This novel is a classic and a must-read in American literature.

It is set during WW2 in an Airforce Camp on the ficitionalised Italian island of Pianosa where main character Yossarian basically tries all he can to get transferred back to the US because he rightly feels that the ongoing war endangers his life. His fear leads to some bizarre behaviour which would normally qualify him for transfer back home on the grounds that he is mentally insane. Unfortunately, there is a catch - catch 22: The fact that he wants to be taken out of the war proves that he is not mentally insane which, in turn, makes it impossible for him to ever get back into safety unless he stops wanting to.

There is not much of a plot, the novel is more atmospheric, depicting life (and death) in a WW2 airbase. But no – the novel certainly does not create a reliable image, everything is grotesquely exaggerated. Apart from Yossarian, all his comrades-in-arms, even more so his superiors, have strange obsessions and paranoia, leading to even stranger actions and politics. The climax is an incident where mess officer Milo contracts both an attack on his own base (by the Germans) and its defence (by the Allies), to be operated with US aircraft he obtained to smuggle food and other goods. What Dilbert is to the office world, Catch 22 is to the Army. The one exception is the horrors of the war – here Heller is not being funny and apparently he does not exaggerate either.

Catch 22 is a fine example of anti-war literature because it shows both the horrors and, even more pointedly, the futility of war. However, it can be a somewhat lengthy read. Some of the ideas would have fitted a comic strip better than a full-blown novel.