Catch-22
- 463
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
- Film 1970 +1
- On screen
- 20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction
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Our view
A war satire that aims at military bureaucracy and greed, told out of order and from many points of view. When it works, the absurd logic is brilliant and bitterly funny. It also asks a lot: the scrambled timeline, a large cast that can blur together and a repetitive, adjective-heavy style wear some readers down over 463 pages. Best for those with patience and a taste for dark humour.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Catch-22 is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. It is his debut novel. He began writing it in 1953, and the book was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the 20th century, it uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, describing events from the points of view of different characters. The separate storylines are out of sequence so the timeline develops along with the plot. The novel satirizes military bureaucracy and greed.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 2 times — from 1970 to 2019.
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.1 across 1,792 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 92% of the weight and the score stays at 8.0 — the Rankings average of 8.0 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.2 | 206 | 12% |
| Hardcover | 8.0 | 1.6K | 89% |
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
