Goodreads Nepal (सुपठन् नेपाल) discussion

From the backpage:

"Its hero is a bombardier named Yossarian, who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he hasn't even met keep trying to kill him."

Lol.

Looking forward to enjoy this novel and share it with you all.

Thanks guys for the effort, I will surely join after completing the work that I m involving now. Hoping that the book is interesting enough.

Ok.I've got my copy.

I got my copy too.

Ah, yes. Catch-22.

I read this novel in 1969 when I was in high school in Iowa in the US. As Ujjwol said, at first the book is confusing and it takes a while to understand the story because of FLASHBACKS. Be patient and keep reading; it will become clearer later.

The confusion and "catch" of "Catch-22" was very real in many ways. My father was an American bombardier (just like Yossarian in the book) but on a B-24 bomber. He flew from N. Africa and then from Southern Italy to bomb the Germans in Europe. All of the insanity of war in the book was fairly real as my father described. He was caught in the "Catch-22" when they (American Army) kept increasing the number of missions they had to fly. Whenever a crew got close to the maximum, they increased the requirement. Then the Army changed from "sorties" to "mission credits" (each sortie or mission was ranked by difficulty, ie, ) and made the number even higher.

War is crazy; war is insane; war is about XXXXXXX. You can fill in the xx's after you read the book.

You will have good discussions about this book. Relate it to our crazy world today. It is the same world we live in. Yossarian may seem crazy, but he is probably the most sane person of us all.

Good reading.... then watch the movie after your read the book. It all comes together.

Lynn

Good to see the discussions going strong. I haven't spent as much time as I'd like with this book due to other obligations, but last night I started off with chapter 1. Here are my views about it.

Yossarian seems to be very mischievous sort of guy who creatively utilizes his boredom, at the expense of others, to bring color into his life. For example, I thought the censoring of letters was hilarious way to pass time. I could imagine myself there with him as he deletes the all the modifiers (adjectives/adverbs) in some poor guy's letter turning into a bland heap of prose.

The characters are also pretty interesting. The soldier in white, and his bed-neighbor the Talkative Texan, Yossarian's friend Dunbar,and the warrant officer who is always pissed off.

So far it's been a nice read. Looking forward to everyone's thoughts on the novel!

Cheers.

What I felt while reading book is a sensation of damping wave. It could create curiosity at one point and it goes on waxing and waning with time. At some point I was about to abandon reading and after a while the story catch up and trigger my reading speed as well and a new crest popped out. I have got "Yossarianised" in my conversation as I was going through the novel, that created a new wave among my colleagues-mostly taciturn I am-changed into an awkwardly questioning guy. The wave has been finally disappeared of "Catch-22" but I am eagerly waiting for next one.

Bibek and Saurav,
Yes, I agree with your assessments on Catch 22 so far.

There are many hidden lessons buried in the waxing and waning. Each character has small hidden lessons and traits that we see in ourselves and in other people around us.

In the end, one BIG lesson jumped out that most war is about "business". Milo Minderbinder portrayed that in the book and in many ways, it could even be carried forward to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yes, in today's big wars there are principles of freedom, human rights, etc, but underlying all of that is a global industrial complex putting wood onto the fire of war.

If a people want the freedom, equality and fairness, then as in the changes in Egypt, Libya, and other Middle Eastern countries this year, true freedom comes from within the people, not from outside. A war fed by business incentives is not the way to make change in a society.

If you ever watched the US TV series MASH about the Korean War, the character Klinger who dressed like a woman (like Yossarian) was also caught in a "Catch 22". He wanted out of the war; the only way out was to be CRAZY; he could not get out of the war unless he ASKED to get out; but if he asked the get out, then he was NOT crazy. Catch 22.

Anyway, in the end it was a good book to make you stop and think.

Lynn

Will watch the movie soon.

Definitely in every war there are people like Milo and M&M enterprises. They do not forget to recite everyone has share but at last the shareholder mostly get a piece of paper with "A Share".
The war, whether started from internal causes or imposed externally, business leaps out ahead of everything for some. I guess, we, Nepalese people get understood on this after 10 years of bloodshed.
Thanks guys for all the posts.
And which book we are going to read next?

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy if no one has read all five books. I'm willing to re-read along.

Saurav wrote: "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy if no one has read all five books. I'm willing to re-read along."
I am in limbo in first book for months. It's good that I could go along with you.
I am going to start a new thread for the selection of book.