit in a rather depressing and morose way. Everyone it seems has had a life of suffering, but then that is life.
Don’t however expect the same feeling from this as Catch-22, this is a more serious affair and also a more complicated book to get into. I found myself wanting more of the other characters than Yossarians’ self indulgent moaning. A nice ending where he chooses love over life though.
This book is a great follow-up to Catch-22 as it gives other characters their own voices, albeit in a rather depressing and morose way. Everyone it seems has had a life of suffering, but then that is life.
Don’t however expect the same feeling from this as Catch-22, this is a more serious affair and also a more complicated book to get into. I found myself wanting more of the other characters than Yossarians’ self indulgent moaning. A nice ending where he chooses love over life though.
November 28, 2012
Took me a long time to get through... nowhere near the humor and lightness of Catch-22. I almost feel bad, as though my poor rating is a reflection on the wonderful characters of Catch-22 that held so much life for me, and then let me down... they felt so real, even in this novel where I felt they had all lost their strength of character. I was just expecting something much different. Much more sad, serious, and depressing than Catch-22. Even all the little ironies and jokes came off as serious, which made many of the unbelievable situations of the book scary and daunting, unlike the unbelievable situations of Catch-22, which were laughable in a wonderful way. In summary, besides the returning characters, it is not really comparable to its prequel and let me down.
March 20, 2008
I have long been hesitant to read this book. I'd known Catch-22 had a sequel even since I read it during the summer of 2000. Heller mentioned it in the preface to the edition I had, spoiling me (Yossarian lives!) and I even knew that my beloved Chaplain Tappman was in it. But I loved Catch-22 so and was afraid of being disappointed... after all if this book lives up to the prior's standards wouldn't I have heard it acclaimed by others? I decided never to read it. My brother had other ideas though and got it for my birthday in the spring of 2005. Get over your fears, he said. Still it stayed in my "to-read" pile. In 2006 I came across another Heller novel in the used book store and picked it up. It wasn't related to either of the others and so I figured it was a good test run to see if Heller stood up outside of Catch-22 or was just a one hit wonder. The book was Good as Gold; It was very good if not up the level of greatness of Catch-22. Heller's frenzied pace of expanding and contracting spirals seemed consistent (though this book was linear). Still it had been another year and a half, when in the fall of 2007 I was trying to decide what book to read next and asked my boyfriend what to read. He said Closing Time not knowing the story of how the book had come to sit and stay on the to-read shelf (oh yes I had a shelf [or two:] by this point). I picked it up at last.
So why did it take me almost 6 months to finish this book? Was it terrible? It wasn't terrible... it was just dense and hard to read quickly. Almost everyone I've talked to on the subject agrees that Catch-22 takes longer to read than it's word count or entertaining nature would lead you to expect. I think much of that is the case here too. You cannot read Heller quickly without losing the value of it. Most of us who are fast readers skim. It's a fact, and if you skim Heller you become hopelessly lost and miss everything. So I had to slow down... read a chapter or two at a time (my grandest achievement in progress was reading 100 pages one night when my boyfriend passed out early and I didn't go to bed until close to midnight).
The other reason it took so long is that there is a weird meta quality about the book. It's very now in that. It pulls you out of the story and makes you think about what exactly Heller is doing, though. When I first started Closing Time I said that it read like very good fanfiction of the original book, with (obviously) perfect characterization. As I continued reading though, I discovered that is more of a crossover or hybrid. Heller had mixed Catch-22 and his own style in with Vonnegut's style. He crosses out even to referencing reality and real authors who are part of the appropriate generation including himself and Vonnegut and spins into the fantastic in a way that keeps his pacing but when you break it down seems much more something Vonnegut would have come up with. He references. It's interesting and appropriate, and that (combined with my desire to see Chaplain Tappman finally get home once more and Yossarian scam on nurses and Milo make all the profits) made me glad I read the book.
Besides, now I finally understand how Ex-PFC Wintergreen was the most important person in their section of the military during Catch-22.
So why did it take me almost 6 months to finish this book? Was it terrible? It wasn't terrible... it was just dense and hard to read quickly. Almost everyone I've talked to on the subject agrees that Catch-22 takes longer to read than it's word count or entertaining nature would lead you to expect. I think much of that is the case here too. You cannot read Heller quickly without losing the value of it. Most of us who are fast readers skim. It's a fact, and if you skim Heller you become hopelessly lost and miss everything. So I had to slow down... read a chapter or two at a time (my grandest achievement in progress was reading 100 pages one night when my boyfriend passed out early and I didn't go to bed until close to midnight).
The other reason it took so long is that there is a weird meta quality about the book. It's very now in that. It pulls you out of the story and makes you think about what exactly Heller is doing, though. When I first started Closing Time I said that it read like very good fanfiction of the original book, with (obviously) perfect characterization. As I continued reading though, I discovered that is more of a crossover or hybrid. Heller had mixed Catch-22 and his own style in with Vonnegut's style. He crosses out even to referencing reality and real authors who are part of the appropriate generation including himself and Vonnegut and spins into the fantastic in a way that keeps his pacing but when you break it down seems much more something Vonnegut would have come up with. He references. It's interesting and appropriate, and that (combined with my desire to see Chaplain Tappman finally get home once more and Yossarian scam on nurses and Milo make all the profits) made me glad I read the book.
Besides, now I finally understand how Ex-PFC Wintergreen was the most important person in their section of the military during Catch-22.
