Books: Good Soldier Yossarian

CATCH-22 (443 pp.)—Joseph Heller-Simon & Schusfer ($5.95).

The setting is the tiny island of Pianosa, just south of Elba, in the final months of World War II. Here the Army Air Forces maintains a bomber squadron, but it is a squadron that never was or could have been on land, sea or air. For Author Heller has peopled his first novel with madmen—not routine flyboy madmen, but men whose every act is exuberantly, viciously, tragically irrational.

Yossarian, the protagonist, is at once

Wozzeck, Good Soldier Schweik and Private Hargrove. Bone-tired from flying endless missions (the...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!