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/lit/ - Literature

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5949133 No.5949133 [Reply] [Original]

I'm currently reading Catch 22 after all the recommendations I saw of it, but I'm having trouble staying interested. The many characters and the non-linear writing is really confusing me. Should I drop it and maybe read it later or should I finish it now?

>> No.5949149

>>5949133
It all makes sense in the end. I would say finish it now.

If you don't finish it now, then you might have to drop it and maybe read it later. And if you drop it and maybe read it later than you lose the enjoyment of finishing it now. But then you can also enjoy finishing it later, of course, given that you drop it and maybe read it later, which would require not finishing it now.

>> No.5949167

>>5949149
Listen to this anon.

If you drop it and don't finish it later it will be wasted. If you don't drop it and finish it later you will forget it. If you do read it and don't drop it you will remember for a while, forget it and then waste it.

>> No.5949177

>>5949149
>>5949167

Kek

>> No.5949182

eh, i think a sense of humour is something you just have or not, so you may as well just give up

>> No.5949195

>>5949182
Oh no, the humor is not a problem at all. I chuckle every few pages, but the overall story and flow of the book just makes it feel too lon

>> No.5949201

Similar to Slaughterhouse 5, the book is written confusingly on purpose to portray how nonsensical war is.

I say you either read it or you don't, reading it later will only make it more confusing.

>> No.5949205

>>5949195
If you only "chuckle every few pages", you have a terrible sense of humor.

>> No.5949243

>>5949133
I just finished it a few days ago. Honestly, it didn't get good or interesting until the last 80 pages or so.

A vastly bloated book.

>> No.5949372

>>5949205
My loss I guess. I like the writing, my problem is the characters. The only one I have a good grasp of is Yossarian, so when any other character is mentionned in the story, it's like introducing a totally new character because I've forgotten who they were and what their personality was like.

>> No.5949449

Why don't you make your own decisions instead of asking Chinese people on a Chinese Internet forum?

>> No.5949453

>>5949372

Use a notebook and write down their names or try to improve your memory.

>> No.5949467

for me, the experience completely chimed with going to boarding school, which i had done a few months earlier
suddenly a whole host of people you're thrown together with, all of them hilarious and weird in their own way, and a whole bunch of authority figures who are all assholes in their own way, and it's all a huge chaotic jumble
obviously not that going to boarding school is comparible to going to war, but it felt like the same kind of vibe to me as a teenager
it was the easiest read and the truest thing i'd ever read, and as such i always have a hard time empathising with people who find it hard going, but i guess you have to be in that kind of environment and get that kind of humour to tap into it

>> No.5949709

>>5949133
come back to it after you turn 18

>> No.5949782

I dropped it for half a year after reading a third of it, it was pretty funny but felt too whimsical. Then I read it again, and loved the first third and all the rest. Fuck >>5949205
He doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about, like all people who're quick to judge. The thing is that if you have to strain yourself to remember characters and events in Catch-22 much of the comedy and meaning gets lost, because every single character and event serves a specific and often very important purpose, and if you're barely aware of who's done, doing, or is said to do in the future, then you lose most any chance of understanding the overall point, which is what really carries the jokes, as even if you're not entirely clear on the overall point you can sort of discern its constant presence in the jokes, which makes them seems less like separate jokes and more like one long running joke. I suggest starting over, that way you'll be better capable of recalling and sorting the characters and events and how they're tied together.