May 13, 2019
The low score is not a reflection of any disappointment I might have for Closing Time not living up to its famed predecessor, Catch-22, which I still regard as one of my favourite books. Instead it really comes down to this one being a bit of a headscratcher, a true mixed bag of different storylines that don't really come together well in the end.
It has a lot things going for it; the sections with 'new' characters Sammy Singer and Lew for example, while not in the trademarked witty Heller-style of the prequel (although there's plenty of it in the other sections), had a lot of heart and melancholy. And while it's funny, unfortunately the Yossarian storyline never really takes off properly (to be honest, he's not really fleshed out that well this time around, more of an extra in his own story); the chaplain ends up in a really strange subplot that's hysterical at first, but ultimately feels underwritten and underused; while the politics/rich people/military-industrial complex satire is all a bit on the ham-fisted side.
There's also a surprising amount of reminiscing - not just of the craziness of Pianosa 40 years earlier, but there are quite a lot of memorable moments told from one character's perspective that return later on from the perspective of others. Unfortunately, very often this happens in a kind of lazy, lackluster way without really changing much about its context or meaning; more in a "oh yeah, that also happened" way, as if ticking off a shopping list for said character. It adds to a strange sense of redundancy in the writing that's just not as sharp as in Heller's previous works (okay, so now I am comparing it...).
As for the underground/afterlife(?)-plot: I've read my way through dozens of reviews on this site to 'get' the allegory, but either no one knows, or no one cares (a few people noted that it may be related to the operas that feature prominently, but they didn't know the specifics either). It does feel like I'm missing an important part of where Heller was intending to go, missing clues as I go along (for that matter, the wedding never really happened, dit it? And what does that really mean?) - whether it was an attempt to link Dante's Inferno to a Dr. Strangelove-style apocalypse I do not know, but as of right now, it leaves me mostly confused.
It is possible that at some point in the future I come across the missing piece of the puzzle and may have to rethink both this book and my rating though.
It has a lot things going for it; the sections with 'new' characters Sammy Singer and Lew for example, while not in the trademarked witty Heller-style of the prequel (although there's plenty of it in the other sections), had a lot of heart and melancholy. And while it's funny, unfortunately the Yossarian storyline never really takes off properly (to be honest, he's not really fleshed out that well this time around, more of an extra in his own story); the chaplain ends up in a really strange subplot that's hysterical at first, but ultimately feels underwritten and underused; while the politics/rich people/military-industrial complex satire is all a bit on the ham-fisted side.
There's also a surprising amount of reminiscing - not just of the craziness of Pianosa 40 years earlier, but there are quite a lot of memorable moments told from one character's perspective that return later on from the perspective of others. Unfortunately, very often this happens in a kind of lazy, lackluster way without really changing much about its context or meaning; more in a "oh yeah, that also happened" way, as if ticking off a shopping list for said character. It adds to a strange sense of redundancy in the writing that's just not as sharp as in Heller's previous works (okay, so now I am comparing it...).
As for the underground/afterlife(?)-plot: I've read my way through dozens of reviews on this site to 'get' the allegory, but either no one knows, or no one cares (a few people noted that it may be related to the operas that feature prominently, but they didn't know the specifics either). It does feel like I'm missing an important part of where Heller was intending to go, missing clues as I go along (for that matter, the wedding never really happened, dit it? And what does that really mean?) - whether it was an attempt to link Dante's Inferno to a Dr. Strangelove-style apocalypse I do not know, but as of right now, it leaves me mostly confused.
It is possible that at some point in the future I come across the missing piece of the puzzle and may have to rethink both this book and my rating though.
February 6, 2017
Catch-22 was a seminal book for me decades ago. Interesting to come to Closing Time at nearly the same age as Yossarian.
Although uneven in many aspects, I still found this "closing days" novel sharp in satire and utterly dispiriting because it's so close to truth regarding oligarchy, corrupt business practices, inept government, adulation of soulless celebrity, 1984ish "alternate facts" and desperate searches for some sort of meaningful contact between and among people.
I can't even begin to detail the wedding at the Port Authority Building or the vast underground populated only by the most hideous of men. Can't even begin to explain all I thought about due to the keen Heller eye of 1994.
It's a fuming, funny, discouraging and completely modern "take" on modern life.
Although uneven in many aspects, I still found this "closing days" novel sharp in satire and utterly dispiriting because it's so close to truth regarding oligarchy, corrupt business practices, inept government, adulation of soulless celebrity, 1984ish "alternate facts" and desperate searches for some sort of meaningful contact between and among people.
I can't even begin to detail the wedding at the Port Authority Building or the vast underground populated only by the most hideous of men. Can't even begin to explain all I thought about due to the keen Heller eye of 1994.
It's a fuming, funny, discouraging and completely modern "take" on modern life.
January 21, 2019
This book is not something one would read without having read "Catch-22." Having read the original book, this sequel brings back some fond memories. That said, don't expect this book to answer any questions you may have had regarding the original. In fact, I found this book to give a strange glimpse of what one may have expected based on the ending of the original novel.
Again, we find ourselves in a strange world of characters, with Heller's propensity to tell his tales in an order that does not necessarily make sense. Thus, like Catch-22, it likely takes at least a few reads of this installment to get a good idea of what is going on. Also similar to Catch-22, I found that the ending to be a bit of an anti-climax, and not necessarily following from the action that immediately preceded it.
