Something Happened

>>9460336
>Something Happened
>nothing at all happens
Really makes you think

Something Happened was the sequel to Catch-22. Why would you do this?

>>9460336

>not quitting at 100 pages

No writer, writing at his best, would let 100 pages go by without showing you something.

This novel sucked because no editor had the balls to tell the author of Catch-22 that his ideas were dull. Even Heller himself was probably overconfident in his writing. Just look at the page count.

I have read it and thought it was ok

>>9461451
You have to read to the end to see what happened.

It's an absolutely bitter, hateful, and cruel-spirited work. It's like all of the things I normally see attributed to writers like LF Celine, except devoid of humor and completely lacking a light at the end of the tunnel. I could see it not being for everyone, but I was majorly engaged in reading it, and if anything, it ought to scare you into not ending up like the protagonist.

The ol Bloom meme of "he can't think, he can't write" applies completely to Heller. His worldview has the nuance of a teenager's. It seems the only way to enjoy his novels is if you think he's as clever as he thinks he is.

>>9461519
>It's an absolutely bitter, hateful, and cruel-spirited work
This is exactly what I mean by:
>>9461536
>His worldview has the nuance of a teenager's.

>>9461536

I've only ever read Catch-22, but you have to admit it's a clever book. What kind of "nuance" were you hoping for that you didn't get?

>>9460336
This was my experience. I made it most of the way through before giving up. It was just terrible, grinding sadness with no redeeming qualities.

>>9461552
Imagine Catch-22, but without any humor, cleverness, or action, and just grim desperation.

>>9461552
There's nothing to learn, there isn't any new or different way of looking at the world, or even a new way of articulating the things it presents. It's just a barrage of "the world is bad and stupid" expressed in the most unliterary of ways. That might have been my mistake, going into it expecting literature instead of a pop culture relic, but I was willing to hear it out. Instead it's just a bunch of smug cynical jokes that long long overstay their welcome.