Post by @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone

@prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone

2026-11-08 14:25 UTC

Major Major had been born too late and too mediocre. Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was. Catch-22

Replies (5)

@Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-11-08 15:55

and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was. He also looked so much like Henry Fonda that it was a significant problem: Long before he even suspected who Henry Fonda was, he found himself the subject of unflattering comparisons everywhere he went. Total strangers saw fit to deprecate him, with the result that he was stricken early with a guilty fear of people and an obsequious impulse to apologize to society for the fact that he was not Henry Fonda

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@EpeeGnome@feddit.online 2026-11-08 18:12

When I was in school, I was in the habit of reading a novel instead of listening to the teacher whenever I found the lesson boring (as I often did). I attempted this with Catch-22 and was immediately busted because despite my best efforts I laughed out loud halfway through the first page. Decades later it remains one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.

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@stickyprimer@lemmy.world 2026-11-08 19:14

I LOLed so much at that book. Also, in similar vein: A Confederacy of Dunces.

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@wax@feddit.nu 2026-11-08 22:02

Quite good on audiobook as well!

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@Dicska@lemmy.world 2026-11-10 12:27

Every page is a masterpiece and I feel so bad for only reading a chapter or two every month. There are so many characters in it that I just lost track of who was who and did what, but I’m also way too deep to start over. But the humour is just classy.

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