This novel does have many good things to say. It views a decline in values, as witnessed by a man (Yosarian) who started life with dreams and idealism in the first novel. At this point, he is an aged man who sees the filth of humanity daily, in conjunction with the mindless excess of the rich and powerful. We see the climatic juxtaposition of these worlds during a richly detailed imagining of a high-brow wedding at the New York City bus depot.
We also meet other characters who have grown old and hear their stories. This book introduces many more obviously Jewish characters (whereas the first book stayed away from that theme), and we hear of their struggles to live a life free of discrimination. Ultimately, each character shows the sorrow of old age. The previous vigor and independence has gone. Former idealism and lofty goals for the positive change of humanity have evaporated. Thus, a certain melancholy mood pervades this book, even as you laugh at the absurdities Heller constantly presents.
The author presents some pretty hefty thoughts sprinkled throughout the treatise, but there are also many parts that seem disjointed or loosely connected with the overall theme. We get to see the chaplain again, but his role throughout seems fairly minor and perhaps pointless. One begins to wonder what the point of this story is, other than to depict the absurdity and perhaps pointlessness of life. The reader may well feel this way, other than the glimpses Heller's characters point to, such as good family and friends, or a life well-lived. Perhaps Heller is laughing at us all right now (from somewhere), such as his quasi Dante-inspired (purgatory or hell) look at a world full of characters from the past, set below the bus depot!
"He had learned from a lifetime of skepticism that a conviction, even a naïve conviction, was in the last analysis more nourishing than the wasteland of none." Thus the author presents true wisdom on having a meaning for one's life, versus the sterile and hollow land of intellectualism.
Again, we find ourselves in a strange world of characters, with Heller's propensity to tell his tales in an order that does not necessarily make sense. Thus, like Catch-22, it likely takes at least a few reads of this installment to get a good idea of what is going on. Also similar to Catch-22, I found that the ending to be a bit of an anti-climax, and not necessarily following from the action that immediately preceded it.
This novel does have many good things to say. It views a decline in values, as witnessed by a man (Yosarian) who started life with dreams and idealism in the first novel. At this point, he is an aged man who sees the filth of humanity daily, in conjunction with the mindless excess of the rich and powerful. We see the climatic juxtaposition of these worlds during a richly detailed imagining of a high-brow wedding at the New York City bus depot.
We also meet other characters who have grown old and hear their stories. This book introduces many more obviously Jewish characters (whereas the first book stayed away from that theme), and we hear of their struggles to live a life free of discrimination. Ultimately, each character shows the sorrow of old age. The previous vigor and independence has gone. Former idealism and lofty goals for the positive change of humanity have evaporated. Thus, a certain melancholy mood pervades this book, even as you laugh at the absurdities Heller constantly presents.
The author presents some pretty hefty thoughts sprinkled throughout the treatise, but there are also many parts that seem disjointed or loosely connected with the overall theme. We get to see the chaplain again, but his role throughout seems fairly minor and perhaps pointless. One begins to wonder what the point of this story is, other than to depict the absurdity and perhaps pointlessness of life. The reader may well feel this way, other than the glimpses Heller's characters point to, such as good family and friends, or a life well-lived. Perhaps Heller is laughing at us all right now (from somewhere), such as his quasi Dante-inspired (purgatory or hell) look at a world full of characters from the past, set below the bus depot!
"He had learned from a lifetime of skepticism that a conviction, even a naïve conviction, was in the last analysis more nourishing than the wasteland of none." Thus the author presents true wisdom on having a meaning for one's life, versus the sterile and hollow land of intellectualism.
March 11, 2013
Well, CATCH-22 it ain't, friends. HOWEVER it is a decent story, and there are tiny sparks and remnants of CATCH-22's brilliance throughout. Some characters return (Chaplain Tappmann, Milo Minderbender), and some don't (Orr's brief mention was something of a letdown, but I think that was sort of the point: PEOPLE MOVE ON AND ARE NO LONGER A PART OF ONE ANOTHER'S LIVES, SOMETIMES). The new characters that are introduced are perhaps less interesting, but more sympathetic, than most of those found in CATCH-22. The book shifts point-of-view more times than AS I LAY DYING and is pretty cool for that reason, I think. This book did get me reading a little extracurricularly about the history of amusement parks on Coney Island and George C. Tilyou. It kind of reminded me of a Jacques Tati film in some ways, all throughout pointing to certain things and coming to a pretty wild and chaotic climax (or WAS it?). Not nearly as many laugh-out-loud moments as CATCH-22 either, but a solid read and recommended for anyone that wants to spend a little more time with Yossarian. On that note, it wasn't nearly as good a sequel as, say, SWEET THURSDAY was--obviously both series traded some characters for others and kept some in there, but for the most part, SWEET THURSDAY felt much more like a natural continuation of CANNERY ROW than CLOSING TIME did of CATCH-22. I don't think that was accidental or anything; I think Heller had a pretty specific vision of what he wanted (and it was not a SWEET THURSDAY-style continuation). Lots of ambiguity and nostalgia and interesting scenarios and frankly confusing and fantastical plot points made CLOSING TIME a thought-provoking novel. I could even see myself reading it again, but more to be a completist about a potential future-reading of CATCH-22 than just-because. I feel like something of a heel writing about it so strictly in terms of its relationship to CATCH-22, but what can I say? I'm a huge fan of CATCH and it's what I know.
