Catch-22 surprised me. At first, I was put off by Heller’s loose writing style; the chapters meander about so many characters and names that they were still running together at end of the novel, and only a loose plot holds everything together. But after a few chapters, the jokes (whose setup was prepared chapters prior) began to land, and I found myself laughing. I appreciate Heller’s confident commitment to his own style, and it certainly grew on me, but the novel drug on for too long; I gave it up for a few months before coming back and finishing. I can understand why this book is critically acclaimed— it is quite good— but the information overload and length ultimately brought the experience down.