Catch-22 Cover Craziness

     I can remember only three books that I have given up on after reading more than the first chapter.  This is one of them.  I thought I was could read past the X-rated stuff, but I eventually figured out that it would continue the length of the book.  It was especially hard to give up on this book because it is very well-written, and I like the style.  The tone of the book is sickening.  It shows what war is truly like through the calloused eyes of Yossarian, the main character.   

     The cover has an airplane on it because this book is about American pilots stationed off the coast of Italy during World War II.  The red figure is a man parachuting without a parachute.  This symbolizes how the troops are stranded in Italy, suspended and dangling with no one looking out for their welfare.  In the book, the officers with desk jobs care only about themselves and their careers; they view the fighting men as pawns in a game of military promotions.  Every time a pilot completes enough missions to be sent home, the colonel raises the number needed so that no one can escape from Italy.  The men are trapped in the air force and losing their sanity.  They are broken men, unable to function or think clearly.  The war has changed all of them.  The man is red because the book portrays the pain, emotional and physical, experienced by all soldiers.
     The cover is very plain.  It shows things as they are, looking past the details and masks.  That's also how the book is written.  It exposes the characters' motives and states cold, hard facts with no sugar-coating.  Yossarian, the main character, sees things in one dimension, not affected by others' perspectives.
     With that said, I quit about halfway through this book and read Cosbyology, which doesn't need describing.  It's Cosby.  He's funnier when you can see his faces and hear his voice, but I still enjoyed the book.  I am now planning to move on to John Grisham's The Firm.
         Total time read so far:  8 hours
         Total books:  1.5