September 10, 2021
‘Closing Time’ is possibly the most dark and depressing book I have ever read, so much so that I would hesitate to say I ‘enjoyed’ reading it. However, the most depressing thing about it is the fact that it was written more than 20 years ago, yet its descriptions of the decline of society; urban squalor; and the hypocrisy of capitalism resonate stronger than ever today.
Compared to ‘Catch-22’, it is less humorous with fewer laugh out loud moments. Although, the writing style is surprisingly similar, in regards to Heller’s use of POV characters. However it is significantly harder to read, being more crude in the language. The book is bleedingly autobiographical, even more so than ‘Catch-22’. It explores some very morbid themes and the writing is beset with the tone of despair; hence it is quite sad to know that Heller wrote it only 5 years before his death.
I was particularly moved by the opening chapter of the book, which, without giving much away, is a character (Sammy Singer) monologuing about fading away into history, movingly containing Heller’s very thinly veiled sentiments. It is worth knowing here that Heller, like many of his characters, flew in the US Army Air Corps in the second world war, as a B-25 Bombardier.
‘Closing Time’ is at heart a critique on society, in the same way that ‘Catch-22’ is a critique on war. Do read if you like nihilism; irony; contemplating mortality, death and ‘The End’ as the blurb describes it, all while feeling a bit bad for being occasionally amused by the absurdity of it all.
Compared to ‘Catch-22’, it is less humorous with fewer laugh out loud moments. Although, the writing style is surprisingly similar, in regards to Heller’s use of POV characters. However it is significantly harder to read, being more crude in the language. The book is bleedingly autobiographical, even more so than ‘Catch-22’. It explores some very morbid themes and the writing is beset with the tone of despair; hence it is quite sad to know that Heller wrote it only 5 years before his death.
I was particularly moved by the opening chapter of the book, which, without giving much away, is a character (Sammy Singer) monologuing about fading away into history, movingly containing Heller’s very thinly veiled sentiments. It is worth knowing here that Heller, like many of his characters, flew in the US Army Air Corps in the second world war, as a B-25 Bombardier.
‘Closing Time’ is at heart a critique on society, in the same way that ‘Catch-22’ is a critique on war. Do read if you like nihilism; irony; contemplating mortality, death and ‘The End’ as the blurb describes it, all while feeling a bit bad for being occasionally amused by the absurdity of it all.
August 2, 2019
It certainly did not live up to Catch-22, nevertheless it was an interesting read. I really liked the parralel between Yossarian and Lew. I did feel this book might appeal more to me in about 50 years due to the story mainly revolving arround old age and death.
Frightingly, I found the president, called The Little Prick, vaguelly ressemble our dear Trump, although I hope even he is more competent than the little prick.
Frightingly, I found the president, called The Little Prick, vaguelly ressemble our dear Trump, although I hope even he is more competent than the little prick.
May 6, 2024
I am a huge fan of Catch-22. So huge, I constantly recommend that book to everyone willing and unwilling to read something new. I randomly bought it in a local bookshop one day with no prior knowledge whatsoever (I liked the title), and immediately felt in love with it as soon as I started reading. Thus, the existence of the sequel had bothered me: Catch-22 had a great closure with no need for continuation. The depressed reviews written by fans I had found here only increased my worries. For that reason, Closing Time was kicked into the long grass for quite a while, until it was finally time to close the gestalt.
In reality, my fears were groundless. The book turned out to be alright, actually. I can't call it a masterpiece, especially in comparison with the predecessor, but it's still a solid work. Sure, the narration lost its chaotic and absurd nature, becoming more focused and linear, with the line between humor and seriousness being set clearer. This fact may disappoint those who loved the original for its messy structure, but to me these changes seemed natural given the theme.
While Catch-22 served as a critique on the absurdity of war, Closing Time felt like a reminiscence on the past at death's door. There's no longer any need for panic and worries--all you have left is recall the memories, enjoy the present and await the inevitable. This motive was especially reflected in the first-person chapters, which tended to be more serious than the rest of the story. The critique part was still there, though, once again bursting with typical snarky remarks and multi-layered jokes.
Also, I'm not sure if Heller meant it, but I felt like the entire story was happening in some sort of limbo, considering the constant references to Death in Venice, future prediction and freely interactions between the worlds of living and dead.
I wasn't that invested in the sequel as I was in the original, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. As long as you don't expect it to be on the same level as Catch-22, you should be fine. It's a good book with its own themes and pacing, and, in my opinion, doesn't deserve the hate it gets. But, hey, give it a chance and see for yourself whether you like it or not.
3.5/5
In reality, my fears were groundless. The book turned out to be alright, actually. I can't call it a masterpiece, especially in comparison with the predecessor, but it's still a solid work. Sure, the narration lost its chaotic and absurd nature, becoming more focused and linear, with the line between humor and seriousness being set clearer. This fact may disappoint those who loved the original for its messy structure, but to me these changes seemed natural given the theme.
While Catch-22 served as a critique on the absurdity of war, Closing Time felt like a reminiscence on the past at death's door. There's no longer any need for panic and worries--all you have left is recall the memories, enjoy the present and await the inevitable. This motive was especially reflected in the first-person chapters, which tended to be more serious than the rest of the story. The critique part was still there, though, once again bursting with typical snarky remarks and multi-layered jokes.
Also, I'm not sure if Heller meant it, but I felt like the entire story was happening in some sort of limbo, considering the constant references to Death in Venice, future prediction and freely interactions between the worlds of living and dead.
