Something Happened - Joseph Heller

[Dinkleberry]

I finished reading this book earlier and hadn't heard of it before finding it in the bookshop. It seems like a long book in places, and doesn't flow too easily but I thought it had some fantastic writing in there. I was wondering if anyone else had read it, because for me it seems like one of the most currently relevant books out there - rather than discuss large-scale philosophies explored in distant situations, it talks about individual troubles in middle America.

Here's a soundbite from the back cover:
"Mr Heller's disembowelments are ferocious, gory and memorable. In Catch-22 he satirised the horrors of war; in Something Happened he has attempted something more ambitious and difficult - an expose of the horrors of prosperity and peace" - Times Literary Supplement.

And synopsis/blurb:
"Bob Slocum is a promising executive. He has an attractive wife, three children, a nice house, and as many mistresses as he desires. His life is settled, he has conformed. Society demands therefore, that he should be happy, or at least pretend to be. But the pretence is becoming more and more difficult, as desolation, frustration and fear take over..."

I found it difficult to read at points, but it was worth it.

 

[Dinkleberry]

No takers? it's an Animal Farm-calibre novel.

 

[Kadayi]

I have it, but it's in my 'to read when I've time' pile.

 

[15357]

Hmm, I've read Catch 22 and its sequel Closing Time by Heller. I loved them both. I wonder if the style will be the same with this?