I wasn't that invested in the sequel as I was in the original, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. As long as you don't expect it to be on the same level as Catch-22, you should be fine. It's a good book with its own themes and pacing, and, in my opinion, doesn't deserve the hate it gets. But, hey, give it a chance and see for yourself whether you like it or not.
3.5/5
March 11, 2023
ესკადრილიის კადეტი რომ ვყოფილიყავი, ალბათ მაგრად გამისწორდებოდა ამ წიგნის კითხვა. სხვა მხრივ, ერთი მორიგი ჩვეულებრივი სატირაა მეორე მსოფლიო ომის თემატიკაზე დაწერილი, დანახული ამერიკის ავიაციის პერსონაჟების მხრიდან, რომლებიც მეორე მსოფლიო ომის გვიანდელ პერიოდში იტალიის მისადგომებთან იმყოფებოდნენ.
December 2, 2025
We had all nearly been killed.
That did not sink in until early middle age, and after than when I related the anecdote, it was not just for the laughs.
Closing Time is the sequel to the iconic WWII classic Catch-22, published 33 years after the original. All his life Joseph Heller has tried to replicate the success of his debut, but I believe he has missed one critical thing.
His style. He writes in a comic, satirical, ironic and absurdist way, which I believe is typical for writers who survived WWII. They seem to just not be anchored to the same rules as we are. They have seen all justice and laws governing our everyday life get thrown upside down. My theory is that this is a major reason for the strong development of the scifi genre in the sixties. Think Ballard, think Vonnegut. They all wrote about surreal circumstances and worlds. Heller, I believe, is not any less smart or talented than they. Heller's big flaw is that he tried to stay in the here and now. He wrote contemporary.
Catch-22 worked because his absurdist style worked perfectly with the absurd, out of the ordinary conditions he found himself in as a gunner in WWII. Nothing works like it used to back home, everything's silly yet also extremely serious. This kind of dance works perfectly and is believable.
Both of the other Joseph Heller books I read, Good as Gold and Closing Time deal with the life back home. The everyday jobs, the annoying families, the getting your degree. But somehow there's well-bred perfectly sculpted goddesses waiting to suck you off. Somehow the amusement park owner is the literal Satan. These concepts admittedly sound kinda funny and perhaps intriguing, but Heller does them disservice and makes them boring. These outlandish concepts do not fit in the world, are not properly explored and are just plain boring.
While Good as Gold was a snoozefest all the way through, Closing Time proved more interesting. While in the aforementioned novel you only follow the one extremely unlikable protagonist, Closing Time follows the many characters of Catch-22 and how they've turned out in their lives - as most of them are elderly and are close to death's door, hence the title.
I've gotta say, Heller is actually capable of writing very decent, very genuine character drama, as evidenced by the Lew Rabinowitz and Sammy Singer chapters documenting their everyday life and struggles. They were moving and grounded, and I cared about them and their lives far more than the whole circus surrounding the USA government and Yossarian chapters.
Overall, I recommend this to people who are into absurdist intellectual humor or want to see the continuation of Catch-22. I wouldn't say the author lets the characters down by any means, there is also no feeling of pandering. However be warned that the style does not quite work with a modern-day setting.
Some quotes. Despite my overall negative tone, Joseph Heller is able to write a very snappy phrase and thoughtful paragraphs. He's a very intelligent man, and I wish I could have a conversation with him.
He's great at unmasking cognitive dissonance.
There were enemies of abortion who wanted to inflict death penalty on everyone who was not pro-life.
Relatable for most people, I think. Especially the people who cope with humor.
"I still can't tell if you're joking."
"I'm still not always sure either," Yossarian answered. "Sometimes I mean what I say and don't mean it at the same time."
I think this is a great glimpse into the Greatest Generation/Baby Boomers in USA. It's modern to complain about boomers and that they had life handed to them on a silver platter - and although Heller predates that narrative by three or so decades, I find it curious that he's come to a similar conclusion.
Most of us have done much better than we ever thought we would or our parents dreamed we would.
I think Heller here is kind of making fun of these collective trauma moments and juxtaposing them with deeply personal and meaningful trauma. After all, what could've Pearl Harbor meant to an average American, or an atom bomb half a world away? What could've Kennedy really have meant to a person who's never seen them in the face? Yet these things you can easily connect over with nearly anyone in the states at the time (think of 9/11 as a modern equivalent).
And Heller says, it all pales to Yossarian and Singer's formative, before-then-and-after-then event in life - the graphic death of their plane crewmate, Howard Snowden.
Where were you?
When you heard about Pearl Harbor. When the atom bomb went off. When Kennedy was killed.
I know where I was when the radio gunner Snowden was killed on the second mission to Avignon, and that meant more to me then than the Kennedy assassination did later.
On wartime racketeering, on profitability of war and the ethics. Also some more on the prosperity of the post-war generation.
On Monday one third of the nation was ill-housed, ill-clothed, and ill-fed. And on Thursday there were ten million people in the military making more than most had been able to earn before. [..]
Suddenly there was enough for everything. Did all the credit belong to Hitler? Capitalism, my father probably would answer with a smile of resignation, as though for this humane socialist all of the evils of inequality could be clarified in that sinful single word. "For war there is always enough. It's peace that's too expensive."
He's just really funny in such a dry way at times.
"But each time I think of that bus terminal, I imagine it's what Dante's Inferno might represent."
"That's a fresh concept," Yossarian observed wryly. They were the sole passengers.
"Except," amended Michael, as they descended, "the PABT building is out in the open. Like something normal."
"That makes it worse, doesn't it?" said Yossarian.
"Than hell?" Michael shook his head.
"Sartre says hell is other people. You should read him."
"I don't want to read him. That's silly, if he was serious. It sound like something said just for people like you to quote him."
The lesson that keeps circulating through all of Heller's fiction.
"They have a right to keep him, don't they?"
"No, they don't have that right."
"Then why can't we do anything?"
"We don't have the right."
"I don't understand."
"Mrs. Tappman, people with force have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing. That's the catch Albert and I found out about in the army. It's what's happening now."
Another fresh joke.
A year or so earlier, he had lost his breath chasing a youth who had murdered someone in another part of the terminal, and he had not yet got it all back.
A belief I also hold. It's my stronghold against conspiracy.
With his wife only, this sick man of Europe shared an additional secret, his absolute belief that nothing he, his colleagues, or any organization of experts could do would have any enduring corrective effect on the economic destiny of his continent or the Western world. Humans had little command over human events. History would follow its autonomous course independent of the people who made it.
November 27, 2010
It lacks EVERYTHING that made Catch 22 such a good book. It was so severe and bland that I put down the book after reading for about 150 pages. It is monotone in that all we see in the sections about Yossarian is a jaded old man who is a shell of his former self; who proves that older doesn't always mean wiser but it sure as hell can mean more banal and uninspired . And while that is definitely not Heller's intent, its what the book feels like to me.
The sections about the other two veterans is generally much more readable but once they move out of childhood, the same jaded tone invades that section of the book and once again, the book disappoints.
It does contain some moments of genuine humor and insight, but maybe about once every chapter and mostly in the non Yossarian sections.
I had high expectations; none of which were met.
The sections about the other two veterans is generally much more readable but once they move out of childhood, the same jaded tone invades that section of the book and once again, the book disappoints.
It does contain some moments of genuine humor and insight, but maybe about once every chapter and mostly in the non Yossarian sections.
I had high expectations; none of which were met.
August 24, 2017
If you have been as charmed by Joseph Heller's Catch-22 as I have been, I would find it hard to recommend this one to you.
For some odd reason, Joseph Heller has decided to be politically as incorrect as possible and be outspoken about all prejudices and biases he might have in this book. That could be an earnest and innocent effort on his part to come out of the practice as an honest man who is, in the usual parlance of run-of-the-mill book-reviewing business, an iconoclastic author who is not afraid to talk about the 'taboos' etc. Unfortunately, the end-result, for me at least, was quite different and I was bored, annoyed and disappointed while reading it.
However, all that could be ascribed to individual taste and many other readers might find the book an apt echo of the brilliant Catch-22. I, regrettably, regret ever picking it up.
For some odd reason, Joseph Heller has decided to be politically as incorrect as possible and be outspoken about all prejudices and biases he might have in this book. That could be an earnest and innocent effort on his part to come out of the practice as an honest man who is, in the usual parlance of run-of-the-mill book-reviewing business, an iconoclastic author who is not afraid to talk about the 'taboos' etc. Unfortunately, the end-result, for me at least, was quite different and I was bored, annoyed and disappointed while reading it.
However, all that could be ascribed to individual taste and many other readers might find the book an apt echo of the brilliant Catch-22. I, regrettably, regret ever picking it up.
October 28, 2016
Why on earth did he write this book? As I read I kept asking myself this question. It became simply a chore to finish it. Ok, there are some good jokes, but it appears to consist of a series of out-takes or updates of Catch 22 (he can be much cruder when writing this than in the original novel), combined with a pretty ridiculous doomsday scenario (a la Dr Strangelove), imagery from Wagner's Parsifal (a la Apocalypse Now), Dante's Inferno, and a lot of in-jokes (a la Slaughterhouse 5 and Kurt Vonnegut in general). This is his worst novel, as far as I am concerned anyway.
May 15, 2013
Catch-22 was a confused mess in a good way. This was a mess in a bad way. Lacking the wit, story and poignancy of his earlier work, this was a tough read. The second star came only from Sammie, Lew and Claire's monologues: the book's only saving graces. Yossarian and Milo simply should not have been dredged up. Blah.
March 15, 2016
Maybe this is heresy, but I think I liked this significantly more than "Catch 22." At the very least I found it far less maddening, which probably means it is not quite as effective, even if it is more enjoyable.
July 20, 2007
You know how good Catch-22 is? How it's so timeless? This book- not so much. Kind of funny, but you've probably seen better satire on South Park.
March 20, 2023
Don't waste your time! I was very close to not finishing this book halfway through but decided to trudge on. Obviously not a comparison to Catch-22, but if one were to compare, the book has a slightly different structure. Where C22 builds character development and then moves the story forward, CT has character building/backstory more spread out. It is obviously written about the old, by the old, perhaps for the old, and it shows. We get it, getting old sucks, but this book repeats so many lines about the same ailments that I can't tell if Heller has Alzheimer's or is making a commentary on Alzheimer's. And reading a book written by someone with their AARP card, who has characters their same age talking about their sexual exploits either at that age or when they were younger just feels disgusting.
There are a few areas where the magic of C22 are captured in dialogue that should make you at least chuckle a bit and remind you of the better book. CT is disappointing in that in C22 you were building, without totally knowing it, toward the full story of Snowden. Here one thinks you are building toward what happened to Yossarian after WW2 but it is barely given a mention until 3/4 of the way through and then it is but a couple of paragraphs. Maybe that let down of nothing spectacular happening to Yo-Yo is the continued irony of Heller's writing, or maybe it's just a bad book. One bright spot is Senor Gaffney, which might save the book from being thrown in the trash.
Without researching more, some of the plot seems to be stolen from Dr. Strangelove, with the eponymous characters name used in this book. The black comedy nature of both C22, CS and DS all joke at the bureaucracy government and the military, but this latest entry by Heller just hits too close to what had been written and filmed 40 years earlier. Even if CT had been written in the 60's, DS and its inspiration of Red Alert would have already been out.
If you have time to kill and nothing else to do then read this, otherwise if you have other reads waiting on your shelf, go to them first.
There are a few areas where the magic of C22 are captured in dialogue that should make you at least chuckle a bit and remind you of the better book. CT is disappointing in that in C22 you were building, without totally knowing it, toward the full story of Snowden. Here one thinks you are building toward what happened to Yossarian after WW2 but it is barely given a mention until 3/4 of the way through and then it is but a couple of paragraphs. Maybe that let down of nothing spectacular happening to Yo-Yo is the continued irony of Heller's writing, or maybe it's just a bad book. One bright spot is Senor Gaffney, which might save the book from being thrown in the trash.
Without researching more, some of the plot seems to be stolen from Dr. Strangelove, with the eponymous characters name used in this book. The black comedy nature of both C22, CS and DS all joke at the bureaucracy government and the military, but this latest entry by Heller just hits too close to what had been written and filmed 40 years earlier. Even if CT had been written in the 60's, DS and its inspiration of Red Alert would have already been out.
If you have time to kill and nothing else to do then read this, otherwise if you have other reads waiting on your shelf, go to them first.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 6, 2021
In Closing Time a 68-year-old Yossarian* lives in an expensive New York apartment, is a board member of the Metropolitan Museum, is offered large payments for small amounts of work, and has sex with younger women who find him fascinating. He also listens to Wagner. Lots of Wagner. I suspect that all these things, more or less, also occurred to Joseph Heller in the years after Catch-22 became a best seller and modern classic. To bring Yossarian even closer to a Heller doppelganger, Heller has essentially thrown away the ending of the earlier novel to give Yossarian an honorable discharge.
Not content to inhabit the novel solely in the person of Yossarian, Heller also introduces Sammy Singer, who also served in WWII on Pianosa as an enlisted man and who is identified as the anonymous gunner who fainted during Yossarian's Avignon mission in the earlier book. A Jew from Coney Island, he is a version of Heller if he hadn't been an officer and hadn't written Catch-22; Sammy was college educated on the GI Bill, worked for Time magazine until given an early, forced, retirement and is now widowed and living alone.
Sammy in turn is given his own "road not taken" character in Lew Rabinowitz, a childhood friend who enlisted in the infantry at the same time Sammy joined the air corps. After the war, the last months of which he spent as a POW, Lew went into his father's junk business, which he later inherited and expanded. Lew tells a few interesting stories about his marriage and business, but his main function in the novel seems to be twofold:
First, he serves an eyewitness account of the firebombing of Dresden, which he witnessed as a POW.
The account Heller gives is strikingly close to that given by Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut is, in fact, mentioned several times as Lew's fellow prisoner, and his name crops up throughout the book**, as does that of a displaced Czech named Schweik. Heller may have intended this to give some account of what it was like to be on the receiving end of all those bombing missions Yossarian flew, but the closeness to Vonnegut's account and the fact that the Dresden bombing was primarily a British endeavor somewhat blunts the effect.
Lew's second function is to die of cancer after decades of remission and recurrence. Cancer is a main theme in the book: Sammy's wife died of it, and Yossarian regularly checks himself into the hospital for biopsies, primarily for the feeling he gets when given the favorable results. Their mutual oncologist, Dr. Teemer, has come to have a growing respect for cancel cells: he sees their ability to survive and multiply as an evolutionary advantage and kind of endorsement by nature. In a twist which is one of the novel's better conceits, as a result of his disturbing thoughts about the cancer cells he battles against, Dr. Teemer has checked himself as a resident patient into the psychiatric ward of the hospital in which he continues to practice his profession.
The middle-class world of Sammy and Lew serves as a contrast to the elite circles of society and politics in which Yossarian now travels. The stories of these other veterans also serves to modify the cynical version of the war he presented in the earlier book to be more in line with “the greatest generation”-type nostalgia. These two characters both tell their stories in the first person, unlike Yossarian's third-person narrative, and their monologues sometimes reproduce too well the speech patterns of older men with repetitions, questionable ideas of cause and effect, and meandering anecdotes. I don't think quite so much of this is necessary to put across authenticity in their voices; an editorial hand here and in a few other sections would have benefited the book.
The climax of the novel is a society wedding held in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City; this was arranged by Yossarian, at his own apparently ironic suggestion, for casual social acquaintances he knows through mutual friends. Before the fact, the text hints that the wedding may devolve into a "day of the locust"-type riot, but in the end, it serves mainly as means of illustrating the banality of celebrity and the metastasizing of conspicuous consumption. This event involves pages of description which precludes any character or plot development; it's therefore not really satisfying as a climax. The final irony is that the wedding, as described, may be merely an elaborate computer simulation created before the fact, and that the event itself never actually takes place.
In the book's final section, President Quayle (yes, a bit of alternate history thrown in here, though Quayle is never directly named, known only as "the little prick") launches a full nuclear strike thinking he is playing a video game. We are given a brief last look at all the book's surviving characters: those we are meant to admire move toward love and friendship, even though it may mean death, the less admirable look to personal survival at any cost.
*Heller has tinkered a bit with the Yossarian of the first book: the story takes place after the fall of Soviet Communism, so approximately 1989, but Yossarian is 68, 5 years younger than he would be if he were, as Catch-22 states, 28, in 1944.
**In 1974, Kurt Vonnegut wrote a glowing review of Heller's Something Happened. The publisher of the paperback edition later printed the review as a pamphlet which was given away in bookstores as an advertisement.
Not content to inhabit the novel solely in the person of Yossarian, Heller also introduces Sammy Singer, who also served in WWII on Pianosa as an enlisted man and who is identified as the anonymous gunner who fainted during Yossarian's Avignon mission in the earlier book. A Jew from Coney Island, he is a version of Heller if he hadn't been an officer and hadn't written Catch-22; Sammy was college educated on the GI Bill, worked for Time magazine until given an early, forced, retirement and is now widowed and living alone.
Sammy in turn is given his own "road not taken" character in Lew Rabinowitz, a childhood friend who enlisted in the infantry at the same time Sammy joined the air corps. After the war, the last months of which he spent as a POW, Lew went into his father's junk business, which he later inherited and expanded. Lew tells a few interesting stories about his marriage and business, but his main function in the novel seems to be twofold:
First, he serves an eyewitness account of the firebombing of Dresden, which he witnessed as a POW.
The account Heller gives is strikingly close to that given by Kurt Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut is, in fact, mentioned several times as Lew's fellow prisoner, and his name crops up throughout the book**, as does that of a displaced Czech named Schweik. Heller may have intended this to give some account of what it was like to be on the receiving end of all those bombing missions Yossarian flew, but the closeness to Vonnegut's account and the fact that the Dresden bombing was primarily a British endeavor somewhat blunts the effect.
Lew's second function is to die of cancer after decades of remission and recurrence. Cancer is a main theme in the book: Sammy's wife died of it, and Yossarian regularly checks himself into the hospital for biopsies, primarily for the feeling he gets when given the favorable results. Their mutual oncologist, Dr. Teemer, has come to have a growing respect for cancel cells: he sees their ability to survive and multiply as an evolutionary advantage and kind of endorsement by nature. In a twist which is one of the novel's better conceits, as a result of his disturbing thoughts about the cancer cells he battles against, Dr. Teemer has checked himself as a resident patient into the psychiatric ward of the hospital in which he continues to practice his profession.
The middle-class world of Sammy and Lew serves as a contrast to the elite circles of society and politics in which Yossarian now travels. The stories of these other veterans also serves to modify the cynical version of the war he presented in the earlier book to be more in line with “the greatest generation”-type nostalgia. These two characters both tell their stories in the first person, unlike Yossarian's third-person narrative, and their monologues sometimes reproduce too well the speech patterns of older men with repetitions, questionable ideas of cause and effect, and meandering anecdotes. I don't think quite so much of this is necessary to put across authenticity in their voices; an editorial hand here and in a few other sections would have benefited the book.
The climax of the novel is a society wedding held in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City; this was arranged by Yossarian, at his own apparently ironic suggestion, for casual social acquaintances he knows through mutual friends. Before the fact, the text hints that the wedding may devolve into a "day of the locust"-type riot, but in the end, it serves mainly as means of illustrating the banality of celebrity and the metastasizing of conspicuous consumption. This event involves pages of description which precludes any character or plot development; it's therefore not really satisfying as a climax. The final irony is that the wedding, as described, may be merely an elaborate computer simulation created before the fact, and that the event itself never actually takes place.
In the book's final section, President Quayle (yes, a bit of alternate history thrown in here, though Quayle is never directly named, known only as "the little prick") launches a full nuclear strike thinking he is playing a video game. We are given a brief last look at all the book's surviving characters: those we are meant to admire move toward love and friendship, even though it may mean death, the less admirable look to personal survival at any cost.
*Heller has tinkered a bit with the Yossarian of the first book: the story takes place after the fall of Soviet Communism, so approximately 1989, but Yossarian is 68, 5 years younger than he would be if he were, as Catch-22 states, 28, in 1944.
**In 1974, Kurt Vonnegut wrote a glowing review of Heller's Something Happened. The publisher of the paperback edition later printed the review as a pamphlet which was given away in bookstores as an advertisement.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 14, 2020
This was so incredibly boring, it turned into a chore. I am pretty sure I was just skimming it by the time I made it 2/3rds through. At this point I couldn't even tell you if the writing was any good, but the ideas were definitely not.
Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of 'Catch-22', at least I thought it was original and kept on reading with interest because of that. With 'Closing Time', I was just bored throughout, I couldn't get attached to any of the characters, events, nothing, it is just a series of events that have little importance and are just ridiculous. 'Catch-22' had parts that were really funny to me, this one didn't.
I will say, though, that this one is more readable than 'Catch-22', but nothing happens!
Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of 'Catch-22', at least I thought it was original and kept on reading with interest because of that. With 'Closing Time', I was just bored throughout, I couldn't get attached to any of the characters, events, nothing, it is just a series of events that have little importance and are just ridiculous. 'Catch-22' had parts that were really funny to me, this one didn't.
I will say, though, that this one is more readable than 'Catch-22', but nothing happens!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 373 reviews